Smells like Team Spirit
by Zadien
Summary: UPDATED Kane leaned over his shoulder to read the elaborate script and quirked a brow. "You worried there Hiwatari? Is little junior not rising up to your expectations?" OCs, not Yaoi.
1. Quislings aren't welcome here!

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Dedicated to Moi who reminded me this fic existed.

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Ice Queen

By: Zadien

Disclaimer: _I don't own Beyblade and I only own Amber Benson and Ruin Mulryan. Miyami belongs to **ChibiTari/Unlucky Star** and you can see more of her exploits in 'Kinomiya: File one'. Arista Belyaev was invented by **AzN*PyRo*ArCaDa** who's wrote 'On the swords edge'! And** Animerle **owns Aspin who's the star of 'For the love of Kane' While Sonia belongs to **Spitfire_Sae **and Kirby is the creation of **Kindred Insanity.** _

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Summary: The Tempest Tigers, an incredibly close team who don't appreciate traitors, especially Tala Valkov. But that is nothing compared to the animosity they feel towards their new team mate turned captain. So how is Kai Hiwatari to deal with a team who won't accept him or respect him? Well if they won't respect him, he won't respect them. Bring on the torture!! Mwahahaha!

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A.N. Well I brought this fic out ages ago; actually it was my very first Beyblade fic. And I decided that since Sae has now discontinued her Ice Hockey fic, I was going to have to write one myself since I couldn't read it. Plus people seemed to enjoy the excerpt of it, and after reading someone's review I decided that I should continue it, but I needed to make adjustments to it, hope people don't mind. 

So this is the very first chapter; revised and hopefully better.

Chapter one: Quislings aren't welcome here!

He sat on his bed in the dark; the only illumination came from the TV which he was observing. On it played the second rated team in his league, the Tempest Tigers, versus the third rated team, the Warriors. On the screen the players moved eerily along the ice, while on his bedside table, by the light sat the Preston Academy year book lying open on the most worrying players. 

His name was Kai Hiwatari, and he was captain of the Clonmel Sharks. He was as handsome as sin and twice as deadly, and girls fell at his feet where ever he went and drooled. It was disgusting in most cases, but to him girls were just a hobby, something to pass the time till more interesting things came along. With his two-tone blue hair, dark brooding auburn eyes and cream skin over strong bones with royal blue shark fin tattoos, _and_ with a body to die for it wasn't hard for him to get girls to pass the time with, and they never usually minded. But his real love was ice hockey.

As captain of the Sharks, he felt it was his duty to read up and observe his main rivals, not that he felt that they were anything to worry about. After all his team was the best, but still after watching the Tigers, he began to notice that they had quite a number of talented players, each with their own style and skill which was more than what his team had, they just relied on their brute strength and intimidation. But one thing his team had was discipline and one leader. 

On screen a player draped in the sky blue and navy off the Tigers skated down the side of the arena. He cradled the puck easily with his stick as he ducked, twirled and dodged round his opponents, while other members of his team checked them into the boards. Suddenly he skidded to a sharp stop just in front of the other teams goalie. Whipping the stick back behind him, he blasted the puck towards the net. It flew through the air in a blurry streak of black. The goalie lunged for it. For a while it seemed as though time stopped. There was a tense moment as the arena waited with baited breath to see if they'd scored.

Then the buzzer sounded. The fans erupted with cheers, and the noise roared through the arena. The band burst to life playing a fast tempo from up on the stands. Blue, green and red strobes danced on the ice to the beat. As the commentator called out the score, the player skated off striking a winning pose at the opposing team, then turning to their team, he bowed with a flourish, taking off his helmet like a gentle man would his top-hat. 

His helmet came off to reveal a young woman with messy black hair, hanging limp with moisture. Her eyes were bright and glowing with victory. Her face was flushed from exertion and clammy with sweat. Kai grimaced, she had no care for her appearance, he thought, but she did have skill. 

He turned his attention from the screen to the open yearbook. He turned the page, while blowing the light powder blue bangs out of his auburn eyes, till he came across the girl. He looked at her photo. She was gazing blankly at the screen, obviously not caring that this picture would be immortalised in the year book. Under her picture was her bio. It read **Amber Benson**, he frowned at the screen, then shook his head. Her nicknames were Amie-chan, Runt, Rath and Sae. She was a B student and loved ice hockey, in which she played in the scorer position. 

He nodded looking over her bio. From what he knew from watching her and encountering other people who had met her, she was trouble with a capital T. Not because of her skill, but her temper. She was a real spit-fire, who had a real problem keeping her mouth shut and fists down when she was riled. He knew it was the teams biggest weakness and it was a weakness he knew he could play on. He watched as the girl cheered on the Captain from the box. It was obvious she had a real case of hero worship where he was concerned.

His attention flicked to the Captain, Rei Kon -another problem. The boy with messy black hair, and gold eyes, flecked with amber. He had an aura of calmness and mystery surrounding him, as though nothing phased him. Kai knew for a fact that the guy was good at motivating his team but there were things in which he lacked, like control over the banshee minx, he thought sourly as the once again her temper took control and she ended up in the box for insulting the referee. He smirked as the camera focused on the coach who was running his hands exasperated through his head, while the other team mates were divided, some were pissed at her, others at the ref., while two smaller boys were cheering her on. 

His interest was pulled to a picture of the captain holding a cup with a young woman beside him; arms wrapped around his waist, pretty head rested on his shoulder. Her eyes were pure gold and filled with warmth and a wildness, a competitive spirit, something he could understand. Her hair was thick, full and bright pink, but it suited her. She resembled a girl who wouldn't back down from a fight, but the way she was draped over the captain showed that there was something going on between them. Under the caption it showed their names, **Rei Kon** and **Mariah** **Tanaka**, the goalkeeper for the Tigers also known as _'the Swallow'_.

There was a note at the bottom of the page and from it he gleaned that _'the Swallow'_ was actually the number two goalie. The number one goalie who went by the name Arista Belyaev had been injured in a previous match and was now riding the pine pony. He wondered briefly how long she'd be out of commission, and then he shook his head. There was no way in hell she'd be ready for their match tonight, unless Kon was thinking of bringing her out as a secret weapon. His gaze flicked to the screen in time to catch _'the Swallow'_ dive to the ice to cover the puck with her hands. After icing it, the ref. glided up and the various players skated off -some dejected while the blue team was pretty happy with the goalies' save. If Belyaev was number one, she really must have had skilled since_ 'the swallow' _was pretty damn good and that worried him.

He searched the page for a picture of Belyaev to see what she looked like. Finally he found her. She was sitting on the back of a blue haired; blue eyed male who was grinning at the camera as he held the cup they'd won. Her eyes were a deep blue with amber flecks and her hair was a long cloak of silver tipped with gold. She was sticking her tongue out with another male who was holding the other side of the cup. He had black hair with a stripe of red and emerald green eyes. Their names were listed at the bottom: **Kane Suzoru gives star goalie Arista Belyaev a lift, while Ozuma Benson gives a helping hand. "That cup is heavy 'Ris, honest!"** He smirked, obviously the writer for the year book was one good terms with the team.

On another picture it showed a Japanese girl also with long silver hair and eyes with two guys. One with unruly navy hair shoved under a baseball cap with midnight-blue eyes and a grin on his face which showed he was usually confident in what ever he did. Beside him; arm slung around his blue haired friend and the grinning silver eyed female; was a spiky blond haired kid with blue eyes and a wide blinding cheerful grin on his face. He looked like the cat that got the cream while the dents in his cheeks showed he was usually smiling. Under their photo again were their names. **Tyson 'where's my food?' Kinomiya, Max 'pixie sticks _are_ part of a balanced diet – they just don't make you balanced!' Tate and Miyami 'bite me and you'll regret it' Kinomiya**.

Once again Kai frowned at the caption, then his auburn eyes flicked to the photo on his bedside table, of him and his best friend, Tala Valkov, an opinionated red head with crystal blue eyes, who was drooled over by the girls, another thing he and Tala had in common. As well as a thirst for winning and a desire to crush opponents, an air of superiority and a witty personality. Tala had only arrived at the school a few years ago but the two boys had formed a tight friendship, but that was broken when Tala had to return to his old school. Kai couldn't blame him; after all it would've been broken anyway when he transferred to another school himself.

He sighed again, watching as the one named Tate ducked under a checking before spinning round and passing the puck to the captain who then passed it effortlessly to the minx, who then cast it deftly to the male Kinomiya who managed to blast the puck in. The team had one advantage though he knew they were close and bonded, which meant they worked well together, but unlike his team they had no real discipline and because they knew they were good they really didn't try.

Of course, could Kai have seen the Tigers at that exact moment, he wouldn't have been so worried.

***

On the other side of town in Preston Academy's changing rooms the Tigers assembled before practice. Usually there would be a hub-bub of noise, with shouts, laughs, jeers and cheers from the team, but today it was as eerily silent and dead as a grave at midnight. Inside the team stood erect staring at the figure who had just strode in the door as bold as brass, making no expression to show that he felt the hostility in the air. In fact the tension was so palpable and thick that it could have been cut with a knife, but more than likely they would rather stick that knife through the red headed figures heart and twist it violently.

The red head on the other hand had no such thoughts, in fact he smiled warmly at them wondering when they'd break the tension and welcome their old captain back. Then as he locked eyes with the gold ones of the new captain, he realised that things were not going to be mended so easily. 

"Well, aren't you guys going to say hello?"

Rei watched him calmly before complying in a clipped but polite tone. "Hello Tala, long time no see. How have you been?"

Tala smirked at the obvious detest in those few words but before he could comment, he was interrupted by the feisty pink goalkeeper.

"What are you doing here, traitor?" she growled, lunging at him, but was held back by the captain.

"Awww now Mariah that is not how you speak to an old friend, such as myself, now is it?"

"You're not a friend of ours, Valkov." Johnny spoke up; his face tight with controlled violence.

Beside him Spencer nodded. "Go away, Valkov, we don't need or want your kind around here."

Tala placed his hand on his chest in a mock gesture of hurt. "You wound me guys. I thought I was a member of this gang."

"You were but you abandoned us." Rei stated firmly.

Tala sighed heavily. "I suppose the rest feel the same then?"

"Yeah. You're just lucky you're mini-brat isn't here." Mariah threatened.

Tala smirked knowing exactly who she meant. Mini-brat had been his nick name for Amber Benson, his childhood friend, because she was a monster and short at that. But she was only 5ft the last time he'd seen her, she was bound to have grown a few inches, though she was still short compared to his 6ft 2".

"Where is she?"

Enrique shrugged his shoulders gracefully. "I don't know. Probably in detention somewhere."

The others sniggered at the thought of Amber in another round of detention. It was now becoming Ambers' room; since hardly anyone else used it as much as she did. The other week she had brought her extra posters from her dorm in to decorate the place, until Mrs. Applecromby threw a fit and made her clean the walls and scrape off the glue tack, without flaking the already flaky paint.

"Just be glad she isn't here, because once she sees you, you're gonna be six feet under." Mariah sneered. "Then again maybe you should be thankful Ruin isn't here, she doesn't seem to have any qualms with killing people these days."

Tala unconsciously shuddered at the unspoken thought. The door burst open and Tala jumped fearing it was his fiery Mini-brat or worse Ruin, only to find Kenny squinting up at him. The small boy with messy hair, just shades lighter than chestnut, as usual his glasses were perched on top of his head. He still sported the old uniform of short sleeved shirt, tie and shorts, and under his arm he carried his faithful laptop. Unusually Max and Tyson weren't behind him, but Tala figured they'd show up soon.

Tala grinned, getting ready to welcome the three musketeers; then he frowned when they still didn't appear.

"Uh, hey Kenny where's Tyson and Max?"

"Sorry to disappoint you Tala but I don't know where they are. Max is probably with Emily, while Tyson is probably in the canteen taste testing their latest batch of cookies." Tala grinned at the vision that produced.

"Hey Kenny you don't look too surprised to see the quisling, here." Mariah commented.

"I'm not. I already knew he was transferring. I just didn't know when he'd get here. Actually this does seem a little fast. But his parents insisted that he come back and finish his education here."

Tala growled. "Kenny those files are supposed to be confidential."

"So Taly, you got in trouble so you're parents wanted to get you away from the bad boys?" Johnny teased.

Tala shot him a dark look, but before he had any chance to say anything, the door burst open for a second time. Tala looked round lazily expecting to see Tyson and Max, but froze when he caught sight of a very familiar figure draped in black. Her brown eyes burned with rage, and her black lips were curled in distaste, and still to Tala she was one of the hottest girls he'd ever seen, and still as bloody unattainable as ever. She was Ruin Mulryan.

~~*~~@~~*~~

Bad things come in threes, and that always happens on Friday 13th. Amber knew things were going to be bad today when she woke up to find out that her alarm had been switched off in order for her roommate, Ruin, to charge her cell phone. Amber growled at the thought. But even though she was late and had detention, she had seen the evil Maths teacher trip over his own brief case, which had been funny. She chuckled again. The man had been completely flustered and had ended up spilling his coffee over his crisp white shirt. 

Of course it had been her laughing at the misfortune of the evil Maths teacher, that had brought her to her next bad thing. She had been heading down the stairs to the basement to one of her classes with Lee and Johnny, when for no reason she fell forward onto her knees and slid down the steps. It was incredibly embarrassing since Johnny and Lee were bent double laughing at her, Kane had been at the bottom of the steps laughing and she was pretty sure he had a good view up her skirt. The brazen smirk gave that away. It was more embarrassing when the good reverend came down the steps and congratulated her on her dedication to her faith. Obviously the small pudgy clergy man had believed her to be praying, this then resulted in the guys laughing harder, so bad that Johnny nearly collapsed down the steps, which would've meant that he would have landed on her. Luckily he had righted himself quickly enough to head down to the classroom and announce to everyone what had just happened. 

She growled under her breath. Stupid guys. They may be her team mates, and they may be like older brothers to her, but sometimes the guys on her team could be right assholes. She knew if it had been Miyami with her, or even Bryan, because he never made fun of her, then she would have been alright, and she wouldn't have been embarrassed. 

She trudged along the quad; music blasting from the earphones nestled in her ears. She was waiting for her third bad problem to come. She knew it would come soon. After all, the day was almost over and she didn't want it to happen in the middle of her big match tonight. 

"I don't give a damn about my reputation." she sang along with the music, knowing full well the truth of the words. "You're living in the past is the new generation, a girl can do what she wants to do and that's what I'm gonna do. An' I don't give a damn about a bad reputat- oof!" she exclaimed as she walked into something solid. 

She stumbled back, angry about what had just happened. She looked up, ochre eyes flashing with dark rage. She hated when people didn't look where they were going. The figure she'd walked into turned round and fixed her with dark eyes, shadowed by thick brows. She shuddered at the coldness emanating from those cold empty eyes, but she covered it with more hostility. As she took in the menacing tanned face, with dark hair covered by a burgundy bandanna, the fog in her mind drifted away and she immediately remembered who he was. Carlos. The enforcer for the Sharks. She resisted the urge to step back. The guy was twice the size of her slender figure. 

'Oh fuck, I'm in trouble.' she thought softly, the music still pounding in her ears. Taking courage from the lyrics she gave him her cool dead stare. 

"Well, well, look what we have here. A li'l tiger cub." he taunted voice gruff.

"Huh, look it's a shark! A li'l fishy out of water." she returned with equal venom.

"Oh wait I remember you, you're the plague." he spoke thoughtfully.

"Plague huh, that's my new nickname? Cool, I gotta write that one down." She grinned brightly. She was gaining nicknames, by the barrel-full, but some of them just weren't cool enough for her. She tucked her ebony black hair tipped with gold, behind her ear, a common trait she used when she was nervous or thinking. 

He glowered at her. This wasn't the plague he had heard off. She was supposed to be a bitchy, tough, stubborn chick with a serious attitude problem. But the girl in front of him, even though she looked like the Plague from what he had seen of her-he had met her in matches, just never interacted with her- seemed cheerful, witty and far too nice. Maybe her attitude had just been a myth that Kai had invented to keep the team on their toes. He shook his head, and watched as the girl frowned.

"What are you doing here?"

Carlos blinked. "Nothing, just passing."

This time it was Ambers' turn to blink. "Ok, see had you been walking past the school, I would believe you. But it's the fact that you're _inside_ the school walls, standing on the Quad in the _centre_ of the school grounds, that's making you're words _so_ hard to believe." She smirked, at his flustered expression. "In fact it makes it seem like you're spying on us. Aww is Hiwatari so worried that he's sent you to spy on us?" her smirk widened.

So that was it. Carlos had been sent to spy on the tigers. Oh how lame! It wasn't good enough that he had the _cunt from hell_ feeding him information, but now he was spying on them. Then again the, _cunt from hell_, had been attending their school for four years; by this stage his knowledge on their tactics would be rather limited. Her expression became void of emotion. Typical, the Clonmel Sharks never played fair. 

Carlos glared at her. She had figured out what he was doing here, but he would be damned if he let her get her buddies to beat him up. It would be better if he took the plague out of commission. Kai would finally be grateful and actually think him worthy. He smirked. 

Amber caught his malicious smirk and she cringed. The guy was looking at her, like a lion looked at his prey. She was sure things would not turn out good. Her heart began to thunder in her head, her breath caught in her throat, and she could feel her eyes widen. She tried to convince herself she wasn't scared or worried. Heck, she'd been in worse situations, and she had fought with guys before. Though the only guys she had fought with were her team mates, or other boys from school and she had always had the safety of knowing that they would never seriously hurt her physically, no matter how much they would want to. Either because they actually were against hitting girls, or because they were afraid of Johnny, who had become her guardian after Tala had abandoned her, stupid cunt from hell. But all the same the guys would never harm her, but this guy had no such qualms, and Johnny was too far for her to get his help.

It was then, that she heard the second foot steps behind her and a nasally voice called out. "Hey, the teams in the changing rooms." he stalled when he caught sight of the girl. "Who's the chick?"

"Chick? Excuse me? Oh please! And what happened to your voice? Did your mom mate with a bat?" Amber asked angrily, her ochre eyes fixing on a skinny teen with lavender hair which was split neatly in the middle and fell to his jaw. His face was narrow and pale with small beady eyes and a small mole under his eye. He was incredibly thin, so thin that if he turned to the side he would probably be invisible to the naked eye. Though Amber couldn't say much herself after all she was pretty slim. 

The guy growled low in his throat. "And who exactly are you?"

"None of your business, pipsqueak!" she shot back.

Carlos reached back to fix his bandanna. "She's the Plague."

The purple headed boy smirked at her. "So you're the plague. Well it's about time you were eradicated."

Amber gulped.

***

Tyson Kinomiya sighed depressed. He rubbed his stomach dejectedly. He had been kicked out of the cafeteria, and just there now Oliver had kicked him out of the kitchen.

"Awww, I'm sooo hungry. I'm gonna faint from lack of energy." he whined to nobody in particular.

The rest of his friends were already in the changing rooms getting ready for practice, but how could they expect him to practice on an empty stomach?! The blue headed teen took off his baseball cap before placing it back on his head backwards. He had been caught by Mr Donaghue earlier who had made him put it on the right way round. Stupid Maths teacher. If there was one thing he despised about this school it was the maths teacher; he was just pure evil. 

He bunched up his fists and blew out a long breath. His stomach churned as though to remind him that it wasn't satisfactorily filled. He headed past the library towards the gym block. The school was almost empty. Most of the seniors and juniors would be in the town, the sophomores and freshmen in their dorms studying, while the jocks and cheerleaders would be at their perspective areas training. 

Tyson glanced up at the sky which was over cast so that only the watery light of the sun filtered through. It was a good thing he was practising indoors today. 

"Hey Tyson!" a familiar voice called out from behind him.

He glanced round to see his best friend Max Tate racing towards him dragging a reluctant Emily Davenport behind him. The bubbly blond with the usual permanent grin on his face slapped his arm round Tyson's shoulders.

"So-oh, what are you doing?"

Emily peered at Tyson from behind her glasses. "I thought you would be loitering round the cafeteria begging scraps?"

Tyson glowered at her. "I don't beg." he told her stiffly; then his face fell. "Oliver threw me out of the kitchen."

"That was so un-cool." Max sympathised, his blue eyes sombre. 

"I'm so hungry." the navy headed teen complained.

With a sigh, Emily flicked her orange hair over her shoulders and rummaged in her bag. Suddenly she produced a plain wrapped bar out of it, before offering it to him.

"Hey thanks, Em." Tyson took it and began to immediately peel off the wrapped. 

He stared at the cereal and fruit bar and sniffed it, then wrinkled his nose in distaste. "What is this?"

"It's a cereal bar. I got it from breakfast this morning."

"Uh, is it real food?" he stared at it as though it was something foreign to him.

Max laughed. "This is the first time I've seen Tyson reject food."

"Hey, who says I'm rejecting it?" Tyson shot back indignantly then began to chew slowly on the bar. "Hmm, tastes like cardboard."

Emily raised a brow. "How would you know?"

Max laughed; then a slight frown marred his face. "Um is that Ams?"

Tyson stopped glowering at a non-affected Emily and frowned as well. "Uh yeah, but who's that with her?"

"Oh dear." Emily sighed. 

"Do you know them, Emily?" Max asked watching the three figures off the side of the Quad.

"Um, not personally, no. But both of them are Sharks. The big guy is Carlos, and trust me, I wouldn't like to be in Amber's shoes right now." her grey-blue eyes widened as she caught sight of the burly teen shove Amber. "Hey!"

Tyson growled on seeing this and clenched his fists. Exchanging glances with Max, he nodded before heading towards them. 

Max caught up with him easily. "What are we going to do?"

"Distract them so that Amber will only have one to deal with."

"How will we distract them?"

"Who cares as long as we do?" 

Max nodded. "You're right."

***

Miyami Kinomiya hitched her sports bag over her shoulder and made a face. She could have been in town with Sonia and Aspin; but nooo she had practice to go to. Practice for god sake, who on earth put practise on a Friday evening before a big game?! She smirked, oh yeah that's right! Rei did! Evil captain she thought with a sigh, then she glanced at her watch which she usually hid under a heap of bracelets and winced as she caught sight of the time, with a yelp she hurled herself down the stairs. A few students grumbled as she almost barrelled into them but she ignored them and shoved open the large double PVC doors. She raced along the quad barely avoiding clumps of students who were arriving from the town. A few students called out a hello but she didn't have time to talk to them, so she waved back and kept racing towards the sports centre at the end of the campus. 

It wasn't a bad day she decided. In fact it was a pretty nice evening. It wasn't too cold and it wasn't too warm, and she could taste Autumn on the tip of her tongue. It was her favourite time of the year just because of the varied colours. As a designer and an artist, she was trained to notice things like colour and texture, and Autumn was full of them. A small smile curved her lips and she breathed deeply, enjoying the freshness of the air, the purity of it. She liked listening to the sounds of the golden and rust coloured leaves crunching under her All-starz. Her eyes whipped up when she heard voices from up ahead.

She grinned as she caught sight of the familiar navy/purple head and big nose of Ian Petrovich and the tall broad shouldered form of Michael Parker, both rushing towards the changing rooms. 

"Yoders! Parker! Midget!"

Both boys looked round as someone called out to them and rolled their eyes as they caught sight of the silver eyed teen racing towards them.

"Hey Parker, if you squint your eyes, she almost looks like a silver blur."

"Ian, if you squint your eyes, everything looks like a blur." Michael dead panned irked by his short companion, and then he turned his gaze to the pastel haired Japanese girl jogging to them. 

"Hey Yami, what's up?"

"Late." She told them breathless.

"Yeah so are we. Forgot all about this last minute practice. I was in town with Beth, when Ian reminded me." Michael told her. 

He was still pissed with the fact that he'd had to leave Beth, his girlfriend of three months. He raked a hand through his plum coloured hair and sighed heavily. 

Miyami grinned at him brightly, her silver eyes glinting with mischief. "I guess you forget about everything when you're with the one you luuuv, eh?"

Ian's brows shot up at that and his crimson eyes widened, then narrowed as he caught look of the discomfort in Michael's stone blue eyes. 

Michael turned away so they wouldn't see the blush tinting his cheeks, but his companions noticed everything. They were about to say something when he held up a hand. 

"Hey is that Amie-chan?"

The others froze and Miyamis' gaze whipped to her where her best friend was standing between two guys. "Who are the other two?"

"They aren't from our team, and as much as I'd like to see someone put the Irish wench in her- ow!" Ian broke off as he glared at Miyami, holding his arm at the place she'd punched him. 

"We should go help her." The American summed up.

Miyami didn't need to be told twice, she set off at a brisk pace to reach her friend, looking up briefly to nod at Tyson and Max who joined her. She was itching to give someone a good ass whooping since she was still pissed about having a Friday practice session! And Rei was out since injuring the captain of the team before a big match was pretty stupid! 

"Who are those guys?" she asked as Amber stumbled back from the skinny one who was trying to hold her still.

"They're sharks. One's the enforcer the others a shooter!" Emily told her breathlessly as she tried to keep up with them. 

"Well they're ass deep in alligators now." The female Kinomiya muttered.

"Or Tigers!" Ian added.

"Oi, you two!" Miyami shouted.

The two sharks looked up irritated at being interrupted, then their eyes widened when they caught sight of the group of Tigers walking towards them each complete with stony expressions. 

"Can't she ever stay out of trouble?" Ian complained as he struggled to keep up with the others, and why were they walking so fast? A good beating up might knock some sense into the brat and then maybe she wouldn't cause so much trouble.

As though sensing what he was thinking, Miyami gave him a cold look, her silver eyes almost looking as though they were frosted. He shivered unconsciously before continuing towards the sharks. 

Amber turned to see her team mates, including the midget suprisingly, coming to her aid. She grinned and looked at her two tormentors. Carlos had blanched while squeaky yelped before cursing. Both of them looked at her then turned back to the advancing group. It didn't take them very long to make up their minds. Not sparing a second glance at they raced towards the main gate leaving Amber in their wake.

"What did they want?" Tyson demanded.

"Trying to spy on us obviously." Ian growled.

"Well I knew we were good but this just proves it."

Everyone looked dubiously at the American, and Max grinned. "That's the spirit Mike. Let's get going, we're already pretty damn late now."

At this Amber snagged Miyami's wrist, and pushed back the bracelets to reveal the watch. She winced when she caught sight of the time. "Shit and I was going to be early for once."

"Why break the habit of a lifetime?"

"Che, I suppose it's not going to come as much of a surprise to anyone if I'm late." She agreed. 

"What would surprise everyone if you didn't get into trouble at all some day."

The Irish girl shot a derisive look at the Russian Twerp and shrugged. "When you can stand over a metre stick, then you can talk to me." She smiled sweetly.

"That made no sense." Ian protested. "She's not that tall herself, in fact she's minute. That didn't make sense."

"Stop your whining Petrovich. You waste more time than enough arguing with her. When she's in this mood just leave her." A voice called out from behind them.

Amber cast a glance over her shoulder, but only out of habit. Not because she particularly wanted to see who it was. She already knew by the attitude who it was. Kane Suzoru and she was betting that Ozuma Benson was with him. "Hey Pain! Ozzy!"

Ozuma growled. "Quit calling me that. I feel I should be walking around in a comatose state each time you say that, and mumbling incoherently."

"Nothing knew then." Came the cheeky reply of Arista Belyaev.

Miyami looked over her shoulder and then slowed her pace to link her arms with her cousin. The silver haired girls were well known for their antics. Both craved attention and they did it in the most imaginative of ways, but recently with her injury; Arista hadn't been attending practices lately so it was nice to see her. 

Kane gave the Irish woman his version of the evil eye. "As I keep saying if anyones' the pain it's-"

"Oh look it's Aspirin coming to take away the pain!" Amber called out, then giggled with delight when she caught the way Kanes' gaze whipped round to search out his girlfriend. Amber loved the way his nickname for Aspin came back to haunt him. It was actually an amazingly great nickname, because Aspin did seem to dull his annoying traits so he was never as irritating when she was around. Unfortunately she was in town with Sonia. 

Kane looked back and met her gaze with a glower. "Stupid wench." He muttered.

"So what are you doing out her 'Ris?"

"What don't you want me out here Michael? Or is it that you think Mariah is a better goalie so you don't want me down to check out your replacement?" At Michael's expression she quickly added. "Joke, Parker. I know Mariah isn't as good as me. No one can replace my brilliance in the net!"

"Yeah because no one has as big a head as you!"

"Look Midget, shut the hell up or we tie you to the flag pole." Miyami snapped as Amber chuckled maliciously. "We'd do it, don't try us!"

"We just need the right motivation." Arista added. "All you have to do is open your mouth."

"I'm quite partial to sticking a diaper over his face, to catch all the shit that's coming out of his mouth!" Amber declared nonchalantly. 

Kane and Michael exchanged grins. This was a normal occurrence; the trio ganging up on the Midget who couldn't, for the life of him, keep his mouth shut. Usually of course Ruin would be there to add her more morbid methods of torture but she must have been early for practice. 

"Yup it's a well proven fact that Petrovich is the single-handedly the biggest cause of air pollution." This quip came from Arista, who then took a deep breath as she hobbled into the sports centre through the double doors Max and Tyson held open for her. 

"Leave Ian alone now. He always starts sulking and then he plays shit and you have a big game coming up tonight." Emily pointed out.

The three girls sighed heavily before agreeing to stop bullying the midget Russian. "Oh well it was fun while it lasted. I have got to admit I actually miss hanging out with you guys. I even miss practice."

"Oh don't say that!" Amber groaned. "Practice is cruel."

"Yeah but going to practice means you get to play." Arista argued with a wistful tone.

Ozuma sighed heavily. "Trust me, we miss you too. The team just isn't the same without you. Mari's great and all, but I think she misses cheerleading too much. At least when she was riding the pine pony she had more time to practice her cheers."

Amber suddenly realised that the changing rooms were eerily quiet. "Is practice on or not?"

Miyami froze while Tyson cocked his head.

"Emily, you said practice was on?" Max turned confused to his girlfriend who merely gave him a look which said 'and your point is?' to which the blond teen nodded his head and smiled sheepishly. "Well then maybe everyone's really quiet."

Ozuma and Amber exchanged glances. "That'll be a first."

"Move." A voice ordered them and they all scattered as Bryan Malkovich strode past them and into the changing rooms. Shrugging they all filtered in after the tall lavender haired male and stopped when they caught sight of their half changed team standing there. 

"Um… who died?" Amber asked bemused by her teams actions.

She followed their gaze and her expression darkened when she caught sight of her roommate pinning the _cunt from hell_ to the wall by his throat. Ruin gave Amber a cruel smile. 

"No one, but Valkov's about to."

***

****

Well what does everyone think? If I don't get enough reviews for this, then it'll sink and I won't update this at all, because I'm not going to work on a dud story that no one reads even if I do enjoy writing it. 

Well that chapter basically just introduced main characters and mentioned the team. The next chapter will be when everything kicks off and as I said I won't put up another chapter unless I think that people sufficiently enjoyed it.

So please review.


	2. Kudos

Disclaimer: _I don't own Beyblade and I only own Amber Benson and Ruin Mulryan. Miyami belongs to __**ChibiTari/Unlucky Star**__. Arista Belyaev was invented by __**AzN*PyRo*ArCaDa.**__ And__** Animerle **__owns Aspin. While Sonia belongs to __**Spitfire_Sae **__and Kirby is the creation of __**Kindred Insanity.**__ Shahero comes compliments of __**Animesk8er**__._

* * *

Chapter Two: Kudos

* * *

The tension in the changing room increased as each person turned their focus to the young Irish girl who'd walked in the door and was now regarding Tala out of cool ochre eyes, while an expression of disgust twisted her features. The silence was only cut when Ian piped up.

"What's he doing here?"

Ruin swiveled her head to look at him, a malicious glint in her eye. "I don't know, maybe he's suicidal!"

"He's transferred here, actually."

Ruin cast a look at Kenny, then met Tala's sea blue eyes. "Like I said, maybe he's suicidal."

Tala's eyes bulged as he tried to gasp in some air, but the dark haired girls' grip was relentless on his throat. Amber was pretty sure that there would be mark on his pale skin when she let him go. She would eventually, but Ruin would enjoy his pain first. But at least Tala wasn't struggling, point for him there. Sighing she realized that the team was wasting vital practice on this waste of space.

"Let him go." Her voice carried firmly through the murmurs of the team.

Ruin glanced at her and demanded "Why?"

"Because first of all he isn't worth it, and secondly we have to practice."

"Amber's right Ruin. We need to practice. We have the match tonight and it wouldn't do to waste our time on someone who obviously doesn't care about this team." Ray backed her up before turning to the rest. "So what are you guys waiting for, the ice to freeze?"

The team mumbled incoherent words and phrases before heading out of the changing room towards the ice arena while Arista headed for the bleachers. When they left, the others who hadn't changed yet glowered at Tala. He sent one pleading look at Amber who refused to meet his eyes so he took it as his cue to leave. As soon as he was gone, they all turned to each other.

"I can't believe he's here." Miyami stated heading towards a cubicle to change.

"He always was a smarmy prick." Tyson added.

Ruin sat down on the bench and began to tug off her boots; then she too headed off to find some privacy.

"Maybe he expected a warm welcome." Kane supposed; pulling off his top and then he rummaged round in his sports bag for his uniform top and pads.

"Well whatever he expected he obviously didn't receive it. He especially wasn't too pleased when Ruin tried to suffocate him."

"First of all he deserved it Ozuma, second of all I was aiming for crushing his windpipe. The guy thinks he's a god; it was my duty to _ruin_ that idea." The aforementioned girl called out to them from behind a closed door.

"Why don't you all stop complaining and concentrate on practicing so we can win this match tonight." Bryan stated from his end of the changing room.

"You say that like you expect us to win. It's the Clonmel Sharks; they'll have all of us leaving the stadium in body bags."

Each of the team winced at the midget Russians' comment.

"That's a little drastic, stretchers maybe. Body bags hardly." Kane argued.

"Try crutches." Tyson suggested.

"Yeah they'll grind our bones to make their supper." Ozuma agreed darkly.

"You're wigging yourselves out guys." Miyami stated as she strapped on her leg pads.

"Yeah most of their guys aren't even bigger than Bryan or Spencer." Max called out.

"Exactly we can take them."

This came from Michael before he exited the changing rooms followed by Bryan who cast a concerned glance at his cousin. Ruin followed them out without a single word.

"And if we don't beat them, then we can beat Valkov up." Tyson announced swinging his stick.

"Watch it Tyson!"

"Oops, sorry Kane."

All through their conversation Amber remained lost in her thoughts. Tala had been like a big brother to her. She'd looked up to him more than anyone. Yet he abandoned her and then he comes back expecting her to welcome him with open arms. Fat chance! She didn't respect traitors, no Tiger did. She was quite proud of her indifference to him. She knew it would hurt him more than her beating the shit out of him. She'd make him pay but more than that she'd make his life hell! Oh yes, he'd regret the day he crossed Amber Marie Benson, she'd make sure of that.

She glanced up from tying her skates when she felt a presence beside her. She frowned as her gaze clashed with the garnet gaze of Ian.

"Hey."

"Um hi. Something I can do for you?" puzzlement clouded her ochre orbs as she watched the annoying midget before her fidget nervously.

"Look I just wanted to say that I understand what you're going through. I looked up to Tala as well."

Amber nodded remembering. That was why she and Ian had started disliking each other in the first place. Amber had been Tala's best friend and then Ian latched on to the red head Russian in their first year. So the two of them always seemed to vie for the taller boys' attention. Tala had loved it and actively encouraged it, which now thinking back on it, pissed Amber off.

"I know Ian. He betrayed us both."

Ian scowled angrily then his _expression shifted to discomfort. "Look I know we aren't friends or anything, but if you, err you know, want to talk about it…"

Amber smiled fondly at his attempt to be nice. "Thanks Ian."

"Yeah well you know, we gotta stick together and all that shit." he replied squirming, then he regained his arrogance; she watched fascinated as it flitted across his face and became a mask for whatever he was feeling. "But this doesn't mean anything has changed between us."

She smirked and it was just as arrogant. "Not a chance. And it doesn't mean that I won't kick your ass in practice."

Ian chuckled offering a hand to help her up. "As if."

"Oh watch me midget boy. By the end of this practice I'll have polished the ice with your butt."

He scoffed before walking out of the changing room waving his hand dismissively. Amber sighed softly and noticed that during her talk with Ian most of her team had gone to the ice. The only person left was Miyami who was stuffing clothes in her bag by her previously occupied cubicle. She glanced up and smiled.

"How are you feeling?"

If it had been anyone else she would have made a flippant comment but it was Miyami and she'd see through the act.

"Betrayed."

"He's a bastard. Imagine thinking we'd accept him."

"Oh he's going to regret coming back, mark my words," Amber commented darkly.

Miyami shuddered, her small shoulders hunched. "I hate when you use that tone, makes you sound too much like Ruin."

"In this situation Ruin may have the best attitude."

"Maybe, but it's not healthy. You think Ruin doesn't feel anything? Of she does and even though she doesn't show it I know she's hurt."

Amber sighed and rubbed her forehead. "She's not the only one. Yeah you're right I'll just be myself and kick his ass."

"Of course I'm right. Come on let's go. Coach is going to be furious with us for being late."

The Irish girl groaned before the two of them hobbled out of the room.

* * *

"Shoot Ian! Shoot!"

"Damn it Ian! If you don't shoot then I'll shoot you!"

A stick whizzed precariously close to the purple haired boys head.

"Nice shot Kane."

"You're not supposed to hit me you wanker."

"Quit your whining," Kane snapped keeping an eye on Arista in the bleachers as Tala tried to engage her in conversation. He instinctively ducked as Spencer swung his stick at him.

"Spence you bloody prick!" This was shouted by Mariah who was manning the net.

Coach Dan McGuire rubbed a hand over his face. How on earth did his team expect to win when they were spending their practice fighting with each other? He growled under his breath, gaining Emily's attention. She smiled weakly at him but all the time her gaze was focused on the Tigers. Ray was as usual taking his practice in that easy going way of his. Ozuma was as serious as ever. Kane was just trying to take swings at whomever. When Bryan wasn't grunting with Spencer then he was being taught how to skate by Amber. When she wasn't teaching him how to skate then she was down by the nets conversing with Miyami, Ruin and Mariah. Ian was constantly trying to steal the puck from whoever possessed it and generally just pissed his team mates off. Max and Tyson were off in the corner practicing face-offs. Michael, Johnny and Enrique were passing a puck among each other, all the while keeping an eye on the Russian red head in the bleachers.

"They're not concentrating on the game. They're too upset by Valkov showing up," Emily surmised.

Danny nodded. "Valkov knew about the match tonight. If he had stayed out of the way; then they would be too busy thinking on how to kick Clonmel's ass."

"You think he did this on purpose to sabotage the match?"

"It's a definite possibility. Valkov's always been very scheming."

Emily nodded chewing thoughtfully on her lower lip. "Clonmel's worried."

Dan shook his head. "I don't think-"

"No they are," Emily interrupted. "They sent spies to the school today. Either they wanted to see your plays or they were here to see our reaction to Tala being here."

Dan's mouth pressed in a firm line; then he took out his whistle and blew hard. The screech echoed through out the arena causing his team to wince.

"Take a knee."

They eased to a kneeling position and watched their coach warily. Amber glanced at Miyami who shook her head. They hadn't been practicing so Amber could understand if Dan was furious with them but she didn't think she'd be able to deal with his disappointment on top of her own in Tala.

"We have an important match tonight." He paused to let that sink in and was pleased to see the look of shame that graced most of the teams face, including Ian, Tyson and Kane the usual messers of the group. Johnny still looked as arrogant as ever but a muscle twitched in his cheek. "Now the Clonmel Sharks are good, I'll not deny that. They're probably the best team we've ever gone up against. Not just because they know how to play with brute strength to over power their opponents, but they're also disciplined and like sharks they'll go after the easiest person to pick off and once they choose someone, they'll keep attacking until they get what they want. It's the same with their scoring techniques. So while they're good on the attack, we're just as capable of denying them those goals. Don't be too careless but don't be too careful either. You see your chance, take it."

"And while we're doing that, we'll just hack them to death," Amber quipped.

Everyone glanced at her, chuckled or shook their heads.

"So much for the poignant moment," Miyami muttered.

"Saps overrated," Ruin added as an undertone.

"Just play hard guys," Ray advised.

The team nodded as they struggled to their feet.

"Right now I want you to do 40 laps of the ice and no foul play or you'll be in the box and you'll be riding the pine pony for the tonight's match.

The whole team groaned before gliding off around the edge of the ice.

* * *

"Kai's gonna kill us."

"Those Tigers are gonna pay tonight."

Carlos cracked his knuckles menacingly, while Jose wrung his hands. Kai was going to be furious with them. They really shouldn't have gone to the Preston Academy. Not only had they almost got beaten up but they'd also been late for practice which had pissed Kai off greatly. Luckily they'd been saved when a stupid sophomore had interrupted their captains interrogation and it was the little boy who incited the two toned bluenettes' wrath.

Carlos hit his head lightly off the corridor wall. This wing of the school was empty due to the fact that everyone was in the study hall doing their homework so that they'd have the evening off to go to the game. A cruel smirk played on his thin lips. They'd see that little plague again and when they did she'd regret her friends coming to her aid.

"Hey we should head to study hall," Jose stuttered a frantic note to his tone.

His bulkier team mate took a long drag off his cigarette and blew the smoke out through his nose. It streamed out in a cloud of grey, before dispersing into the air. "Nah, not much point."

"I have a history assignment due."

Carlos scoffed running a hand over his hair, pulling off the bandanna before retying it over his hair again. "What's the point? You'll only fail it and end up with detention. And if you don't do it you'll end up with detention. The difference is that if you don't do it, then you have the whole evening free."

Jose leaned against the wall of lockers opposite Carlos and contemplated what he'd said. "I suppose you're right."

"No suppose about it."

"What are you two doing out here?"

Both boys jumped as a sharp voice addressed them. Looking up they observed Kai and Brooklyn Adams walking towards them. The captain and vice captain strode down the hall, their shoes clipping against the cold lino floors. A muscle in Carlos's cheek twitched but other than that he showed no reaction to seeing his captains approach, Jose on the other hand winced.

"Uh Kai… Brooklyn," He stuttered nervously as his team mate shook his head.

"I asked you two what are you doing out here?" Kai repeated.

"Having a smoke," Carlos replied coolly as he kept his eyes on the cigarette between his fingers.

"Smoking kills you," Brooklyn informed him dryly.

Carlos raised a brow at his vice-captain. Brooklyn wasn't the type who would care about a team mate killing themselves by smoking. He didn't care about anyone. He saw his team as people who just helped him achieve greatness. He had no real feelings towards them. He didn't respect them, didn't admire them, nothing. They were pawns. Kai was a problem. He prevented Brooklyn from becoming Captain. He'd challenged the blue haired boy plenty of times, he'd just never had been able to beat him. So he settled for being second to Kai, but all that was about to change. After tonight Kai would no longer be a Shark. He was transferring to some other school, so after tonight Brooklyn would be taking over as captain and he'd be making some serious changes to the team. Oh yes things would be changing.

"Haven't you two got homework to do?" Kai demanded.

Carlos shrugged.

"I know you do. So unless you want to be riding the pine pony tonight, I'd advise the pair of you to head into study hall and get that work done." Again Carlos shrugged but Jose nodded to his captain before hurrying up the corridor to study hall. Kai turned his gaze to the dark haired burly teen. "What about you?"

Carlos raised his black eyes to the ceiling; then with a growl he pushed himself off the wall before following his team mate.

"You seem to be losing your touch Kai!" Brooklyn remarked, running a hand through his crop of carrot red hair.

Kai sighed but didn't give his vice captain the satisfaction of replying. He knew of Brooklyn's ambition to be captain. Personally Kai believed that Brooklyn would possibly be a good captain and that theory would be tested when he transferred. He wondered briefly about Tala. It was strange to go to a game and not have his best friend there to back him up. Brooklyn couldn't be trusted; he'd just as quickly stab you in the back.

Ignoring Brooklyn he wandered down a corridor of steps towards the dorms. He still had to pack. His father hadn't given him much notice on his transferal to the Preston Academy Coaching job. Kai didn't have to go, but his father wanted him to go with him and Kai really had no ties to Clonmel now that Tala had gone. But still, playing with the Tigers would prove to be interesting. It was obvious that they wouldn't accept him and that would be less likely by the end of tonight. This was the last game he'd be playing as a shark and he was damned if he'd lose to the Tigers of all people.

* * *

She ached all over. Every time she moved her muscles screamed. 40 laps had been cruel, but then they were followed by drills and penalty shoot outs, Amber decided that her coach was just pure evil. She slung her heavy duffel bag over her shoulder and headed down the corridor towards the exit all the while dragging her feet behind her in pure exhaustion. The cooling evening breeze seemed colder with her wet hair now hanging down around her shoulders. She hated her hair down and preferred to tie it up but if she did that when wet then her hair would dry and have kinks in it.

In the fading light she caught sight of a figure standing in the shadows watching her. Sighing she dumped her bag at her feet and crossed her arms.

"Problem Valkov? You training to be a vampire now?"

She could almost feel the smirk that played on his lips. "I wanted to talk to you."

"Oh really. Well I'm afraid I don't want to talk to you. I have problems talking to betrayers."

He stepped forward. "Amber I'm-"

"You're what? Sorry? Well _I'm_ sorry but you're apology would mean nothing to me, because _you_ mean nothing to me."

With that she grabbed her back and was about to walk off, when she felt the pressure of his hand on her arm. With ease she shrugged him off before rounding on him, her temper flaring.

"Fuck off, Valkov!" she snarled.

Undone Tala stared at his best friend who was watching him with over bright eyes and he realized that there were tears in them making those ochre eyes large and shiny.

"Amber. I didn't mean to… I…" He sighed in frustration running a hand over his face; he could never stand to see her battling her tears. It always made him feel helpless.

With a tilt of her head she blinked them back and regained her composure. "Don't. I'm over it." She turned to leave, and then as though something occurred to her she glanced over her shoulder at him. "Stay out of my way Valkov and maybe I won't make your life a living hell."

She put more purpose into her stride as she headed off across the quad to find her friends. Tala watched her leave feeling his heart ache. He'd never felt that distant from Amber before. Even though he'd been at a different school, he'd always had the slight thought in the back of his mind that no matter what Amber would always be there but now he knew different. Amber hated him and nothing would ever make that right until she cared about him again. He was at some stupid school without any friends and he'd never felt more alone in his life.

A hand fell on his shoulder making him jump, stiffen and whirl round. His shoulders slumped in defeat when he saw Ruin standing before him, one finely sculpted brow cocked, her full lips were in a half smirk; with a hand planted on her hip.

"Hello again," she greeted in that sultry smoky voice he'd loved to listen to but could turn bitingly sharp as glass without warning.

"Leave it, Ruin; I don't need this right now."

"Actually you do. If you want to have any chance to patch this up with the Runt then you can't rush things. You have to let this play out itself; all you can do is be there for her."

"And what about you?"

She rose her brown eyes to meet the turquoise of his. "I'm here, aren't I?"

"Why?" he questioned warily. He knew Ruin; she didn't give anything easily. She was one of the most difficult people to deal with and she didn't give her friendship or trust easily, so when broken she would be reluctant to give it back. Yet she was standing right there watching him with that bemused _expression he remembered so well.

"Because despite everything, I don't think that you wanted to lose Amber's friendship. She's been bruised by your leaving and the only person who can help soothe that ache is you."

"So you're only here for her?" he asked softly taking a tentative step towards her gaining confidence when she didn't back away but stood her ground.

"No, you were my friend too, or so I thought."

"Ruin my parents didn't give me any choice."

"And by going to Clonmel you'd improve your hockey career, right?"

"Supposedly." He closed his eyes depressed and he slumped against a near by wall before sliding to the ground.

Ruin almost smirked as she remembered a previous conversation held there with Amber, herself and Tala when they were younger -only in second year- when they'd argued over whether that wall had always been there or not. Tala looked up to see the glint of amusement in her eyes.

"What?"

"Was that wall always there?" she asked calmly leaning against it folded her arms across her abdomen.

He stared at her bewildered for a few seconds before the confusion cleared to be replaced with amusement which made his vibrant turquoise eyes twinkle. A fond smile curved her lips.

"That's better," she murmured.

For all that had happened between them he was still her friend and she couldn't blame him for doing what others thought about doing themselves. Besides there was this tiny part of her that still believed that he hadn't passed on their secrets. He was one of her best friends; she knew he wouldn't betray them so callously.

She studied him in the waning daylight. His skin was still that pale perfection of porcelain with those prominent cheek bones. Sometimes she'd wondered whether it was as smooth as it looked. His eyes were a vibrant cerulean blue framed by thick black lashes and always seemed to carry an amused glint in them as though he knew a joke that no one else knew. More than likely the joke was the people themselves. He still wore his red hair in that wing shape and though she'd never understood why, it suited him and then the two bangs which fluttered down the centre of his face always drew attention to his eyes. He hadn't changed much, she mused apart from the height and the broadening of the shoulders; he was still as lean as ever and his face was still as striking. It was the type of face you'd turn to look at again if you passed him by in a busy street. He was eye-catching and he still had the ability to make her catch her breath.

But as well as that he was also incredibly smart, quick-witted, was able to think on his feet and he was forever able to plot schemes without much thought or planning. Things just came to him and his was a genius when it came to figures. Personally Ruin believed he had a computer for a brain, for some insane reason he could remember everything, something to do with his photographic memory. It had always pissed her off how he could go without studying then ace exams by just calling a particular image to his mind. Amber had something similar only it was a lot weaker. So Ruin supposed he could have been a very good spy, he'd only have to glimpse one of Kenny's plays and he'd be able to pass everything on to their opponents in great detail.

While Ruin was conducting her study of him, Tala was doing his own on her. She had changed but how was hard to say. Ruin wore a multitude of masks depending on her mood but for once he felt as though he was seeing the real her. No matter her cold exterior she was a very understanding person, maybe because she didn't think being selfish was a bad thing and she didn't believe that anyone should be loyal to her like Amber did. She accepted people for who they were and though she liked it when people did the same for her, she didn't expect it. It was one of the things he'd admired most about her. She didn't want him to be some flirty guy or someone aloof, she just wanted people to be themselves and when they weren't she'd know and she'd cut them down to size.

Just as she'd understood him, he understood her. Years of just sitting on the roof watching the stars or just the sky and talking had given him a knowledge of who exactly Morrigan 'Ruin' Mulryan was. Apart from stunning looks which she never used to her advantage unless completely necessary she was also a very vulnerable young woman. He'd never thought the word girl when with Ruin; she was always so much more mature than everyone else. She'd been the link for the trio's friendship. Though he and Amber had always been close, things had just been sealed when Ruin joined. Sometimes Amber could be immature and when he got fed up with her naiveté he'd talk to Ruin and vice versa. He couldn't imagine a time without Ruin; though she may never have joined in as much in their pranks she was always there to remind them of what idiots and children they were. He saw her as a female Kai; maybe that was why he'd gotten along so well with the captain of the sharks. Though of course there were differences. Very big differences.

She had the type of looks that could turn a mans head but it was her attitude that tended to keep people away and possibly the stud in her nose and under her eye brown, though the one in her nose he realized was missing. Her hair was now longer than it had once been, falling down around her shoulders and the red and blue streaks were gone and instead there was thick wine red streaks, but they blended in so well that you'd never know they weren't natural. Her bangs were cut straight across her brow so that they no longer hung choppily into those heavily lashed coffee brown eyes. For the most times those eyes were cold and empty of emotion except maybe bemusement -everything and everyone was an eternal joke to her. Tonight those eyes were warm and soft almost like pools of dark chocolate you could just sink into willingly. Her skin was flawless and more surprisingly naked. Usually Ruin liked to place a layer of pale foundation on her skin to make it paler than it already was, but today there wasn't a trace of makeup. If there was something that he'd always disliked then it was the makeup she caked on to her face. But even so her lips were still colored in a purple which shone metallic when the light hit it and her eyes were darkened with a smoldering grey and black liquid liner.

"You changed," He commented.

She rolled her eyes at him before gracefully lowering herself to the ground beside him ignoring the dew that was beginning to soak into her black jeans. "Of course I've changed. You expected me to remain the same forever?"

Tala shot her a wolfish grin. "I was actually referring to your clothes and make up. You were wearing black lipstick before hand and now purple. And thinking about it you were a completely different person before hand."

She gave another subtle roll of her eyes. "I was pissed by the fact that first of all you never told me you were back and secondly, I had to beat your ass before Amber came in. Trust me it was for your own good that I got you before she did. I was furious with you; I still am," she added as an after thought.

He nodded and looked down at the grass before taking a blade and twirling it between his long slim fingers. "I know. I have a lot to make up for. Though I don't know how you finding me and attempting to castrate me and then crush my windpipe would be better than Amber finding me."

"If I'd attempted to castrate you then little Tala wouldn't be here. You know I don't make threats; I make promises. And we once promised to always be there for each other, and I will respect that promise." She got to her feet and brushed down the back of her pants while Tala secretly enjoyed the view until she turned round and offered her hand. "I won't make it easy for you, but don't make me regret my decision."

He took the hand she offered and helped her pull him to his feet. "I won't, not purposely."

"Good."

She looked at him silently for a few seconds, as though having an eternal battle with herself. Then she slid her arms around his waist and rested her head on his shoulders. Surprised Tala stood stock still for a second, then just as tentatively he wound his arms around her and held her tightly. Relief rushed through him as he hugged his best friend tightly.

"Welcome back, Tala."

He exhaled slowly before drawing in her familiar scent which hadn't changed. "It's good to be back."

Slightly embarrassed she pulled away then lifting her deserted bag she walked off towards the quad; then just like Amber she stopped and looked back. "Hey, are you coming to the game tonight?"

He shrugged. "I don't know. I don't think the team would welcome me there."

"True. But if you support us then you might just win some brownie points with them, and we all know how much you'd love that."

He chuckled at the slight dig watching as she blended into the darkness. So at least his Ruin was talking to him, but he knew that if push came to shove then her loyalty would be to Amber but then again he also knew that Ruin would work hard to prevent it coming to that. With a lighter heart he began to walk off towards his new and dorm. Wouldn't be the same without Kai bunking with him. He'd gotten so used to sharing a room with the captain of the Sharks; they shared the same music taste and love of hockey so it hadn't been a hard adjustment. What he was now looking forward to was seeing his best male friend in a few hours back on his own turf. Preston Academy wasn't home any more, once it had been, once being with Ruin and Amber had been home but now with Amber shunning him and Ruin waiting for him to fuck everything up Preston Academy wouldn't be home for a long time.

* * *

The dorm was empty but still warm. The walls were plain and painted a light shade of lavender, it had once been pink but the girls hadn't liked it and had asked Mr. Dickinson to change the color. Eight beds lined the walls each with a bedside locker. Posters were stuck to the walls randomly and looked more like a collage. Brody Dalle, Gwen Steffani, Kurt Cobain, Linkin Park, Chester from Linkin Park, Lost Prophets, David Boreanaz, SOAD, Off Spring, Cranberries, Ash and loads more including drawings from the more artistic of the dorm mates. The pictures personalized the room. It was a good thing the girls had so many things in common, it made living together in such close quarters more livable and much more enjoyable. One of the beds was totally empty with no books or drinks on the locker; there was even a layer of dust along the surface. It belonged to a missing member of the group. By a window over looking the quad she stood contemplating what had just happened.

Why hadn't he stayed away? Things would have been so much easier. Who did he think he was? And why the hell had she almost burst into tears? In all of her life Amber Benson had never felt so alone.

She flopped back on her bed and closed her eyes listening to the distant din of the students echoing through the hollow halls of the boarding wing. Her dorm was silent. Miyami and Johnny were off somewhere doing something. Miyami had been very vague when she breezed into the dorm before leaving again. You couldn't really keep track on Ruin. Arista went off with Kane and Ozuma to raid the kitchen for the party which would be held later on regardless of whether they won or not. Sonia and Aspin hadn't returned and Shahero was in detention yet again for knocking out a ref at their last match so therefore she'd been banned from playing for two whole matches. The Tigers were really going to miss her tonight. Though, technically, she was in trouble more times than enough for roughing with opponents and slagging the refs. off.

The door burst open and slammed off the wall almost rebounding on the intruder to her peace. Amber opened one eye.

"Speak of the devil," she muttered before sitting up slowly, nursing her head which had began to spin.

Shahero rose a brow; then shrugging crossed to the radio. "So how was practice?"

"A real blast if you count the cunt from hell turning up."

Shahero paused in what she was doing, her sapphire blue eyes flashing. She knew all too well who the cunt from hell was and she knew all too well what he'd done to Amber. "He what?"

"He turned up and expected us to welcome him with open arms."

"Please tell me you're kidding."

"Yeah I was just fooling ya," the ochre eyed teen stated loftily rising to her feet, reaching over to snag her _Lost Prophets _hoody from a near by chair.

"Well fucking hell," Shahero whispered, blowing out a puff of air which fluttered a stray strand of midnight blue hair. Her hair was black and shoulder length streaked with midnight blue and silver. Her eyes sapphire blue which darkened when she was pissed and she could easily get pissed. Right now she was pissed.

"Yup."

"Has he tried to talk to you?"

"Yeah he pulled a vampire and tried to sneak up on me in the dark." The taller by two inches girl -which put her at 5ft 3"- shrugged on her hoody and pulled down the sleeves as though trying to hide.

Shahero was seething; she grabbed the nearest thing which happened to be a biology book and hurled it at the wall. Amber jumped at the thud then rubbed her hands over her face.

"You can chuck something at him later."

A smirk played on the blue eyed girls lips. "He'll be at the match won't he?"

Amber glanced up, ochre eyes widening as she realized what Shahero meant. "Hero, no! No, you are not going to kill him at the game. Think of the witnesses. Use some initiative and kill him away from unwanted spectators."

"And wanted spectators are welcome?"

"Sure. But that'll be you, me, Ruin, Yami, Johnny… why don't I just say the whole team and leave it at that."

"Ruin?"

"Yeah why not?"

"Just that I don't know… yeah, you're right Ruin would want him dead."

"Exactly," Amber stated cheerfully, but despite the cheerfulness she showed a niggle of doubt had wormed its way into her mind. There had always been something between Ruin and Tala, something she could never touch. So maybe Ruin wouldn't be as eager for his death as the rest of them would be.

"Ok you need cheering up." With that Shahero selected a CD and placing it in the CD player, programmed in Amber's and her favorite song.

The Irish teen jerked her head up and instantly brightened as she began to sing along.

_"Got it all too high/Got it figured out/I wanna do whatever/Laugh until September/And I seem to think/That you are one to be with me/Maybe I was wrong/You were moving on-"_

_"And I sit and wonder/Falling under/Get my way or nothing will move on"_

Shahero continued singing the second stanza with both girls joining together to sing the chorus while jumping on Ambers' bed not paying much attention to the fact that they'd probably end up pushing a spring out.

_"Everyone has gone/you feel so empty, but I've got me a friend/and I like it_._"_

Amber felt her depression melt away as she bounced on her worn mattress with one of her best friends. Laughter bubbled out and they both gasped for breath so they could sing the next part.

_"And I know you say I can care for someone/But are you that clever that you smile forever?/If it's something like here/Cause I just don't feel it/Baby it's a treaty/ Maybe you are not her-"_

There voices easily rose over Ian Watkin's in the confines of their dorm but as oxygen depleted in their lungs he could still be heard.

_"And I sit and wonder/ Falling under/ Get my way or nothing will move on.../ Everyone has gone/ You feel so empty, but I've got me a friend/ And I like it."_

Amber took a deep breath to sing out again but it whooshed out as the door burst open and Sonia Martini rushed in looking out of breath and very disturbed followed by Kirby Preston-Lee, Ambers' fifteen year old cousin.

Exchanging confused glances Amber and Shahero stumbled off the bed grabbing on to each other so that their legs wouldn't give out beneath them. Ambers' legs felt like jelly, her lungs were burning from lack of oxygen and her heart was beating erratically while her head buzzed. Adrenaline was pumping through her like a drug and it made it hard for her to think properly so she just motioned for Sonia to speak.

"Um... I don't know how to tell you this, but I figured it would be better to come from me -"

"We just saw Tala fucking Valkov as bold as brass walking through the quad," Kirby jumped in ignoring the dark look the older girl shot her as her ruby eyes focused on her cousin who seemed to be taking the news very calmly. "Did you hear me? Tala Valkov, more commonly known by you as the cunt from hell, come on Ams!"

Shahero rolled her eyes and flopped down on the bed. "She heard you and she already knows. Supposedly he turned up to practice this evening."

Red eyes widened impossibly. "No way, wait till I tell the guys. Oh no, Davidoff, he doesn't know I bet you."

Amber blinked out of her stupor and zeroed in on her cousin. "Miguel, I forgot about him. You don't think he knew about Valkov transferring here, do you?"

"Hold up you never said he was transferring here, merely that he showed up to practice," Shahero butted in.

"Are you serious?" Sonia whispered.

"Deadly," Amber replied as she chewed her lip fretfully but her mind wasn't on her friends' questions but on the platinum blonde captain of the JV team who was also Tala's cousin. "Miguel and Tala were pretty close right?"

Kirby shook her head obviously not pleased with her cousin's train of thought. "Oh no Amber, he would have told me if that was the case."

"Oh really?" Shahero teased with a grin as the younger girl blushed faintly and spluttered.

"Oh it's not like that! I'm his vice captain."

"That doesn't mean anything," Sonia added. "It's not like Ray tells Ozuma about his personal life."

"And we all know if Ray told Ozuma anything then Sonia would know about it."

"Shut up, Hero."

"Make me."

"I..." Sonia folded her arms and huffed by thumping down on to her bed in the corner and drew her curtain around her.

"Oh come o,n Sonia, I didn't mean anything by it. It's just everyone knows there's something going on between you two."

"No there isn't and you just wait till I find out who you have a crush on and then I'll make your life hell."

"You'll never find out because I don't like any of the losers in this school."

"You sure there's nothing between you and Bryan?" Kirby teased.

"Ew! Bry's like an older brother to me, oh ew! You have a sick mind peanut."

Kirby cringed at the nick name her captain continuously referred to her as. "Don't call me that."

"No that's Miguel's pet name for her." Amber joined in on the teasing of her cousin but the tone was bored and distracted. "Yo Kirb's you couldn't find out from your captain if he knew anything about Valkov transferring here, could you?"

"Amber he would have told someone if he knew." she sighed at the pointed look from the ochre eyed teen who was also like an older sister to her. "Oh fine then."

"Shut up Hillary!"

All the occupants started as their other friend Aspin Grant bellowed and slammed the door shut behind her. Slumping against it she turned to regard her friends who were all staring at her. "What?"

"Hills being a pain again?"

Aspin nodded tucking her lavender strands behind her ear. "Yeah, that girl really gets on my nerves."

"You're not the only one. I swear if she disses Tyson one more time then I'll hit her." Kirby threatened menacingly.

"You'll have to join the queue." Shahero informed her tapping her hands lightly against her knees in time to _'Fake sound of Progress'_.

"Yeah probably. Joseph wants to hit her for making him late for Math so he ended up missing the first fifteen minutes of his exam and now he has to do a make up test tomorrow."

Shahero winced in sympathy for Kirby's friend and member of the JV team. "That's so unfair, if we attended a day school we wouldn't have to do tests on a Saturday."

"So what's Hillary looking for?" Amber questioned settling herself on her bed, tucking her legs underneath her.

"Money wouldn't you know."

"What's it for this time?" Kirby directed the question to Aspin who shrugged.

"Teacher retiring or something, prefects want to get him a present," Shahero answered.

"Oh hey Sonia, I'll get you the money tomorrow once I go to the bank because at the moment I'm broke."

"Sure no problem Ams."

"Come out Sonia, I'm not going to mention Ozuma any more." Shahero drawled fixing her blue eyes on the silhouette of the Australian girl from behind the drapes.

"Yeah, yeah I'll be out in a min, alright?"

"Good," she muttered quietly so that the red head wouldn't hear her and get more uptight. "I still can't believe that Valkov is transferring here."

"Has transferred. Present not future tense," Amber corrected glumly. "There's not much we can do about it, anyway."

"Am I hearing right? Valkov, Tala Valkov is here, at this school, at this point in time?" Aspin wondered out loud.

"Yup."

"Whoa," she breathed moving to sit beside Kirby on her bed. "Well that's... whoa."

"Mmm-hmm."

"Why do you think he transferred? Last time we all saw him he seemed perfectly happy at Clonmel. You don't think he got in trouble or something, do you? Or maybe being at an all boy school... you know he might have did an Oliver."

All three seniors gaped at the sophomore then chuckled at the innuendo.

"Kirby... you really...ahh!" Amber made a grossed out face.

"Well it's a possibility, I mean after all they share dorms."

"So do the boys - so do _we,_" Shahero stated amused.

"Yes, but the difference is that our boys share a dorm between four or six, they on the other hand share a dorm with one other. Major difference. Who knows what went on behind close doors."

"Kirby Nicole Preston-Lee. Don't make me tell your mother what you're saying."

"I'm not...ok yes I may be insinuating that Tala may have been removed because he and his dorm mate were gay. It's a possibility and it would also be a real shame. He may be a lying cheating scum bag, but at least he's an incredibly hot one."

Amber did her best fish impersonation. "I've created a monster."

Shahero laughed. "What would Mikel say if he knew you had the hots for his older cousin?"

The teal haired girl shrugged. "Who cares? Besides I totally support Amber in what ever her decision may be, so if she wants me to never speak or look at Tala again, then I shall do so willingly and without objection."

Aspin chuckled and rose heading over to Sonia's bed and parting the curtain headed into the cubicle. As soon as she'd disappeared Shahero turned to Amber and inclined her head towards the curtained bed.

"What's with Sunny-D?"

Amber shrugged. "Maybe it's her time of the month."

"I just got the distinct feeling she's pissed with me, and I don't remember doing anything to her. I was only messing with her over Ozuma, I mean it's not like it's a big secret that she has a crush on him."

"I know and my cousin likes her, so I don't know what the deal is."

"He went out with Kennedie remember? So of course she's not going to be so thrilled about liking him. She's always felt second best to her cousin."

Amber nodded at her youngest cousin's comment. Ozuma dating Kennedie near the end of last year hadn't been one of his best moves and Sonia had been crushed and then finally he'd realized that he had only dated Kennedie because she looked like the Australian prefect. But the damage had already been done. Ozuma was a real idiot at times.

"I guess we're going to have to match make," she stated.

Shahero smirked. "Match making the match maker, huh? Yeah let's do it."

"I'm in. But I think it's a bit hypocritical that you two should match make her when you don't have a guy yourselves."

"There are no guys at this school. Nearly all the decent guys are like my brothers, being with one of them would be as unsatisfying as a tie."

Shahero chuckled at Amber's simile. "Exactly. Besides, I've only broke up with that jerk."

"He deserved it," Amber stated while Kirby looked confused.

"Well fine, but Sonia's going to be so pissed with us if she finds out."

"So we won't let her." Shahero smirked and prompted one of Amber's.

The youngest female looked from Shahero to Amber and shrugged. Sometimes she believed she was the only sane on in that group. A bell buzzed and echoed through the school like an alarm.

"Dinner bell. We'd better head off. Don't want to miss Mr. Dickinson's pep talk," Shahero said with fake enthusiasm as she rose and pulled Amber up and Kirby up with her.

Aspin and Sonia appeared and walked out of the dorm and after exchanging glances the other three followed.

* * *

The flood lamps illuminated the path down to the Sports Hall. Leaves crunched under the feet as Miyami, Amber and Ruin made their way to the game. Each girl was silent all taking the time to think about the upcoming match.

"We're fucked," Miyami's voice cut through the lengthy silence.

"Screwed," Amber agreed.

"Hn," Ruin grunted her mind preoccupied by the Russian red head.

Both younger girls exchanged bemused glances at the Goth girl's refusal to make a comment. They shrugged then turned their gaze to the sky.

"Fuck it's cloudy."

"No shooting stars for us."

"Wouldn't help anyway."

"Oh lighten up Ruiny, you don't have to be a bitch all the time."

"_A_ bitch? Ruin is _the _Bitch!" Miyami laughed at the dark look Ruin shot her.

"Hey crush the Sharks tonight!" a voice called out to them and they gave the person a thumbs up but all the while they didn't believe they'd make true on the plea.

"Yeah kick their asses, Mimi."

"Thanks Tyson," Miyami called out to her cousin.

"Just don't get yourself beaten up in the process Kinomiya. You're too cute."

"Daichi Benson!" Amber snapped at her cousin, Ozuma's little brother.

"Uh sorry Am's, um you're cute too."

She closed her eyes in a silent prayer. "I wash my hands off you, you'll never learn manners."

"He's Seth's son what do you expect?"

Amber laughed out loud at Kirby's comment and walked in the main door and headed towards the changing rooms. Her thoughts turned towards the opposition.

"Do you suppose the Sharks are here yet?"

"I suppose," Mimi mumbled her silver eyes shifting over the various faces in the crowds milling towards the stands to watch the game.

"Man such a crowd," Amber murmured in awe.

"Yeah. So where do you think the guys will be sitting?"

"Behind our nets or theirs. Shahero likes to be up close to the action. But then again Arista wants to be able to study Mari's technique to tell her where she's going wrong."

"They'll be behind our nets, because that's where the action will be. There will be no shots at their goals tonight. We're on defence," Ruin stated.

"True. So...um... do you think Tala'll be around?" Amber asked aiming for casual but she failed miserably.

"Well speak of the devil."

They all turned in the direction the Japanese girl was gazing. There was the tall lanky red head making his way down one of the corridors. Amber frowned.

"Um guys, I'll catch up." With that she made her way to follow her ex-childhood friend.

Ruin and Miyami exchanged concerned glances before they both made up their minds and chased after their best friend.

* * *

Kai rolled his eyes as he noticed a group of school girls from Preston looking at him and giggling. Seemingly none of them seemed to have any loyalty to their school. That was something he didn't admire. He'd remember that when he joined the school. He watched boredly as a group of cheerleaders wandered past him and though they admired his looks, they didn't smile or approach him, merely made their way to the arena. So far he hadn't seen any of the people who would become his team mates. He wondered briefly where they were. Probably in the changing rooms, that's where his team was. He should have been with them but he wanted to get a feel for the school he'd soon be joining. He'd wanted to see some of the people he'd be interacting, before they turned completely hostile to him. He wanted to observe them in their natural habitat. A smile played on his lips at the phrase.

His gaze rose steadily when he heard footsteps approach. Surprise flitted over his features, then was absorbed back into his mask as he met the turquoise eyes of Tala Valkov.

"Tala."

"Kai." There was amusement twinkling in his eyes as he observed his friend.

"So what are you doing here?"

"I told you I was transferring back to my old school."

"Preston. How did I not know that?"

Tala shrugged. "You didn't ask and I didn't divulge."

Both boys chuckled. "So I guess you'll be cheering for the Tigers tonight."

"Well right now they hate my guts. I'm thinking of being neutral and just telling them I was rooting for them."

"Very nice," Kai mused. Well this made his transfer a lot easier on him. He was about to make a comment when a figure stepped out of the shadows. He recognized her vaguely as the female Benson. She didn't even look at him, her eyes a tawny color were fixed on Tala and her expression was filled with disgust and betrayal.

"I knew you were a..." she trailed off and regained her composure. "Fuck you Valkov, and Hiwatari-" she directed her gaze at him. "You're welcome to him."

With that she strode off in the opposite direction, head held high and fists clenched. A silver haired female teen -the female Kinomiya- chased after her. Kai smirked amused and was about to make a comment to his best friend when he saw the shell shocked expression he wore. For the first time in his life Kai saw Tala without the mask of arrogance. He looked broken and lost. But yet again before he could comment something interrupted him. This time it was a lone round of applause which echoed through the hall. A ebony haired Goth woman stalked towards them clapping slowly.

Clap, clap, clap.

"Well done Valkov. Kudos to you. You've lost her for good." With that she turned round. "And you've lost me."

Kai's brow crinkled in bewilderment. He waited until she'd walked out of hearing range. "Are all the girls here so... I'll use emotional for lack of a better word."

Tala shook his head, and tucked his tongue in his cheek. "You've just witnessed some of the most apathetic women in this school break."

"Nice one, you've only been here what a day and already you have two girls crying over you."

Tala sighed. "You don't understand. That was Rath and Ruin."

The names were familiar. "Rath and Ruin, your girls?"

"Yeah my girls." There was grief in the way he said it.

"Well if you need to talk then I'll see you after the game. I have some news you might like."

Tala tore his gaze away from the corridor the girls had disappeared to look at the only friend he seemed to have at the moment and he felt hollow. "Yeah yeah. I better go secure a good seat."

Kai smirked. "Get one behind their nets, so you can see all the goals I score against them." With a chuckle he strode towards the changing room where the rest of his team were.


	3. Game over!

**Disclaimer**: _I don't own Beyblade and I only own Amber Benson and Ruin Mulryan. Miyami belongs to __**ChibiTari/Unlucky Star**__. Arista Belyaev was invented by __**AzN*PyRo*ArCaDa**__. And __**Animerle**__ owns Aspin. While Sonia belongs to __**Spitfire_Sae**__ and Kirby is the creation of __**Kindred Insanity**__. Shahero comes compliments of __**Animesk8er**__._

**Bold**: Commentator/Joseph/Johnny

_Italics_: Amber

_**Bold Italics**_: Johnny and Amber (will make sense later.)

* * *

Chapter Three: Game over!

* * *

The crowd was cheering as they waited for the teams to appear. The band had everyone going playing fast tempo beats to entertain the crowds as they waited. Tala stepped up the bleachers behind the Tigers nets taking a seat directly behind a familiar group of girls. One of which was his ex-vice captain, Shahero Kaeto. He knew sitting behind her wasn't exactly one of his smartest moves, she was well known for her vile temper and he figured that was why she wasn't on the ice at the moment in time. He let his cerulean blue eyes scan for Amber or Ruin, but he could see none of them yet. Kai was waiting to come onto the ice. He could see him talking to his team and coach as they looked into the crowds. Tala smirked; he could remember how it felt waiting for the game to start. The buzz of adrenaline in your ears which had your blood pumping through your veins. It was addictive, only matched when you won.

He looked up as the commentators voice (another student) came out over the speaker. Well he'd actually always been talking, but it had been about the hostility between the two teams and Tala had tuned the meaningless banter out. Now he listened in.

"**Okay and here they come, the Sharks are being led out by there Captain Kai Hiwatari number 56 while the Tigers will be led out by their Captain Rei Kon number 16. This should be an interesting match. Last time these two played each other it came down to penalties and the Sharks won with Tala Valkov's excellent shot. Though this year we were surprised to see that Valkov isn't playing for the Sharks. It will make this match a little more interesting since the Tigers aren't playing with their usual number 1 goalie, Arista Belyaev who isn't playing this time due to the leg injury she received last season. We hope she gets better soon. And they are also missing Shahero Kaeto who isn't playing due to a nasty encounter with a ref. in their last game. I'm betting she regrets that now.**"

Tala watched with slight pride as his team was led out by his best friend who sported the captains C on his black and grey uniform. Kai circled round the ice getting a feel for it, unconsciously his gaze scanned for his country man who nodded at him. His fans were all sitting around the bleachers cheering for them, but he recognized very few of them. He never paid much attention to his supporters, preferring to concentrate on his game. He glided back towards the rest of the team and slid into the bench to listen to his father's pep talk.

"**And here come the Tigers!**"

Rei took a deep breath before stepping out onto the ice followed by his team. Amber and Miyami followed together, scanning for Tala. Frowning they followed Rei to the box. Coach McGuire let his gaze roam over the opposing team and his eyes locked on Amber as she scanned the stands an obvious scowl on her face.

"Amber, keep your emotions in check."

"Oh they'll be in check alright," she replied darkly.

"Right you guys can beat this team, you've worked hard and you deserve it. So you go out there and win, but remember to have a good time. Remember hockey is also about having fun, don't be too careless, but don't be too careful."

"Sir, yes sir!" Ian quipped saluting.

"We know who's starting up, Kon, Mulryan, Malkovich, Benson and Benson."

The five of them nodded and giving Mariah a reassuring smile they moved off to warm up. Amber skated round the rink taking in her friends who were scattered round the stands.

"Go Amber! Kick some butt!"

She grinned as Shahero's voice called out over the other cheers. Frowning she tried to make out where she was. Then she spotted her beside Aspin, Sonia and Arista. She waved, though it seemed a little awkward what with the gloves she was wearing. Her smile rapidly disappeared when she caught sight of Tala standing behind them.

Shahero frowned when Amber lost her smile. Glancing over her shoulder she growled when her eyes locked on the red head behind her. "Valkov."

"Shahero, long time no-"

"Don't even try it _traitor_."

"Don't you guys get bored with calling me names?"

"Not really."

"Shahero leave it, he's not worth it," Arista ordered coolly making Tala flinch. Arista was his ex-girlfriend and they'd parted on pretty good terms even remaining friends, now she wouldn't even look at him.

Sonia haughtily turned away and concentrated on the game which was about to start. "Go Tigers go!"

Aspin clapped her hands together. "Yeah, come on Tigers show these Sharks who's boss."

Arista chuckled and leaned into Shahero. "It's so nice how they still support our team even though they're heading towards defeat."

The black haired girl shook her head, face expressionless, eyes dark and cold. "They won't give up without a fight. We're the better team this time; the Sharks are down some of their valuable players. None of them have the brute strength ta go up against Bry and Spence so that should level the playing field. I still don't understand why Tyson ain't playing."

The female Russian made a face as her blue eyes flecked with amber flicked to where the navy haired boy sat talking to the JV hockey team. "He injured himself during practice. Not sure how though."

"If it was anyone else, I'd say they were afraid of going up against the Sharks."

"Yeah but it's Tyson, even if the odds are stacked, he'll still face the fight with optimism."

"**Okay and the referee is ready to start the game. The Tigers are starting with Rei Kon number 16, Ozuma Benson 12, Ruin Mulryan 5, Bryan Malkovich 44, and Amber 'the sharp shooter' Benson 9. Mariah Tanaka is starting in the nets. Where as the Sharks are starting with Kai Hiwatari number 56, Brooklyn Adams 15, Carlos Sonchez 7, Mark Robertson 66, and David Conway 25. Steven Bordeaux's starting for the Sharks in the nets**."

Mariah headed to her nets and slapped her stick against her nets, ready to save as many goals possible. Her golden eyes sought out Arista in the crowd and the girl gave her a reassuring nod which calmed her nerves. She could do this.

Rei glided over to the centre for the face off, squaring up against Kai Hiwatari. "Lets do this."

Kai smirked at the Chinese teen and raised a brow. "Whatever." He took in the position of the other players. Both Bensons' were playing forward; Mulryan and Malkovich were playing defense, so there was no big surprise for him there.

The referee came to a stop beside them and looked at both of them, the puck clutched in his hands. "Ok, I want a good clean game, no fighting."

Both boys nodded, clashing their sticks together ready to fight for the puck when it was dropped. As soon as it was dropped Rei slammed up against Kai trying to keep him busy but Kai's stick tapped the puck to one of his team mates. He shrugged Rei off and made a move to get the puck from number 66. Ruin slammed into 66 before he got a chance to pass it and took it down the ice but she was tackled by Carlos. She hit the ice with a force, and glowered at the bulky teen before her. Seething she clambered to her feet swearing revenge.

"**Oh and that was a nice tackle by Carlos Sonchez number 7, and number 25 is down, who is that? Yes number 25 David Conway has been taken down by Bryan Malkovich. Ozuma Benson with the puck, he's speeding down the ice, and he trips and falls, he glides right into barrier, obviously that was a penalty yet the Ref isn't calling anything. Amber Benson -jeez this is going to be confusing- with the puck, she heads down the ice, she dodges two defenders, a third, she takes a shot at the goalie... Oh, he came up fast, he's frozen the puck.**"

Amber turned away from the net and slid over to where they were taking the face off. Well that sucked, she thought dryly.

Ozuma grinned at his cousin, coming up to place an arm round her shoulder. "Nice shot Ams. Pity it was saved."

"Yeah, hey you ok?"

"Yeah, though I was worried the coach was going to bring me off."

Amber nodded, then took up her position.

The referee dropped the puck and Kai took it into the opponents half. He caught sight of Malkovich and Mulryan coming towards him. He ducked under Bryan and avoided Ruin giving him a straight path to the nets. Mariah looked worried as she saw the captain skating towards her. She had no defense, but she could do this. She was sure she could do this. Oh god let her do this. Ok maybe she couldn't.

"Defense, Defense, where's my D?"

Amber growled before racing after him, but he passed to Brooklyn who passed the puck behind the nets. She could have cursed as Mariah went to get it, but Carlos got in her way. Number 25 took the puck out and passed it to Kai.

"**Oh no, the Sharks have the puck and it's an open net. Hiwatari shoots, but Kon throws himself in front of it. Nice save by Rei Kon. Amber's got the puck, she passes it to her cousin which would be Ozuma Benson, can the coach please remove one of those Bensons, I'm getting confused?**"

As though hearing him, Coach McGuire called out on to the ice. "Giancarlo change it up!"

Enrique went out while Ozuma went in. The Sharks were bringing the puck up again, while Bryan took down another Shark. Amber captured the lost puck and was making her way to the opponents half when she found herself hitting the ground hard as Kai took her down. Furious she shook her head in disbelief and got to her feet quickly, moving back over to where the action was. What an ass?!

"**Benson's just been taken down, and Giancarlo is calling for the puck**."

Amber hip checked a gangly Shark and got the puck to pass it to Enrique hoping he wouldn't mess up. He took it down and took a shot.

"**He fires the puck. Oh and the Goalie saves it. Coach McGuire changes it up and Amber Benson goes in along with Kon and Miyami Kinomiya and Johnny McGregor head out**."

Kai smirked when he cradled the puck with his stick. Taking off he took it up not noticing when Bryan stuck his stick out to stop him. Cursing he tripped and fell flat on his face directly in front of the opposing teams' box. Fuming he got to his feet as they laughed at him.

"**The Referee has seen something, I'm not sure what but, yes that's Malkovich two minutes in the penalty box for tripping.**"

"No way he can't be serious," Amber yelled outraged as she got to her feet only to be tugged down by Michael.

Ruin winced. "Damn!" She didn't need her partner to be taken out.

Johnny -for the first time in his life- tried to reason with the Ref unsuccessfully. "Come on it wasn't a trip, it was a complete accident. Why wasn't Hiwatari looking where he was going?"

The Ref glowered haughtily at him as he pointed for Bryan to head to the penalty box. Coach McGuire threw his hands up in the air in frustration.

Ruin slid to a halt in front of the box. "Don't worry coach, we'll avenge Bryan."

"That's what I'm worried about."

Carlos took the puck up, while 66 and 25 headed in. He shot but Mariah's reflexes kicked in, she caught and froze the puck.

"**The Goalie's frozen the puck, and that's Kane Suzoru heading out again with Spencer Kaminov, while Mulryan and Giancarlo head in**."

Shahero winced as someone went down on the ice though she couldn't see who it was. She rolled her eyes as the commentator stated the obvious.

"**Taken Down**."

Well duh, she thought darkly. This wasn't good; her team was being taken down all over the ice. She casually glanced over her shoulder and caught the glint of pride in Tala's eyes. Traitor, she thought but that didn't satisfy her hatred for him. She wanted to hurt him but she wasn't sure on how amber would feel about it. No matter what the girl said, Shahero knew her and knew that Amber didn't necessarily mean it after all Tala had been her best friend. Feelings like that didn't die that easily. She'd make sure to find out what Amber thought first.

Miyami took the puck down followed by Kane and Johnny who took down anyone who made a move to attack her.

"**Kinomiya with the puck, Oh and Adams' been taken down by Suzoru, that has to hurt. McGregor with the puck, he passes to Kinomiya, she takes it down. Oh and she's slammed into the barrier by Hiwatari**."

"Hey sorry, but nice try."

Miyami growled. "I've not even started yet!"

She threw Kai off then moved to get the puck but the buzzer sounded, just as Bryan headed out.

Amber growled. "I don't like Hiwatari one bit, that guy's all over the ice and how come his coach doesn't do as many line changes as ours does?"

"Suck it up!"

"I'm sorry my nose isn't as big as yours, Ian," she bit back with a slight smile as her gaze picked out Shahero from the crowd.

Michael chuckled but said nothing as he sat between them. "We're getting our butts kicked."

"We're not. We've had more possession and more tries at the net," Ruin corrected.

"Who would have thought Ruin would be an optimist?" Amber quipped.

In the next booth Coach Nicolai Hiwatari studied his new team to be. They looked glum and beat and it was only the end of the first half. Another forty minutes to go and his boys weren't even trying. This team was in serious need of discipline; they were all over the ice. Smirking he watched as his team rejoined him at the box.

* * *

**"Here we are for the second period. And there's been a line change for the Tigers. Johnny McGregor to take the face off, he passes to Max Tate, oh and he goes down, Kane Suzoru with the puck passes to Kinomiya, and was that a hooking? Kinomiya goes down by the stick of Gunner Thompson that was definitely a hooking though the referee is calling nothing, he seems to be turning a blind eye to everything the Sharks do**."

"Hey Ref call something!" McGuire yelled angrily.

"Hey Ref, see that thing around your neck, it's called a whistle try blowing it sometime. If you want..."

Before Amber could say anything else Rei slapped his palm over her mouth. Kai who'd witnessed the whole thing chuckled before returning to the game.

"**Kinomiya goes in, I wonder who Coach McGuire will send out?**"

"Right Amber change it up."

She nodded purposefully, desperately wanting a go at Hiwatari for laughing at her. Stupid prat, he'd regret that and for checking Amber. Oh yeah he was going to regret it. Rei caught her hand before she could leave.

"Hey Ams, be careful, they're gunning for you."

Amber nodded gratefully, and hi-fived Miyami before she took her rightful place on the ice.

"**And that's Amber Benson coming out, and she looks like she's out to do some damage.**"

Amber smirked hearing the commentator's statement. She skated out, a face like thunder, as her eyes sought out Hiwatari. Finding him she chased down the right wing and using her momentum she crashed into the defender who had the puck.

"**Look out you're going down**."

Johnny took the puck over the blue line. Amber took another down before she was taken down by the Sharks enforcer.

"Owie, that hurt," she remarked bitterly. She grimaced as she got to her feet. The Sharks were still so strong and they were without some of their better players.

"Change it up!"

Johnny, Kane and Max headed in as Rei, Michael, and Ian came out. Ian and Bryan took down the Enforcers. Amber fought with Kai over the puck.

"Piss off, minx!"

"Kiss my ass," she ground out as they fought to keep on their feet. She backed off as Rei got the puck and passed it to Michael who raced down the ice and shot.

"**The Goalie catches the puck**."

"Oh fuck!"

Michael realized that he was going to fast and the whole stadium winced as he crashed into the barrier. Sonia gasped and it took all of Shahero's strength to keep her in her seat.

"**Oh and Parker, number 35 takes a nasty fall**!"

"Sit down, Sonia. He'll be fine, hence why we wear all that padding." she growled exchanging anxious glances with Arista. Their teammates were getting tired but the Sharks seemed fresh as daisies.

The next ten minutes passed in a blur as the Tigers tried desperately to stop all goals being shot at their nets but they had a guess that the Sharks were saving everything for the next period. It wasn't looking good at all.

* * *

"**Here we are for the third and final period. So far the Tigers have been working desperately to keep the Sharks from scoring but they've been all over the place on the ice. They really aren't the dominant team on the ice tonight. The Sharks seemed to be back with renewed strength and what ever their coach has said to them in the interval has really lifted their spirits. So far the man of the match has been Kai Hiwatari. He's been cool and calm on the ice and has owned all the Tigers**."

"You're supposed to be supporting the Tigers!" a voice snapped.

The Tigers all looked towards the booth where the commentator was supposed to sit. Amber burst out laughing while Miyami grinned as they spotted Shahero wrestling with the commentator as Aspin and Sonia tried to remove her from the booth before a teacher noticed her.

"Well that was oddly entertaining," Miyami stated as she shuffled into the box.

"Yeah distracted me from the fact that we're about to lose."

"Look guys don't loose hope just yet," a voice called out to them, when they looked up Arista was standing behind the barrier, her injured foot hovering above the ground.

"Why entertain false hope? You're about to lose, deal with it."

Arista glowered at the cute carrot topped Shark who was looking very cocky at the moment. "Fuck off Adams. They won't lose."

"Keep hoping."

"Go away," Amber growled as McGuire wandered up.

"Clear off, Adams, you're not wanted here," he spat, then turned to the Sharks coach.

"Hiwatari keep your team in line and away from mine."

"Ooh that rhymed," the words tumbled out of her mouth as a reflex.

* * *

Kai glanced over at the Tigers through the clear plastic sheet that separated the two boxes. Their coach was rolling his eyes at something the ochre-eyed she-Benson had said while Kon was muttering something under his breath to his pink haired girlfriend and that one Parker. He knew he should have felt some kind of superiority seeing their defeat but he didn't. He sought out Tala in the crowd and watched as he got in some sort of verbal spar with the one they called Shahero. The Tigers were so... they needed leadership and some proper training. They let their emotions rule them. If someone ended up in the penalty box others felt they needed to go and avenge them. It was foolish sentimentality which was going to loose them the game. But, he thought, they had managed to keep them from scoring so far. If the game was a shut out at the end then they would earn his respect until then they were sorely lacking.

* * *

"**Ok and the Ref is now in a position to drop the puck**."

Rei took the face off and they were off. He took the puck past the neutral zone and into the attacking zone only to be tackled by number 45. The Shark passed to Kai, who cleared it. Bryan slammed a player in to the boards, while another enforcer took Ozuma down. Ruin tackled Kai and tried to pass to Amber, when Ruin was checked by Carlos again. That guy was seriously getting on her nerves.

"Ok I'm killing him," she declared to another Shark who smirked. "I don't know why you're smirking, I'll kill you next."

The Shark gulped at the look that came into her eyes before he skated off.

Amber watched as Kai easily ducked Bryan and circled out of Rei's way. He was so good at controlling that puck; it made her sick just watching him. Growling she took off after him, while Mariah called desperately for defense. They really didn't need to let them score. Before she could answer her friend's pleas she was checked hard enough into the boards that she saw stars.

"Ow. Crying out loud." Blinking away the dancing black spots she glared into the black eyes of Carlos. He smirked before heading up the ice. With a snarl she chased after him.

"Change it up!"

Ruin made a sound of disgust before skating towards the box. Her face was flushed and damp strands clung to her forehead, but she wasn't ready to head in yet. With a growl she let her gaze wander to the one person who'd been on her mind all through the game. He was watching avidly, his furrowed brow a clear indication that he was studying their weaknesses. She hated him for that.

Spencer scrambled over the small wall and looked to the female enforcer for advice.

"Take out their enforcers, make sure Amber is kept well away from Sonchez, he wants her blood, and I want his."

Spencer nodded immediately getting down to work by taking down one enforcer and a forward, while Kai took the puck down the ice taking a shot at the goalie. Mariah caught the puck in her glove. Freezing it and she gave it to the ref. He took it to the face off point and dropped it. Rei and Adams battled over the puck. Watching them, Amber saw her chance. Whipping round she went for the puck at the same time as Kai. He got it and took it down the ice only to be slammed into the board by the petite Irish girl with a vicious temper. She hissed as her foot was hooked from behind and she ended up kissing the ice. Out of reflex she stuck her foot out and caught Carlos. As soon as he fell down the whistle blew.

"Number 9, 2 minutes hooking."

"**Oh and there's Ams, I mean Amber Benson, being booked for hooking number 7 but to me it looked like she was hooked first. Seems the Ref may be a little biased, then again, thinking about this game he's been a whole lotta biased**."

Outraged cries and jeers came from the Tiger fans but there was nothing they could do. McGuire rubbed his hands over his face in frustration as he watched the volatile woman being approached by the ref.

She caught Kai's eye as she got to her feet. With a quirk of her lips she looked down at Carlos. "It was worth it."

She skated into the box feeling pissed with herself. She was leaving her team one man down which they really didn't need, but she'd been hooked first. The whole injustice of the situation wasn't lost on her. She managed a watery smile as Spencer and Bryan skated over before heading to the face off.

"Don't worry, Runt, we'll get them for you."

She shook her head sadly. "Don't bother Bry, that's what they want. The best thing you can do for me is to go out there and play your best and don't end up here. You hear me?"

Even though they both nodded, she had a feeling that they weren't listening. But still a slight smile graced her lips as she watched them glide off to knock Hiwatari to the ground. He got to his feet and shot a dark look directly at her making her pulse hitch. She stuck her tongue out.

"Yo, Ams."

"Huh?" Frowning, Ams tilted her head back to see who was talking to her. Shahero was bent over the back of the penalty box. "Oh hey. Suppity?"

"Look, if you're going to end up in the penalty box at least make one of them join you."

"And how do I do that?" Amber snapped, her temper flaring.

"Roughing," Shahero answered with a devious smirk.

"Righties." Amber nodded turning back to the ice to see Michael attack Adams to end up on the ice himself. "Ouch!" she commented with a wince.

"Oh and he's taken down."

Michael shook his head to rid it off the dazed feeling he had. "Man that guys tough, but I'm tougher." he muttered.

He raced of after Adams' and tackled him leaving him on the ice. He passed to Johnny, then turned to where Adams' was lying flat on his face and laughed out loud before rejoining the match. Number 72 took Johnny down viciously and took the puck off the ice before taking a shot at Mariah. She reached for it but her reflexes jumped in a second too late and the whirr of the alarm and the rotating light told her that they'd scored.

**"And the Clonmel Sharks score."** The sharks fans almost droned out the commentating who seemed very unenthusiastic.

"Damn!" she cursed.

"Hard luck, but nice try," Michael sympathized coming up to where she shuffled in front of the net while the Sharks celebrated and lights danced over the ice complete with music.

"Yeah, that was a tough shot," Johnny agreed.

"How are we suppose to win when they're cheating?" she demanded brokenly. "Amber's been put in for hooking when it was that guy Carlos who hooked her. Plus the fact that the Ref is obviously biased."

Johnny shrugged. "We just have to play hard and stand up for ourselves."

"Yeah against a bigger, faster, stronger team," Mariah muttered, watching them leave to take the face off. She looked up at Arista who smiled encouragingly down at her, but she still felt as though she'd let the team down. She followed Tala's gaze to Amber who was watching the Shark captain intensely. Dislike showed clearly on her features. After that prank, Amber wasn't exactly going to keep her emotions in check anymore, and Mariah was betting that was exactly what Hiwatari was hoping for.

**"Michael Parker taking the face off. Wonder how he can see anything with all that hair?"** the commentator mused.

Amber glanced up towards the commentators booth. He didn't sound like the same commentator they'd had at the start of the game. She wasn't surprised to see Joseph Tikashi, a member of the JV team and her cousins best friend, holding the mike and making rude gestures at the opposing team.

Michael took the face off and passed the puck to Johnny, who got taken down again by Hiwatari. He nestled the puck on the broad end of his stick and made his way towards the nets. His gaze wandered to Tala, and he was disturbed to see that the red head Russian was looking towards the boxes. His Rath and Ruin, he thought menacingly. He passed to Brooklyn and watched as the goalie went out to meet him not seeing Carlos heading in her direction. She yelped as Carlos took the legs out from under her and she hit the ice hard.

"**Really the Ref is being incredibly biased. That was clearly a full check. Hey Ref why don't you take your head out of your butt and pay attention!**"

"Hey, Ref call something!" Michael snarled.

"**The Sharp Shooter's out of the box and she's skating hard**."

Amber's two minutes were up. She vaulted out of the penalty box and skated furiously up the ice and tackled Adams viciously. "That's for your earlier comment."

"**Oops, down you go**!"

"Change it up!"

Johnny went in. Enrique came out. He skated and knocked Jose of his feet, before being squashed by Carlos and Trevor.

"Ow, I think I'll stick to slamming into the barriers."

He shook his head and watched as Amber went down awkwardly and Kai scored.

"**Score by the miserable **_*bleep*_** Sharks. They are really on a role. Hey here's an idea, how about we tie Tyson in the nets so they can't actually get anything past him, or better still Bryan. Anything so we don't suffer a humiliating defeat**!"

It seemed the Sharks were on a roll and the Tigers were exhausted. Trevor scored and so did Jose, while all this was going on most of the Tigers were lying on the ice.

Amber finally got the puck from where she'd been dallying about not being able to watch another goal go in. She sailed down the ice.

Coach Hiwatari sat up straight. "Take Her Down!"

Adams came up beside her, trying to steal the puck from her.

"Fuck off Adams!"

"Get out of my way Benson. Face it boys are better players than girls, so why don't you get off the ice?"

"I'm warning you!" she growled shoving her shoulder into his face.

"Heh, no wonder Valkov left your team, you guys are shit."

"Yeah and you guys win by cheating." she retorted lamely, that last comment stung.

In the battle to get control of the puck his stick linked with hers. Growling he began to pull it away from her. Being as stubborn as she was, she hung on. Brooklyn snarled and kept pulling until she cried out in agony and let go. She fell back onto the ice as her team came to her aid.

"Amber!" Shahero shouted from the crowds, already leaping to her feet only to be tugged down by Aspin. "Hey!"

"You're a spectator, spectate. You can't help her."

Kai skated up beside Brooklyn and watched as a medic and one of her cousins, the burly one nursed her wrist tenderly. "What did you do?"

Brooklyn shrugged nonchalantly. "Nothing much, just sprained her wrist."

Kai bit back a retort. She may have been a pain in his ass this night, since more than anyone he kept finding himself flat on his back around her but she had talent and he didn't want a soon-to-be team mate being taken out of the game by one of the Sharks. This wasn't going to make his transfer easier. It was a good thing none of the Sharks knew where he was going; it would have made this confrontation worse.

Rei pushed his way to his teammate's side as Miyami skated up as well. "Amber, are you ok?"

"Yeah, fine and dandy!" She tried to get up then gasped in excruciating pain. "Ok maybe not so much." She winced as the boys came to her side and helped her to her feet.

"What do you think you did to it?" Miyami inquired.

"I didn't do anything, he did!" she accused, pointing directly at Brooklyn who shrugged carelessly.

"Looks like you sprained it," Rei surmised. "Sorry but you're going to have to sit the rest of this game out."

She growled and if she'd been on solid ground she'd probably have stomped her foot, instead she settled for an icy glare directed at the two Sharks standing before her before the boys helped her to the box.

**"Seems like Ams ain't going to be playing anymore, real shame. And surprise, surprise, the Ref is still doing nothing. Don't make Refs like they use to."** Joseph chuckled then nervously shrugged off the look from one of the linesmen. **"Looks like Miyami Kinomiya will be taking over for Amber now."**

Amber watched helplessly as the Sharks scored again, they were on a winning streak and it wasn't good. Her gaze flicked to the time they had left 3 more minutes, but that was ages in ice hockey.

"Come on guys, hold on just a little longer," she whispered her silent mantra, while out loud she added. "Tighten up the defense."

"Take up the hitting. Bring them down!" Coach Hiwatari shouted.

"This is so not happening, they're leading us 4-0. Come on defense wake up!"

"Easy for her to say she's not out here!" Ian mumbled to Kane who nodded.

Ruin took a hard tackle and landed face down on the ice. Getting to her feet with a snarl she stormed after Adams. They had a score to settle. Adams sped off with the puck and took Ian down. And then he slammed Kane into the barrier only to be checked violently by Ruin and Ozuma, who both stood over him. They smirked before Ozuma took the puck down the ice. Ozuma ducked under a centre man and continued down the ice with the others flanking him, each having his back and keeping the others away from him.

"Yes! Come on O.Z!"

Kai's head jerked up from his folded arms as he rested in the box at Amber's cheer. Wide eyed he watched the Tigers make mince meat of their defense. He cursed harshly and got to his feet only to have his father shove him back down again. He winced as the alarm went off. They'd scored! And though his team had won, they acted like they had. They screamed and danced about the ice, all of them. Damn them, he thought with a grim smile, they'd actually scored. He actually hadn't thought they would. He glanced up at his father who nodded satisfactorily. They weren't a terrible team, they just needed some work and they'd be up to the Sharks standards in no time.

**"Oh yeah, we scored! Woot woot!" **In the booth Joseph began to dance with his best friend Kirby. Both their voices and cries of glee were heard. Even though they lost they'd still scored which was more than most did against the Sharks.

The buzzer sounded and the match was over.

Kai got to his feet and headed towards the changing rooms. He had to meet Tala. Just as he was about to move past the Tiger's Box a figure came out and bumped into him. The hiss of pain told him who it was even before he looked down.

She looked up at him and her brow furrowed over those ochre eyes bright with joy. "Hey, smile, you won."

He regarded her warily. Why didn't he feel like he had? His team was trudging towards the changing rooms, while others tried to lord their victory over the Tigers, but it seemed to him that the Tigers were more pleased with their one goal than anything else.

"How's your arm?"

She shrugged. "Meh, dunno. I'll go see the nurse, get the 411 later. Now we're going to party." Her lips curved in a bright smile as Shahero came up and slung her arm round her shoulders.

"You're going to have a party?" Brooklyn inquired, coming to a stop beside them. "I really hate to rain on your parade but you lost."

Amber shrugged. "Like that was a surprise. Besides, you fucked up my right arm, I can no longer write which means I can't do any school work until it's better. So you did me a favor."

Shahero's eyes widened. "Fuck no way! You don't have to do… aw no fair."

"Way fair." Amber grinned before turning to Brooklyn. "So, as you can see, I have every reason to celebrate."

"Maybe if you guys celebrated your losses, then maybe you wouldn't be such sour pusses!" Miyami stated coming up beside them.

"We don't lose,' Kai muttered.

"Uh-huh and you don't smile. Get a clue. You could be cute if you smiled," Amber stated in her usual light tone as she skated off to find the rest of her team. Shahero and Miyami linked arms as they both headed over to see where the party was going to be held.

* * *

Tala sat in the bleachers staring down at the empty rink below him. The teams had left to the changing rooms and all the students and fans had long left to go home or celebrate or whatever. He hadn't left because he was waiting for Kai. In the distance he could hear the laughs and shouts of his team mates. He could remember them celebrating when they'd lost when he'd been part of the team. Coach McGuire wasn't one to make a big deal of it when they lost. It wasn't important. The played hockey because they liked it and were good at it. Beside Hockey wasn't the main sport at Preston. Every one rallied around the soccer team, which were always going to championships and the sorts. If the soccer team lost it was a big deal, hockey was just a hobby to the school though some did actually support the team avidly and they always got a big turn out because it was entertaining.

Part of him wanted to go back to the senior common room where the team would be having their usual party but they'd shun him before he even got in the door. Of course, if he went up to the roof, he'd be able to watch them. Funny how he'd once been their captain and now had to sneak about to even look at them. He'd never actually thought that they'd hate him so much. He'd done nothing wrong by leaving to go to the Sharks. They were a superior team and they took their hockey seriously, the whole school did unlike Preston.

Though Clonmel hadn't been all that great. After all they weren't very tight, they didn't care much about others, just about bettering themselves and moving higher in life. Ambition was a blessing and a curse in that school. You were always watching your back and none of them knew how to have fun. It had bored him. He liked to have fun now and then as much as he liked proving he was a better person to others. He knew that the Sharks would head back to the school and though they wouldn't celebrate the same way as the Tigers would, they'd have their own kind of party. The big party usually happened when they won a championship, then they really celebrated and if they lost they'd get lectures and they'd be placed on a harder training regime. Losing wasn't an option at that school, their manager and co-coach Boris Balkof made sure of that. He was a scary man, no doubt about it. If Nicolai hadn't been there he dreaded to think how the team might have turned out.

To outsiders Boris seemed to be charming and intelligent. Everyone tended to admire him and his team, but it was all an act. Tala remembered Kai once coming back to the dorm completely soaked and with a fever because Boris had made him do 100 press ups outside in a storm because he'd been 10 minutes late while Nicolai had been out of town for the week. Tala had been the one to get the nurse for his friend which had surprised Kai because none of his other friends would have done that. They wouldn't have done anything to risk Boris's anger and besides they'd get to be captain if Kai couldn't be.

God that school had been a nightmare, Tala thought. Why the hell had he stayed there so long? Simple he'd been ashamed to come back after his dramatic exit. He'd told the boys when they'd burst into his dorm that he was leaving to be a better hockey player because they were beneath him. It had been a lie; he'd been cocky having been offered a place in such a prestigious hockey school. That's all he'd cared about. When he'd got there, he then realized his mistake. The team didn't like him but that hadn't bothered him, what had bothered him was that the sharks weren't any better it was just that they were more single minded compared to the Tigers who had lives away from hockey.

He sighed heavily. The Tigers had been his family, now he was disowned. It was a horrible thought.

* * *

"We are the champions-we are the champions-no time for losers-cuz we are the champions!"

Kai winced and glared at the three idiots singing on the bench, swaying drunkenly and leaning on each other for balance. With a growl he began to shove his kit into his duffel bag ignoring the rest of his ex-team. As off now he was no longer a Shark. He was a civilian of sorts with no real team until Monday. His father was going to take him home after he talked to Tala. Maybe he could convince Tala to come home with him since the guy seemed to be public enemy number one with the Tigers. He pulled on his denim jacket over his red T-shirt. He was wearing casual clothes since he didn't have to change back into his uniform. It felt good.

"Hey Kai, why aren't you in your uniform?" a teammate wondered out loud.

"Dude, don't you know he's going home this weekend, Daddy's taking him home for being a good little boy and scoring goals," another voice shouted out teasingly.

Kai tuned them out. They meant nothing to him now; he didn't have to grace them with any comments now they were no longer his teammates. It would be weird to leave a team, who even though they all disliked each other, secretly worshiped and were in awe of him. He'd be joining team that loathed him. Sure the girls had been perfectly civil to him tonight, because he was only their enemy when they were on the ice, but when he became a student here it would be very different. They wouldn't accept him especially with his father being their new coach. Funny how no one mentioned the fact that McGuire was leaving, maybe they didn't care who took over or maybe they had no idea it would be his father. But he knew they'd accuse his father of having favoritism towards him. Oh well he'd deal with that and the disdain of him being friends with Tala Valkov. They'd be hated together.

"We won Hiwatari, yet you look as though we lost," Brooklyn remarked dryly taking a seat on the bench beside his bag.

Kai looked down at him emotionlessly. "It was an empty win."

The red head scoffed. "Empty, pray tell how do you work that one out?"

"They were too wrapped up in the fact that Valkov was back to even concentrate on the game."

"Valkov?"

"Tala goes to Preston now, I though you would have known that." Kai smirked feeling satisfaction at knowing something that Adams didn't.

"Well then we'll get to crush him when we play them next time."

"Maybe," Kai murmured. "But next time the Sharks face the Tigers they won't be the same team. And the win won't be so easy."

"Yeah, right."

"Look they were down their number one goalie, they were missing Kaeto and you know she's damn tough to get past. Benson wasn't even thinking straight-"

"What makes you say that?"

"Did you see her sharp shot?"

Brooklyn considered then shook his head. "No I didn't, but so what?"

"Her mind wasn't on the game and every time she moved Carlos slammed into her, she would never have hooked him if she was thinking straight. She'd have been much subtler. Your uncle was fucking biased-"

"He was not."

"You're living in denial Adams. Even Dad knew he was being biased. Tyson Kinomiya one of their best players was out for injury. Malkovich was too busy concentrating on the Minx. Do I need to go on?"

Brooklyn shook his head. "Fine, it was an empty win but we still won. Our next win will be more satisfactory. Besides I wouldn't mind going up against their number one goalie. She was pretty hot," he decided licking his lips.

Closing his eyes to his ex-vice captains actions, Kai gathered his bag and headed to the door. Opening it he paused and glanced back at where his team remained singing and dancing and celebrating. Smirking, he walked out the door and headed for the ice rink to meet Tala. He'd just wandered around a corner when a flash of navy and blue almost ran into him. It stopped short just in front of him. He looked down and almost groaned when he caught sight of the Minx standing there before him wearing a sky blue and navy jacket with the Preston crest on the left breast and her number 9 on the right.

The video footage nor the year book had done the girl justice. She was pretty; not really his type, but pretty nonetheless To him she was the epitome of small. Small height, small breasts, small ass though it wasn't bad, small waist, small mouth and nose. The only thing he could say was big were the heavily lashed tawny eyes out of which she regarded him. Her hair was sleek and black, which fell down her back to end in gold tips. She reminded him of an imp with the fairy looks and fiery temper. In fact an imp was an apt description of her.

"Sorry," she apologized sheepishly.

"Sure."

With a laugh of disbelief she made to pass him but his eyes caught the bandaged wrist and he felt a pang of guilt though he didn't know why. "How's your wrist?"

She blinked those large ochre eyes then snapped out of her trance. Why did he keep asking her that? "Actually it's not as bad as I thought. It's well enough to type with, so I don't actually get out of that school work after all. Are you lost?" At his blank expression she quickly added. "The exit to your bus is in the opposite direction, you're heading back to the rink."

He contemplated not talking to her but he wanted to see what this Rath was like, since he'd heard of her from Tala. "I...I'm not going back to school. My dad's taking me home."

"Nice. I don't get to go home until Christmas, which totally sucks; I miss parents."

"I can understand that. I miss mine, but it's not so bad since my Dad's the coach."

"And a damn good one by that game, but we weren't playing our best. You wait until next time, we'll really thrash you then."

"You guys did better than I thought," he answered, wondering why he found so much easier to talk to her than most of the other girls he knew.

"Yeah we really surprised ourselves. Anyway I've got a party to grace with my presence. Nice chatting to you Hiwatari, till next time when I'll crush ya." With that parting comment she jogged lightly up the corridor.

Kai continued down to the rink and glanced around when he entered for Tala. There he was sitting in the bleacher behind their nets. His blue eyes were focused on some spot on the ice as he was lost in his thoughts. Thoughts that probably had to do with his Rath and Ruin. Dumping his bag by the door he wandered up the bleachers and over to him.

Tala looked up when he felt the presence beside him. "Hey man!"

"Hey," he replied sitting down beside his best friend.

"So what was it you had to tell me?"

"Aren't you going to congratulate me on my win first?"

"And give your already large head a boost, I don't think so. I'm not holding the double doors open for you to exit tonight."

Kai chuckled. "Maybe I'll ask your Rath to do it."

Tala frowned a strange look flickered in his eyes. "What do you mean?"

"I just saw her outside, she seems pretty okay for someone with such a vile temper."

"Amber only has a vile temper when you betray her trust, hurt a friend or generally get on her bad side. Other than that she's got an amazingly addictive personality. She attracts people like flies."

Kai smirked. "So why does she dislike you so much? Way you told me, she seemed to idolize you."

"Maybe a little. Maybe I just exaggerated it because I wanted her to. I left without giving her a reason, when she heard I was Shark, well she tried to find out why I had left but I was with some of the team and I was trying to be cool, I blanked her and I made a horrible mistake."

"And now you regret it because your team dislikes you," Kai summed up.

"No now I regret it because she was one of my best friends. Me and Benny, we're like soul mates."

"You dated?"

"Not in that way. But in a friendship way, no one was closer than us. She was like my little sister. I kept away all the bullies from her and if someone hurt her then I'd hold them down while she could get her revenge. She'd help me with any problems I had, like a sounding board and if she had nightmares she'd come into my dorm and sleep in my bed. It was just a special friendship and I screwed up and I don't know if she'll ever forgive me." Tala sighed running his fingers through his bangs.

"Well you fucked up, might as well deal with it. Way I see it, she'll come round eventually and if she doesn't then you'll just have to get over her."

"If she was an ex-girlfriend then I'd have no problem with it. But she's Amber. I won't get over her. She means far too much to me."

Kai sighed, not completely understanding what Tala was feeling because he'd never had such a strong friendship with anyone, never mind a girl. "Oh I was going to tell you before you left, I'm leaving Clonmel. Dad's got a new job and he's going to another school and I'm heading there with him. Besides we've moved house and that puts me in a different school district anyways."

Tala rose a blood red brow, suddenly interested. "So where are you going?"

"Well that's the interesting thing. Did you hear that McGuire's leaving?"

What had that got to do with anything? Tala wondered then it clicked and a smile quirked his lips. "You're coming here?"

"Yeah on Monday I enroll."

"Nice one." and for the first time since Kai had seen him, Tala actually looked genuinely happy. "You'll be needing a guided tour around this school and not one of those stupid ones given by the prefects. Nah, you need me to give you a tour when the whole of the school is busy."

"Like now?"

"Exactly." Getting up with purpose Tala led the way out of the rink with Kai sauntering after him boredly.

* * *

Amber tilted her head to the side and watched Sonia with interest. The garnet haired girl was slowly getting drunk, so slowly that she probably wasn't even noticing the way the alcohol was going to her head but Amber did. And the ochre eyed girl was definitely enjoying it. Smirking she sipped her drink and looked around the packed common room. Johnny and Miyami were off in the corner necking as they tended to do when there was a party and everyone was too occupied to disturb them. Kane and Aspin were slow dancing to music only they could hear because at the moment a heavy metal song was thumping out of the speakers which were placed up on the corner walls. Enrique was the DJ as usual and he was talking to a group of 4th years all of whom were a year younger than him.

Shahero had given up on the darts game and had gone directly to stabbing the picture of Brooklyn with the dart while cackling maliciously and calling him "Brooky baby". Mariah and Rei were standing by the drinks table talking to Michael, well Rei was, and Mariah was sleeping on his shoulder. Poor girl was completely wiped. Spencer, Bryan, Lee Tong and Robert Jurgen were in a poker game. Tyson was bouncing from girl to girl as he danced maniacally to the music. Max and Emily had left early claiming the excuse that Max was very tired. Kirby, Joe and Kevin were following Hillary around with a camera taping her displeasure at Tyson's blatant ignoring of her. Miguel and Daichi were casting jealous looks at Miyami, or Daichi was but Miguel's gaze kept straying to Kirby. Ruin was sipping boredly on a drink as she watched the poker game in amusement.

The couch she was sitting on sagged, and fearing it was some stupid sophomore about to ask her out again, Amber turned around with a murderous expression which instantly disappeared as she regarded Arista.

"Hey Amber."

"Suppity."

Arista winced as she saw something over the ochre eyed teen's shoulder. "Jeez, I think Shahero has some issues with the vice captain of the Sharks."

"She didn't get to bust his balls on the ice so I'd say yeah, she has some issues."

The Russian leaned her head back against the head rest. "I can totally relate to her. I really want my leg to heal so I can get a go against him myself."

"He had the hots for you."

"Naturally. Who can resist my Russian good looks?"

Amber rolled her eyes and laughed. "You'd match him well."

"Jealous Ams?"

"Nah, don't like red heads."

"A dig at Tala?" she asked as she sipped her drink then made a face. "Joe's been at the drinks again, I told him not to."

Amber smirked as her gaze traveled to the green haired boy whose arm was slung over her teal haired cousin's shoulder. "More than likely. He's a prat but he's not a bad person."

"You evading my question, Ams?"

She rolled her head to look at her blue eyed friend. "A dig at Tala? Yeah it was a dig at Tala; it was also a statement. I don't like red heads, they don't do anything for me which is good because I don't want to be stepping on you or Mimi's turf."

"Or Ruin's?"

"I don't know about Ruin."

"There's chemistry between her and Tala, he never reacted before because he thought he'd be ruining their friendship. That's why we broke up."

The Irish teen looked surprised. "I never knew that."

Arista shrugged. "It wasn't something you needed to know. Besides as cute as Tala is, there wasn't that spark between us. I want a guy who I can spark with."

"What like Adams'?"

"Nah, no he's the enemy besides he's too... completely different to me. We'd clash."

"Or you'd spark."

The silver haired teen shook her head. "You have to see the person more than once a month to spark. Where would I meet him?"

Amber sighed and rolled her shoulders, turning her gaze back to Sonia who was having trouble keeping her head up. "I don't know Ris, but I'll tell you what I do, you're thinking too much about this guy. Yeah he was hot, so was the captain for fuck's sake but you don't hear me going on and on about him."

"You're in a bitch of a mood," Arista muttered, but she didn't take it to heart. She had lived with Amber for their entire time at this school so she was well used to these little moods she seemed to take. It had something to do with bunking with Ruin and Shahero because they were the ones with the most cutting of moods.

"I'm sorry," she exhaled slowly. "I'm just rattled that Tala's back. I know I shouldn't be, but I am."

"You have a reason to be rattled. But you have to just move on, don't let him see he's getting to you and more so don't push away the friends you have."

Amber slumped against the cushions. Ari was right; pushing people away because she didn't want to be hurt again was not the way to do things. But still it was Tala and he had once been everything to her. Johnny had tried to take his place but he couldn't because he had different qualities, but that didn't make him any less of a friend. She smirked. "I just thought of something."

"Did it hurt?"

Amber responded with by sticking out her tongue. "Not as much as I thought. But anyways, I was thinking that maybe I don't have a thing for red heads in the same way as you and Miyami and Ruin, but I do have a taste for them in a friendship way."

Arista rose a silver brow. "Elaborate on that please."

"What I mean is, Johnny and Tala my closest male friends are red heads and Ozuma has a bit of red in his hair and Daichi. See and Mimi, her close male friends are bluenettes, like Tyson-"

"No he's her cousin."

"Mimi likes bluenettes as friends as do you, though you hate blondes, and Shahero has a thing for bluenettes and likes red heads as friends. And Ruin likes red heads but bluenettes as friends. And Aspin likes bluenettes, and red heads as friends. and Sonia likes black haired guys and red heads as friends, well Sonia might be the exception to the rule. But Kirby likes blondes and green haired guys as friends and we all agree that purple haired guys with funny noses are pompous, except for Ruin."

Arista stared at her neurotic friend for a few seconds bewildered. "Um, how long did it take you come up with that?"

The champagne tipped teen shrugged. "I just came up with it. I mean when I think about it, there is a definite pattern in our group with Son's being an exception for liking guys with black hair."

"Miyami likes black haired guys, she dated Rei remember?"

"Big deal, anyway she's not dating him now and I'm living in the now, not the past, not anymore."

* * *

Ruin watched as Robert coolly regarded the three boys seated around the table with him. So far he was winning on sheer good luck. His poker face wasn't better than Bryans' because no ones poker face was better than Bryans'. But Robert had the brains to know how to work the odds in his favor. She sipped her drink and swiveled in her chair to watch the others dance about and enjoy themselves. Some guys sat in a corner and hurled drunken insults at each other trying to be macho and in the end failing miserably because they just looked pathetic to her.

Earlier Coach McGuire had announced that he was leaving to go to a school which was closer to his home so he could spend more time with his family. None of the team could resent his leaving because he'd been up-front with them from the beginning but his announcement of it had just made it seem all the more real. She'd miss him because he'd been a good guy who'd genuinely cared about the team. He'd be hard to replace.

Sighing she turned back to her drink, placing it on the table she was sitting at. Unbidden her mind turned to Tala. Amber wasn't going to forgive the guy easily, and it made Ruin wonder what exactly had Tala done to incur her wrath? Very rarely Amber would completely ignore a friend, they meant too much to her. She didn't like fighting with people; well actually that was untrue. Amber loved a good fight but she wasn't very vindictive, she'd rather debate with someone, defy someone but the way she was treating Tala wasn't like Amber at all. There was something there that Ruin didn't know about and she needed to know.

She felt weird being at odds with Tala. She had no problem being on her own and giving people the cold shoulder, but it was certainly different when that person was Tala. She didn't hate him, not really. But she was angry with him for the way he had left without telling her and then coming back without a word on why he had.

He'd started these parties for when they lost. He didn't like how everyone became down and depressed after a loss so instead he organized a gathering in the common room which increased in size every time they lost. It became a ritual and now he wasn't here, hadn't been here for a couple of years. She could remember how the two of them would sit and make fun of everyone dancing or singing.

"Hey."

She glanced over her shoulder to see Robert standing over her. "Hi." Tossing a glance over to the poker table she added, "You stopping while you're ahead?"

He laughed. "Something like that. Bryan was getting a bit testy and you looked lonely."

She smirked. To most people she looked as though she wanted to be alone but to Robert she looked lonely. Only the German would understand her emotions. Sure she liked being alone but there were times when it got depressing, especially when you were alone in a roomful of people.

"Only a bit."

"So how are you?"

"Aside from lonely?" she asked with a quirk of her lips and the German looked sheepish.

"I meant about Tala. Everyone keeps asking Amber, but no one's said much to you?"

"Most are afraid I'll practice my favorite methods of torture on them, while others generally think I don't feel anything."

Robert nodded knowing that most believed Ruin to be heartless, but though that may be true for most cases, there were those that she did care a lot about. Tala being one of them, and Ruin did not give trust or care easily and once given if was a bitter betrayal to throw it back as Tala had. But unlike Amber, Ruin didn't seem to be as cut up about it. There was something definitely off with that.

"Well they don't know you that well. I do, so?"

"So?" She smirked inwardly at his direct look. "I've just decided to ignore him. He hasn't done anything yet to warrant my wrath and he'll have a lot of grovelling to re-earn my respect. His actions earlier today just showed that Tala's very good at covering himself. He'll use whatever excuse necessary to make himself look good. He's not the same guy I knew, he's more cunning and devious. Maybe that was needed in Clonmel, but it's not needed here. The sooner he realizes that he's back at Preston and that he doesn't have anyone here to suck up to, then the better for him."

Robert rose a brow at Ruin's outburst. She generally said very little but whenever she did, it was always very insightful. Just a brief run in with someone and she already had his number. Ruin always did impress him.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, well mainly the ladies because it seems most of the men are out cold, can I have a minute. Ruin, get your ass up here!"

Ruin looked up irritated to see Johnny on the small stage they'd set up in the corner for the band, if they felt like playing. "There are other bassists, get Mimi to play."

"She's playing guitar."

"Get someone-"

"I want you!"

Sighing heavily she got off her seat and walked towards where Amber, Miyami, Shahero, Johnny and Kane stood on the stage.

* * *

"And then she decided to free all the frogs. It was hilarious, especially since she can't stand them, so she kept opening the cages and then she'd jump back from them and onto chairs. Ian spent the whole time trying to corner them to torture them."

Kai watched amused as Tala led him through the school and began telling him tales about what happened in each room while he'd been there. It basically seemed like Tala had forgotten him and was lost in his own memories.

He frowned as a sound caught his attention. "Hey what's that?"

Tala snapped out of his trance and looked at him. "Oh right it's the party. They have a live band."

Kai looked up at that. "Who?"

"Just some of the team who play, there's no real band. You can watch from the roof."

Kai shrugged, it wasn't as though he was going to remember much in daylight again and he had to get back to his dad soon, but it wouldn't hurt to see his team mates when they weren't being hostile towards him.

Nodding he followed the red head up the stairs. The door upstairs was stiff and needed Tala's shoulder to open. When it creaked open, the wind fluttered their hair and got under their jackets making them shiver slightly, but they showed no outward reaction to the cold as they walked to the only source of light on the roof, the sky light. The bright light looked warm and inviting as they glanced down at the crush of people beneath them completely oblivious to them.

"If this is how they party when they lose, how do they party when they win?"

"I'm not sure, but when I was there, we took over the gym and invited everyone, or else we went into the town."

Kai rose a brow; this school never ceased to amaze him.

"Sometimes our coach would take us out bowling if we won. It was great. Losses are depressing and a depressed team don't play as well, so the idea was to make the losses more bearable."

"Well Dad's going to change all that, they'll win from his reign on."

"Yeah but I just hope he doesn't spoil the team spirit." When he caught Kai's look he shook his head. "I'm sorry but it'll just take a while for them to adjust to him, never mind him to adjust to them. They aren't like the sharks, they're very vocal and they don't like authority. Dan knew how to get to the best out of them because he tried to understand them. Let's hope your dad does the same otherwise our lives will be hell both in and out of the rink."

Kai sighed agreeing with his friend as his auburn gaze moved over the dancing and moshing people to the band on stage who'd stopped playing. He recognized the Imp, and Ruin, the silver haired Kinomiya, the blue haired enforcer and the one named Kaeto up there backing the red head McGregor.

Tala's gaze was on Ruin. Her brow was furrowed in concentration as she strummed her fingers over the strings of her base as Shahero and Miyami played a guitar solo that seemed to have the two of them battling against each other. Amber and Johnny egged them on and Kane just beat his drums in that usual random way of his.

Finally after they were finished Johnny turned to the crowd again, mic in hand.

"Right that was entertaining, big round of applause for my girlfriend, Miyami and Shahero! Now Amber wanna introduce or next song?"

She said something to him that wasn't picked up by the mic, and when Johnny answered in the positive she smirked and lifted her mic to her mouth. "Okies this song is dedicated to my dear friend Tala... it's called Clones!"

Kai glanced over at Tala and raised a brow, to which the red head sighed. "She use to call the Sharks that because they seemed all to be Clones."

The first crashing chords caught their attention as Miyami took centre stage while Ruin said something to Kane before he picked up the beat. Amber and Johnny rocked on their heels waiting for their cue to start all the time throwing comments to each other that the mic couldn't pick up but the first row of people or so could and laughed. Shahero made a face as she tried to keep the awkward tune. Amber's head jerked as the tempo picked up and Johnny raised his mic to his mouth getting ready for the song.

"_**Now you're a clone, with a heart of stone, synthetic soul, brainwashed and cold. You're just a clone, got no control, forced in a mould, processed and sold-**_"

Kai had to admit their voices melded very well together had to do with their voices having that Celtic tint to it.

"_**Hey! You know I find it frightening, how you change just as fast as lightning-**_"

Tala winced as they lyrics hit a little two close to home and the fact that Amber looked as though she was really enjoying herself up there with Johnny hurt just a little more than he thought it would.

"_**You fell from grace, leavin' no trace; you've been replaced, you're name erased-**_"

"They really don't like you do they?"

Tala shook his head.

"_**Hey! It's just self-destruction, you never listened to my instructions-**_"

_"Shame, shame, shame, shame-" _Amber smirked as she took her little solo that led to the chorus that always made her smile every time she sang it.

"_**Shame, that everyone's the same. I thought you stood alone, we're different from the clones.**_"

"_**You were a flash of white, a major ride, you're making time, now I'm outta sight-**_"

Amber took over from Johnny singing her own solo. As she did she caught sight of Sonia who'd plastered herself to Ozuma, and he seemed to have no real objection to it. His hands had grasped her hips drawing her closer as his mouth fed of hers.

"_**For I have seen, what could've been, a very dream, a prophecy. ****Hey! It's just self-destruction, you never listened to my instructions."**_

"_**Shame, everyone's the same. I thought you stood alone. We're different from the clones. I thought you were the true, exception to the rule, but the truth is cruel**_."

Amber stepped back to Shahero while Miyami took her solo. "Hey check out Sons."

Shahero frowned as her eyes scanned the crowd and she smirked. Oh she'd get Sonia about this tomorrow.

"_**Clones, clones, clones, clones; Clones, clones, clones, clones-**_"

"_**YEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!**_"

Tala followed their gaze as Johnny completely lost it on stage. "Ohoho Sunny-D, you naughty girl."

Kai looked puzzled. "Is that supposed to be some kind of code I don't get?"

Tala shook his head. "Nope just something somebody isn't going to live down for a while."

"_**Hey, now there's no use waiting, everything is disintegrating. Shame, everyone's the same. I thought you stood alone, we're different from the clones. I thought you were the true, exception to the rule, but the truth is cruel.**_"

They finished to a rapturous applause as Amber took the opportunity to milk her time in the spot light. "I think that sums up Taly-baba, don't you?"

Miyami grinned. "Very much so."

Shahero snorted. "Jeezus Sonia hasn't come up for air yet."

Ruin rolled her eyes. "Leave her alone."

"What the hell is Sonia doing to OZ? Is she doing an octopus impression? All sucky face and tentacles, I know she's an octopussy but I think that's taking it a bit too far."

Amber growled. "Say that again Sonic and I'll hurt you. I've been itching to hurt someone all day long."

Kane shrugged. "What ever Benson."

"Guys we're going to call this a night. Try to get up to your dorms without causing too much hassle because the head girl is busy and the head boy is about to get his poker ass kicked. GOOD NIGHT, you've all been fabulous!" With that Johnny placed his mic back and stifling a yawn he wandered back to the door.

The rest of the team sedately followed him out all holding each other up. Tala watched them go and sighed. "We might as well go, I've an empty dorm room to head back to."

"Why don't you bunk at mine tonight. You might as well see my new home, besides you're hated here and mom hasn't seen you in ages."

Tala nodded. "Yeah, thanks Kai."


	4. Alarm Bells

Disclaimer: I do not own Beyblade, or the concept, the characters nor there situations. I do however own _Amber Marie Benson _and _Ruin Mulryan_. _Miyami Kinomiya_ belongs to **ChibiTari/Unlucky-Star**. _Shahero Kaeto_ belongs to **Coors**. _Aspin Grant _is definitely **Animerle**'s. _Arista Belyaev _belongs to **AznPyroArcada. **_Sonia Martini _is **SpitfireSae's.** _Kirby Preston-Lee_ belongs to **Kindred Insanity.**

* * *

Chapter four: Alarm Bells

* * *

The wailing siren of the alarm pierced through the peaceful slumber of the seven girls lost under the covers in the beds that lined the pale lavender room neatly. Each of them sprung up in shock, their hands instinctively clapping over their ears as they let out a string of expletives and profanities.

"What the fuck!"

"Holy shite almighty!"

"Holy crudder cakes, what the fucking hell is that noise?"

"That's not the breakfast bell because it's 6:30 am."

"Sonia, what are you, the talking clock? Do something useful like shut that thing off!"

"Sweet fucking Christ, would someone turn that off before I fucking kill someone!"

Amber growled and pulled her pillow over her heard to drown the sound out. She and Miyami were in the worst position since their beds were directly under the bell. Grumbling under her breath she tried to regain the remnants of the dream she'd been so rudely ripped from. Something that had to do with the very hot Azure haired captain of the Sharks and his soft as velvet lips. Groaning she rolled over in the bed trying to ignore the wailing's of her roommates, as she tried to go back to sleep, she still had half an hour to sleep in.

"My ears, my ears!"

Suddenly something hard thumped against the wall and the alarm gave one last pitiful wail before it died off. Amber sat up on her bed.

"Shahero!" she cried out, as she surveyed the small dented red circular object high up on the roof and someone's unfortunate book lying open flat on the floor by her bed.

"What I killed it, didn't I?"

"Ding dong the bell is dead!" Arista sang as she climbed onto her bed to jump about.

Amber watched her wearily, feeling exhausted just watching her. How the hell did the girl have so much energy so early in the morning? It was just unnatural. Amber collapsed back on the bed as she tried to ignore Sonia's lecturing about how Shahero shouldn't damage school property because that would only get her in trouble. Ruin rolled out of her bed and began to get dressed mumbling an answer to Aspin that the bell must have gone off for a reason, and that it was almost time to get up anyway. Shahero obviously wasn't listening to Sonia as she was snoring loudly and pretending to sleep.

Amber liked that idea of sleeping. Besides she hadn't recovered from Friday night. The next morning they'd awoken to the sound of Sonia retching. And the others had a pretty nasty hangover and Amber, being naturally empathic to her friends, had adopted a hangover like headache, and she hadn't touched a drop of alcohol! It hadn't been a fun day; the highlight had been telling a poor Sonia that she had kissed Ozuma. Of course the garnet haired girl had been suffering from a alcohol induced amnesia so she couldn't remember, and she hadn't believe them that she'd do something like that until she felt the awkwardness between her and the jade eyed boy. And then that awkwardness had increased when she'd finally got her memory back. Today was just going to be a barrel of laughs, what with Tala...

Amber groaned and tried to bury herself into the bed, so that all that could be seen of her was the mop of unruly black hair tipped with gold which showed above the covers.

"Come on sunshine, get up."

"No," she groaned as Miyami shook her shoulder.

"Come on Ams, the whole school is up already which means the alarm wasn't a false alarm, no pun intended."

"What was that alarm?" Arista suddenly asked and Amber guessed she'd stopped jumping because the bed springs no longer squeaked.

Sonia was the one who answered. "I think it's the emergency assembly bell."

"We don't have assembly on Mondays, it was agreed that it was a form of torture," Amber retorted groggily.

Shahero's muffled chuckles could be heard in response to that comment. "Exactly."

"It's an _emergency_ assembly, which means it can be called at _any_ time when there's an _emergency,_" Ruin ground out. She really wasn't a morning person and dealing with Amber and Shahero's stubbornness and childish antics this early just drove her insane.

Amber snarled and flung her covers back. "This majorly sucks. I can barely get enough sleep as it is in this place and now they want to take away another fucking half hour, jammy little shits!"

Shahero's growl showed that she agreed with the irked Irish teen.

Miyami rolled her eyes, before slipping under the covers to warm up her feet. The heating hadn't come on yet; they still had at least a week to wait for it to finally come on. So it was pretty frigid in the room. She admired the fact that Ruin stood there in her in black and white checked pj's and showed no outwards appearance that she was cold. Aspin had headed down to the girls bathrooms at the end of the corridor. She'd send them a text if the showers were free.

"This is all Valkov's fault," Amber grumbled.

Sonia who was huddled under her covers, titled her head. "How do you work that out?"

"Think about it, when do we have emergency assembly's called?"

"In emergencies, like if there's been an accident, or when there's big news."

"Big news, like a student arriving?" The Irish teen deadpanned.

Sonia's eyes widened in understanding, then narrowed. "Oh. Hey how come I wasn't told of this?"

"Maybe you were and can't remember," Shahero teased.

Arista muffled a snicker when Sonia glared at her. Ruin rubbed a hand over her face and sighed heavily. "Don't worry Sons, Robert didn't tell me about it so it's a shock to everyone. It just means you won't be expected to set up the assembly or read a bible passage. Be happy." As she finished the last six words became laced with disgust.

"Oh goodie," Sonia brightened suddenly.

Amber glowered at her disgusted. "You're easily pleased."

"Fuck off Amber," Miyami snapped. "We're all exhausted, get over it."

Amber sighed and shook her head. "Sorry Sons, Sorry Mims."

"No worries," Miyami stated as she got up and climbed into her best friend's bed. "Pretty terrible weekend, huh?"

"No shit," the black haired teen replied rubbing her eyes.

Sonia got up and stretched while muffling a yawn. "Come on Aspin says the showers are free. She used the plastic spider gag again."

Shahero snickered and slapped palms with Arista. "You'd think they'd recognized that one by now."

Ruin shrugged. "They're dyed bottle blonde idiots, what do you expect?! They run screaming if they find a hair out of place, never mind a bloody spider. Come on, let's get this done and head down to breakfast."

"Yeah I'm starving."

"You're always starving Mimi," Arista teased then yelped as her cousin tried to cuff her across the head.

* * *

The seven girls wandered into the dining hall in their usual comatose state. Scanning the hall, Ruin picked out the rest of their friends and team mates sitting at a long table near the back and in the corner. Not far from them the JV team sat eating, or drooling seemed to be the correct term. Miguel and Daichi were both trying to sleep on Kirby's shoulders, while Joseph had given up trying to hold up his head and was now lying with his head on his plate. Tyson was definitely wide awake and eating, while Max was allowing Emily to sleep on his shoulder as he chatted merrily to Dunga Rong and Mariam Tikashi.

She led the girls to their usual table. Sonia was helping Shahero stay on her feet and Amber was leaning on Miyami. Aspin and Arista had joined the food queue. Rei was the first to notice that they joined the table.

"Hey girls."

"Did you guys get as rudely awoken as we did?" Miyami asked sliding into the seat beside Johnny and snagging a sausage off his plate.

"I don't think anyone escaped it," Michael grumbled as Sonia took the other seat beside him which was conveniently as far away from Ozuma as she could get. His girlfriend Bethan Hudson was seated on his lap, her head of honeyed curls resting against his shoulders and her smoky gray eyes closed to the world.

Amber took her seat between Bryan and Miyami, as Shahero took the seat next to the burly lavender haired teen who was absorbed in a conversation with his fellow Enforcer Spencer.

Ruin nodded pulling up a chair beside Kane since she seemed to be the only one apart from Aspin who seemed to like the periwinkle eyed male. "A load of fucked up shit, all these different alarms going off at different times."

"It's for Valkov," Ian announced as he returned from the food queue to take the empty seat beside Ozuma. "I just heard Dickenson talking about it to Tate and Marsh."

"Thank you for stating the obvious Ian."

"Shut up Benson," he snapped at the irate Celt.

"Both of you grow up," Ruin growled.

Both stuck their tongues out at the Gothic girl before the Russian midget turned to his food, and Amber leaned her head against Bryan's shoulder planning to sleep until Miyami rudely poked her.

"Let's get our food before all we're left with is the Tofu."

Amber grimaced. "Yuppies, you coming Hero?"

"Sure."

The trio walked up to the counter and grabbed a tray.

"Why are all the doughnuts so sticky?"

Miyami raised a silver brow at Amber's question. "Because they're covered in sugar?"

"Ah, that would be it."

Shahero lifted a chocolate muffin and examined it. "It's going to be weird in practice this afternoon without Dan around."

"I know," Miyami agreed as she uncovered the sausages and took two out before placing it on her plate and handing the tongs to Shahero. "But we'll break the new guy in."

"Yeah, he won't be able to resist us, or more importantly me."

"Really and why's that?"

"Because I'm adorable and everyone should bow down and worship me," Amber retorted in her 'you-should-know-that' tone.

"Oh, of course, how stupid of me," Shahero muttered dryly rolling her eyes at Miyami who concealed a smile. "So our revenge on Valkov, what should we do?"

Amber smirked. "We should make him take all of our skates down to Ernies' and make him sharpen them all, and then let me throw them at him. And that's just for starters."

"I liked the first part but no on the second."

"Why Mimi?"

"Because, if you get in trouble, I get in trouble and I'm not going down for criminal homicide, not even for you to have revenge on Tala."

Amber relented as she placed a yogurt on her tray. "Fine, besides I wasn't really all that keen on the second part anyways."

"You weren't?" Shahero asked. "Why not, I liked it."

Amber stared at her, blinked, then quickly turned to Miyami. "Ok I'm _definitely_ not keen on the second part."

Miyami chuckled as she slid her tray to the cashier to get it priced. She had to admit the food was reasonably priced at the school, definitely cheaper than the cafés, but of course she could eat at home for free. But you could get a hell of a lot of food in the dining hall _if_ you knew the tricks.

Turning she headed back to their table and joined the others as Amber and Shahero paid. "Hey when is this assembly on?"

"Yeah why get us up early- Kane!" Aspin glowered at her boyfriend who smirked innocently, only smirks weren't innocent and the rest of the table knew him too well. "As I was saying, why get us up early if they're going to hold the assembly at the usual time?"

"Maybe they want us to get pissed off and relieve them of their miserable existence," Ruin suggested morbidly.

"Hey it's a red sky outside," Sonia stated as her blue eyes scanned the scene outside the window which over looked the lake.

Amber sighed. "That's not a good sign."

"What's the rhyme?"

"A red sky in the morning, a shepherd's forewarning and a red sky at night, a shepherds delight," both Amber and Ozuma quoted dully.

"Oh so it's gonna rain."

"And it's going to be a shitty day."

"Ams, we'll survive this because we'll be together. Valkov's the outsider here, he'll learn that soon enough. He's the one who's going to have to watch his step, not us."

She smiled weakly at Rei. They were right. As long as she had her team she would always be good. "Yeah. Yeah you're right."

Ruin closed her eyes, and placed a finger to her temple. She could feel a headache coming on. She glanced round and her brown eyes caught the garnet gaze of Robert as he talked to fellow prefect Oliver Dupont. He cocked a purple brow but her slight shake of the head told him there was no need for him to come over.

"Ruin."

She blinked and looked to her right. "What is it Kane? And unless you want to be castrated I'd move your hand from there, Aspin won't like it," she told him mildly drawing strange glances from the other occupants of the table including Aspin.

Kane's eyes widened in realization as what she'd just said sank in. "Oh! I'm not feeling her up!" He ground out indignantly. "Honest Aspin, do I look like I want my hand cut off?"

The others stared at the three, Kane looked scared, Aspin looked confused but pissed, and Ruin was definitely amused.

Ruin smirked at the others. "What am I not allowed a bit of fun?"

"Ruiny, I don't know how to tell you this, but your idea of fun isn't quite like the rest of us," Amber told her tentatively but it was only for effect because she harbored no fears of the sadistic woman.

"Not really, but I lightened the mood didn't? Can't say I'm a downer all the time."

"No sometimes she does have the best lines," Shahero agreed enviously.

"I have the best lines," Amber declared.

"I deliver them better, you try to hard," Ruin argued easily.

"Oh please, I do not."

"Oh great welcome grumpy Amber to the table," Enrique muttered earning a glare from Arista who seemed to dislike him no matter what he did. Quite frankly he was of the opinion that if world war three began, she'd find a way to blame him.

"Kiss ass, Enrique."

"Point me in the direction Ams and I'll gladly do so."

"And here's me thinking he was just a dick sucker now he's an ass kisser, the multitude of talents our dear Enrique has," Arista said scathingly.

Amber chuckled as she clapped her hands, then frowned as the students began to empty from the room. "Looks like everyone's heading to the auditorium."

"We can wait a few more minutes," Miyami said stifling a yawn as she cuddled closer to her long term boyfriend then on catching Sonia's pointed look she quickly added. "Or maybe not."

"Be careful, Sonia, or your face might stick like that," Ruin warned, a malicious glint in her eyes.

"That wouldn't be too bad, she'd just look like you." Kane laughed and jumped out of his chair when both girls glared at him. "Be careful girls."

"Run Kane," Ruin ordered.

Kane laughed but the mirth died abruptly as he caught the look in Ruin's eyes. "Oh crap."

Aspin sighed watching her boyfriend run off being chased by her roommate. "I better stop her from killing him."

"Don't sound so enthusiastic, Spin." Miyami chuckled. "Yeah we should take the hint and head off to this emergency assembly."

Nodding the rest of the table got up and headed off after the others laughing and joking about the various methods Ruin would use to kill the annoying Bluenette.

* * *

Amber's head bobbed to the sound of the Lost Prophets blasting into her ears, while she mouthed the lyrics soundlessly. Her ochre orbs took in the students filtering into the auditorium. She slouched lower in the seats, loving how comfortable they were compared to the old benches they'd once sat on. These were like luxurious car seats or cinema seats with high backs so you could rest your head but which made it awkward to sleep in without getting a kink.

"I still keep expecting a seat belt to strap me in when ever I sit on these chairs," Enrique's voice pierced through the song.

Curious, she lowered the volume on the Discman which was concealed in the front pocket of her hoody. Her hair hid the ear pieces and the wire that snaked up to her ear and to the Discman.

"Aye so no one can leave in the middle of one of Dickenson's sermons," Johnny agreed.

"I'm surprised he doesn't have an instrument of torture to keep our eyes open," Shahero added her two cents.

"They breached fire safety laws so they had to be removed," Ruin's monotone voice replied.

"How did they breach fire safety laws?" this came from Mariah.

"I was being sarcastic Mariah."

The pink haired girl laughed sheepishly. "Oh yeah, I knew that."

"Ri-ight."

Amber nudged her friend who growled at her, but the petite girl paid no heed. She slouched down further as Dickenson led the faculty out minus Dan McGuire. Behind her Miyami linked her fingers and stretched out, a loud sigh emitting from her parted lips.

"Morning Students. I'm sure many of you are wondering why I called you here this morning, cutting your breakfast time off early. Though you do get to skip your first class."

There was a low murmur of approval.

"There I thought that would ease your rude awakening. I know some of you had a more interesting reaction to the alarm than most."

"Why do I feel he was referring to me?" Shahero voiced her thoughts softly.

"Maybe because he was, did you see Ms. Maye look directly at you?" Amber muttered under her breath.

"Oh yippee, detention again."

"Uh-huh."

"Now the reason you've been called here is because we have a new member of staff joining the Faculty and I would like you to meet him all together, and as well as that we have two new students who will be joining the senior year."

"Wonder bra," Kane muttered under his breath.

Amber seconded his thoughts with her own. '_Great just what we need._'

"Who do you think it could be, I know Valkov is one of them but who's the other?" Ian asked Bryan who shrugged.

"Maybe the new Coach has a kid," Lee supposed from his seat near Rei.

"I wonder if they're cute?" Came the random comment from some girl.

Ruin slowly turned and sought out the owner of that comment and gave her a pitiful look which made Arista chuckle.

"That's a nice thought Lee, I always wanted a goat in my class," Shahero said into the lion boy's ear as she leaned forward.

Sonia cuffed her ear then plastered herself against her chair to escape Shahero's hand. Amber snickered but quickly lost her smile when Deputy head Maye glowered up at them.

"She really doesn't like us," Miyami muttered in Amber's ear while the Irish teen nodded slightly keeping her ochre eyes fixed on the stage as Mr. Dickenson used their assembly to remind them of the rules and how there was a curfew for a reason and that closets were not there so people can practice vertical activities (that got a round of applause) and how the west corridor was out of bounds.

All in all it was the biggest bore possible. Amber just wanted to skip forward to see who their new Coach was and who the student was. Her gaze skimmed over the students, four rows in front of her sat the JV team, Migul as usual had taken a seat beside Kirby while his shoulder was tense and his jaw clenched. Kirby kept shooting him nervous glances. Miguel hadn't known much about Tala coming to the school when she'd cornered him on Saturday, in fact he looked as surprised as she and Ruin had been. Thinking of her mentor, she glanced at the ebony haired Goth. Ruin's eyes were cold, emotionless, and her face was closed. What ever she was thinking, she was keeping it to herself. That bugged Amber, she knew how she felt, but she couldn't figure out how Ruin felt.

She broke out of her thoughts when a round of applause sounded through the auditorium. Baffled Amber began to clap but she had no clue what she was clapping for. She leaned over to Shahero.

"What are we clapping about?"

Shahero snapped her gaze from the stage. "Our new coach."

"Yeah."

"Nicolai Hiwatari," Miyami murmured in her ears.

Amber froze. "The Sharks' coach?"

"Yeah."

The Irish teen was shell shocked, unable to form coherent thought. Nicolai Hiwatari was their new coach? And if that was the case... then... "Shite."

"Glad to see you're keeping up," Ruin growled.

Johnny leaned forward in his seat and rested his arms on the back of Shahero's seat. His amethyst eyes narrowed on the man walking on to the stage with dark blue almost navy hair and very dark brown eyes. Sure he couldn't see the color from where he was sitting but he remembered it from the match. His son had the same eyes only slightly lighter. His eyes flicked to his girlfriend, and his sister figure, both were deep in conversation. Amber looked troubled while Miyami, not looking too happy herself, was trying to keep Amber calm. He leaned over and slid his hand down his girlfriend's arm, feeling the smoothness of her skin under his hand before he linked her fingers with his. She looked at him and smiled that soft smile she only kept for him. The one that made his insides turn to mush and made it hard to think straight.

His attention was diverted to Amber as her body stiffened.

"Ams don't do anything rash," he warned, leaning closer to Miyami.

"Rash is Ams middle name," Miyami chuckled.

"Rash and Rath," Shahero mused. "But both names suit her.

Amber said nothing just kept her gaze, cold and stony, on the man on stage. He was saying something but the blood roaring in her ear prevented her from hearing him but she could guess what the conversation was about. He was glad to be here, he was looking forward to working with them, and he wanted to bring the school to the finals. The usual shit that meant so little. Mr. Dickenson looked so pleased with himself and the rest of the faculty was smiling pleasantly.

Her team on the other hand wasn't too pleased. Why Hiwatari of all people? They'd be turned into Sharks. He would probably make Valkov captain, or worse his son captain. There was no doubt that the second student was Hiwatari. Life was about to suck eggs.

* * *

Kai and Tala stood off to the side watching as Kai's father made his usual big speech that would have all the faculty and students on his side. And from their position they could see the Varsity hockey team who were all staring almost agape at their new coach.

"Your Rath and Ruin don't seem to happy." Kai commented quietly.

Tala chuckled. "They aren't, but they can't do a damn thing about it. Ruin will be hating this."

Kai raised a brow at the malicious glee in his friends tone and it made him smirk. "You planning on making their lives hell?"

"I'll let them make the first move, but I won't let them control my life. Rei's been in control too long, it's time he relinquished it and realize that I've always been the better man."

"You're power mad, Valkov."

"No but Benny and Ruin are mine. Kon's turned their heads."

Kai shrugged. Didn't matter to him what was up with Valkov. If he wanted the Imp and Ruin then he could have them. He let his dark auburn eyes scan the people watching his father on stage. He had to admit that this school would have some advantages. Like for instance, they had girls. He hadn't been in a mixed school since elementary school and that was ages ago. Now things would be a lot more interesting. Sure he'd had met girls before, he'd just never had such easy access to them. His eyes roamed over the female students all pretty in skirts which revealed all those nice slender legs. He smirked. He was a legs man, he always noticed them first. As long as the girl had breasts, he was happy and a pretty face was always a bonus. And, he mused, scanning the crowd, there were a lot of pretty faces.

Tala studied Kai when he didn't reply, only to find his friends eyes roaming over the crowd of students and a light clicked on his head. Kai was checking out the girls, of course. Tala smirked and did the same. Some of those girls really had grown up. Arista to be one of them, but she hated him. And Miyami certainly had but her eyes were only for McGregor. Mariah, well she was a little too... Mariah-ish for him. The pink hair in his eyes was a turn off, but she did have a good body. Too bad she was with Rei. Shahero... well Shahero was too skinny in his opinion and she more or less reminded him of Benny and Benz was like his sister. He smirked, dear old Benz would get quite a surprise when she went home for Christmas this year. Sonia was too innocent and he didn't like her in that way, while Aspin was not his type.

The only one left from the team was Ruin. His Ruin. She'd grown up and had that perfect figure which she had no problem showing off. Ruin wasn't ashamed of her figure, she had no reason to be, but she didn't flaunt it. She was just modest with it. He was determined to get his Ruin to at least talk to him, but the damage was too bad to get her to be anything more. Then again, he thought, if the damage was too great then what was the point in even trying to repair it. He could just take Ruin whatever way he could get her. After all seducing Ruin wouldn't harm him any further. He smirked. He'd get Ruin; after all she was his.

His gaze moved again and landed on his cousin Miguel who was annoying his favorite play thing, Kirby Preston-Lee. Blood red brows shot up.

"When the hell did Kirby become hot?"

Kai glanced at him. "And she is?"

"See that girl in about four rows down from Ams, she's sitting between the blonde and Hitoshi's brother."

"Hitoshi has a brother?"

"Yeah Tyson, lives one house down from you now. He's the bluenette four rows down from Amber beside Kirby."

Kai locked on the Imp's position and moved down four rows to find a teal-haired girl sitting between a blond and Tyson Kinomiya. Now that he realised the link, he could see the resemblance between him and Kai's friend Hitoshi. Kai's mahogany eyes flicked to the girl and observed her. "What about her?"

Tala nodded. "Last time I saw her she was pretty but she wasn't hot. Christ, I've been away too long. Can't make a move on her now though, Mig would probably kill me."

Kai shrugged. These names meant nothing to him. He didn't know who Mig was and he didn't care, and the girl was too young. However, the girl behind her with the long blue hair wasn't bad at all. He'd make an effort to find out her name.

Mr. Dickenson's voice cut through his musings. "I'd like you all to give a warm welcome to Tala Valkov and Kai Hiwatari who'll be joining the senior class and the Varsity hockey team."

Both boys exchanged glances before walking out onto the stage. A polite applause became a rapturous one as the girls set their sights on them. The Varsity and JV hockey teams didn't seem too happy at all. And as soon as they came to a stop at the edge of the stage a figure got up and fled from the auditorium. Kai looked up and noticed that the Imp had left and was being followed by the silver haired Kinomiya. He would have to pay more attention to names, he chided himself. He looked over to see if Tala had noticed and could have slapped himself. Of course he noticed but instead of the vulnerable look, a dark expression appeared on his features. His father didn't seem very pleased either. Oh well, Kai decided, made the year a little more interesting besides the bluenette in the fourth row from the front was cuter up close.

* * *

"Amber!"

Amber glanced over her shoulder as Miyami raced to catch up with her. Her shoulders slumped. "You shouldn't have followed me Mimi, now you'll end up in detention."

Miyami shrugged. "No biggy. So you going to tell me what's up?"

The Irish teen opened the door to the Mess and thumped down onto to a chair. They still had at least a couple of minutes before they needed to head to class. "It was bad enough that Tala's going to be here, but now Hiwatari? I'm beginning to think that maybe Kirby was right," she added as an undertone.

A silver brow rose. "What is she right about?"

"She said that Valkov transferred here because he was gay and was having a relationship with his roommate."

"And that would be Hiwatari?"

Amber nodded and snickered. "We should spread that rumor around."

Miyami smirked. "Wouldn't take long if you just passed the rumor to Mariah, it'll be round the school in no time."

Amber bit her lip thoughtfully. "Yeah sure. Yeah." She rubbed her hands together gleefully. That would get sweet revenge. She felt so angry with Hiwatari for being at her school, so very angry.

And Miyami picked up on it immediately, like she always did. "Ams, I know why you're angry with Tala but why are you so angry with Hiwatari?"

Amber shook her head. "I'm not really sure. I just feel betrayed by him."

"But how? You were perfectly fine with him on Friday night, civil even."

"Times change."

"Not that much, come on Ams, what's your reason for this?"

Amber curled her feet under her. She rested her head on her hands and closed her eyes. "It was fine being civil to him off the ice because I wasn't at odds with him. He meant nothing to me, but now... he's at our school. His dad's the coach so what's to bet that Rei will be pushed out and Kai slotted in with Valkov as his right hand man."

Miyami nodded. "Tala's landed on his feet again."

"And how come Hiwatari showed no indication that he was coming here?"

Miyami sighed exasperated. "Amber you can't know everything."

"Well just because he's here then he better not expect any special treatment from us. I won't accept him as my captain though I'll give Coach the benefit of the doubt, he is after all a good coach and as of now we don't have any one else."

Miyami nodded, then bit her lip. If Tala and Kai were joining her team then that meant that someone would have to have to leave, and she was betting that it would be Tyson and Max, both of them were sophomores who were good enough to play Varsity. She smirked. They'd go back to the JV team and Miguel would have the Kirby/Tyson duo to deal with again. Miguel wouldn't be pleased. But it still meant their team would be split up. Great.

* * *

Kirby tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and frowned. This must have been such a major blow to her cousin. Tala being back and now their coach had gone and left them with Coach Hiwatari. Kirby shook her head.

"This sucks," she muttered, shifting her backpack on her shoulder.

The current of students moving to class flowed against her as she tried to make her way up the stairs to the computer lab. Luckily enough she had a free period which meant she could get her science report written out instead of doing it over the weekend. Joseph and Tyson were already in class, and she couldn't find Dunga or Kevin. So she was on her own.

Amber and Miyami were going to be in trouble for walking out of assembly. Nearly all the school were talking about her reaction. Some idiots were spreading the rumor that Amber had been pregnant with Tala's child which was why he'd left and now he was back and she couldn't handle it. Ah... the idiotic gossip of bottle blond bimbos with no brains. She'd never tire of it.

She tossed a baffled glance at a group of girls discussing how cute the captain of the Sharks was. She would like to label them blondes, but there were two brunettes in the group. Carrying on up the stairs she waved to a few classmates and turned round the corner and had the misfortune of walking straight into someone who had her stumbling back.

"Oof." She shook her head dazed and looked up and wished she hadn't.

"Hey peanut."

Kirby sighed and closed her garnet eyes, but when she reopened them Tala Valkov was still there with his friend Kai Hiwatari standing beside him watching her. "Um... I can't talk to you."

Tala stepped back bewildered. "What do you mean?"

"I gotta go." She brushed past him but he caught her shoulder.

"Hold up, Shorty."

Sighing she turned round. "Me no talk to you, got it. Leave me alone, Valkov, I've got stuff to do."

"What, you can't be civil to me?"

She managed a slight smile. "Sorry, no can do."

"Is this to do with Amber?" he demanded his fingers tightening on her shoulder.

Kai was about to step in when he caught sight of the pain that flickered through her eyes. But he needn't have bothered since two male teens jogged up to the girl, Kirby, as Tala had pointed out and the blonde one pulled Tala's hand off her shoulder before moving to stand in front of her, squaring up to the red head.

"Back off Valkov."

"Miguel." Tala gaped at his favorite cousin who was glaring at him menacingly.

"I said back off. We don't want anything to do with you or your Shark friend."

The red head with dark green eyes had his arm round Kirby and was holding her close. "Clear off Valkov, you're not wanted here."

Tala growled and turned on his heel to stalk off in the direction he'd been heading before he stopped Kirby. Kai took one last look the three who were watching Tala leave before he left to catch up.

Miguel turned to his vice captain and eyed her anxiously as she stared at Tala's retreating back. "Hey peanut, you all right?"

She scowled at him. "Don't call me that."

Daichi laughed at his female cousin. "Ok, but being serious, y'all right?"

"Yeah I'm good. Just... guys that wasn't the Tala I remember."

Miguel flinched at the lost edge to her tone. He knew that Kirby had once worshipped the ground Tala had walked on. It had been the one thing he had held against Tala, even though Tala showed no interest in her. Now though, with Valkov being the type of guy he was, maybe he wouldn't hold family ties in high priority and make a move on her. He sighed, he had enough competition for Kirby's affection as it was and she continued to tell herself that she and him were rivals. They weren't. Not in his eyes anyway.

He exchanged glances with Daichi over the petite vice captains head. "Where were you heading, peanut?"

She stared at him for a brief second then turned to her cousin. "Why does he call me that?"

Daichi laughed and turned her in the direction she was heading, as Miguel fell into step with them looping his arm around her waist so she was firmly wedged between them. "K.P. Peanut."

Kirby raised her eyes heavenwards. "K.P-L. Davidoff."

"You're still a peanut."

"Yeah well you're just a plain nut."

"I prefer Brazil nut," he said airily which caused Daichi to laugh at her gob smacked expression.

"Fine, no longer taking to you, since you can't have a civilized conversation."

"This is civilized. For you and me anyway."

Daichi shook his head at the flirting between his cousin and his best friend. Thinking of his cousin led him to wondering about his older and neurotic cousin. "Hey have you see Amber?"

Kirby shook her head. "No, I was looking for her. But... well I'm sure I'll see her around lunch."

"Yeah, probably."

"It'll be weird having her and Tala at odds with each other," Miguel mused.

"Maybe, but she's in the right. He really hurt her."

Both boys nodded but said nothing. Today was weird enough as it was, they doubted it could get any worse.

"So cous' where are you heading."

"Computer lab to do my science report. What about you two, shouldn't you guys be in class?"

"Free period. I'm thinking of heading back to bed, wanna join me?" Miguel asked, moving his body to avoid her elbow.

"No thanks, or were you talking to Daichi?" she retorted innocently.

"Kirbs you're a riot and this is your stop. I'll see ya at lunch," Daichi said removing his arm from her shoulder.

"Yeah I'll see you in English," Miguel added.

Kirby smiled at her two team mates. "Bye guys."

* * *

"What do you mean Hiwatari transferred?"

"Exactly what he said nimrod," Carlos snarled growing fed up with Jose's whining.

Brooklyn sighed heavily and contemplated shoving his back pack up Jose butt, not that it would do him much good but might actually give him some bulk. The whole team was furious about Hiwatari's desertion of the team. Quite frankly he saw this as a bonus. Kai was gone and he would be the new captain. Life couldn't get better in his mind, he got rid of both obstacles in his way in the course of one weekend. But still Hiwatari had been a decent player, it would be a loss to the team.

"So what you're saying is that Hiwatari went home for the weekend and now we find out he's not coming back," Trevor Arnolds tried to make sense of what was going on.

"Yes!" Brooklyn snapped shoving a hand through his thick orange hair his light eyes flashing.

"And Valkov's joined the Tigers?"

"I'll give ten out of ten for observation," Carlos remarked dryly, finding his new captain amusing. Brooklyn seemed to be having an internal battle. He would be captain, and though he may have hated both Russian's with a passion, he seemed to be pissed with them for leaving him in the lurch. Carlos found it hilarious. Now all he had to do was get himself into the vice captain's position, and heading to the Tiger's school to give Tala a taste of what happened to traitors would help pass the time.

Stuart Weed lifted his pale blue eyes to look at the orange haired boy and let out a low whistle. "Well we're going to need new players. We're down a couple."

"I know a few who wouldn't mind joining," Trevor added.

"Yeah we can put the word out and hold tryouts," Carlos stated.

"Just hope that none of them are better than you," Brooklyn retorted, grabbing his books and sauntering out of the room. He needed to talk to Coach Balkof.

* * *

Amber shoved the pink slip in the pockets of her slacks and scuffed her sneaker clad feet off the lino floor as she made her way down the almost empty corridor. She was ten minutes late for class. She was quite pleased with herself. It had taken her 7 minutes to get from the secretary's office to her History class.

"Whoopa," she murmured.

Finally she came to room 305 with its red door. Looking through the small window she frowned seeing Mr. Shallow sitting by the one large desk and looking to the front. Robert looked completely bored, Johnny was shredding a piece of paper to pieces while Shahero looked as though she wanted to stab herself in the eye. The other student's eyes were glued to the front.

Placing her hand on the handle, she opened the door and walked in. "Sorry I'm late, had to get a detention slip so you can schedule me in for a DT some other day."

Mr. Shallow looked up and smiled at her motioning for her to sit down. She nodded and weaved her way to her usual seat at the large table with her friends. Dumping her bag she glanced up to the front. Fuck. Hiwatari stood at the front looking decidedly bored.

"What's he doing here?" she hissed.

Shallow sent her an inquiring look and she inclined her head to the Shark captain. He nodded and crossed to her resting his hip on the corner of her desk. "Continue Kai."

"I don't know what else you want me to say."

"Just some things about yourself, you're new. Help us to get to know you."

"Oh we know who he is. What we want to know is what is he doing here?" Amber muttered but her voice carried.

Kai glanced at her and quirked a brow. The Imp had intrigued him. Especially when she strode in bold as brass, told the teacher to schedule a detention for her some other time and didn't even look embarrassed over it. And she wasn't wearing regulation uniform but a pair of slacks and a navy hoody. This school was completely different from Clonmel. Being late was frowned upon, you weren't allowed to talk back to teachers and regulation uniform was expected to be worn at all times. Already he felt claustrophobic in his uniform which was completely regulation.

And the teachers were so different. They didn't seem as strict and were very comfortable with the students treating them more as adults than anything else. This school was definitely going to take some getting used to.

"My parents moved house, which put me in a different district and since my father had come to work here, it just made sense that I move with him," he answered.

"Oh yes, Daddy dearest," Shahero muttered and flashed a smile at Shallow when he gave her a pointed look.

"Well Kai, this class is one of the more laid back because European history isn't a very popular subject so only a few take it."

Kai nodded looking around the pretty empty class. He'd chosen European history because he'd had an interest in it while at Clonmel, it had been something to while away the hours when Tala was in detention or when he was suffering from insomnia. And when the opportunity had come up to do a class on it, he'd chosen it much to Tala's disdain. His friend was doing Physics since he was good with numbers and that kind of shit that Kai couldn't for the life of him be bothered with.

"So why don't you take a seat at the table and we'll continue on what we were discussing last week, which was, Shahero?"

"We were discussing Shahero, wow that must have been an exciting topic," Amber exclaimed with mock enthusiasm then winced when someone's foot hit hers. "Ouch."

Mr. Shallow chuckled. "Now Shahero, what were we discussing?"

"World war 2."

"The boring one," Johnny added.

"Yeah that's the one where they killed the horses in Poland," Ian suddenly yelled out.

Amber slapped her brow with the heel of her hand before glowering at the midget Russian. "We are not going into that again."

Mr. Shallow chuckled as Amber shot a murderous glare at Ian who was neighing. "Yes let's ignore the horse issue, I'm not having another debate on the cruelty of animals through out history."

"Yeah but sir, that history book is evil."

"It had that majorly gross picture of those Parisians hunting the Elephant," Shahero agreed with her dormmate.

Robert sniffed in disdain which caused Amber to glance at him. "You should not criticize that which you know nothing about."

Amber considered that for a moment then shrugged. "Well you're German what do I expect."

Mr. Shallow shook his head, running a hand over his mustache. So many different cultures and races in this class, it was hard to keep them all happy. Then he frowned. Miyami and Oliver were missing. He crossed to his book and keeping an ear out for the witticism being thrown across the table, he began to mark down the names of those who were and weren't there.

Kai watched the whole thing with interest. The teachers at Clonmel would never take this kind of debate. They preferred the students not to have a say in anything, then again he doubted anyone could keep the Tiger's mouths shut.

Mr. Shallow approached the table with a hand full of sheets. "Right, the history essays. Well they were surprisingly good. Not one of you got a C, they were all B's or higher. Robert, another A. Very good, but it's a bit stiff. You have to develop a certain style, other wise it just reads as though it's come straight from the book."

Robert accepted the sheets back and placed them down on the table in front of him, shielding them from Johnny and Amber when both went to sneak a peek.

"Shahero, very good style. You're very apt at holding things in your head, but maybe if you did some planning instead of writing the essay up the day before handing it in, then you wouldn't rush and get some things wrong. So that's why you have an A2 instead of an A1." Shahero took the crumpled sheets. "Oh and maybe next time you could type it out."

"Never satisfied," the petite girl muttered.

"Although the blue and silver writing was quite eye catching, the silver was a little hard to read and the altering colors of paragraph were distracting."

Shahero rolled her eyes while Amber snickered. He continued round the table offering critique to the other students before he came back to his more favorite students. The Tigers were always quite vocal and even though this class was very small compared to the others; he liked it better. They were all like his family. Very vocal but because of their little debates they seemed to remember things better and they always did their work.

"Amber."

"Yes."

He smiled down at the vibrant Irish girl. "Your essay was very good."

"Why do I feel there's a but coming?"

"No the butt's already here," Shahero interrupted.

"I don't even want to think about Hiwatari coming."

Amber shot Johnny a disgusted look. "Aww crying out loud Johnny, keep your mouth shut."

"All of you be quiet. Now Amber, your essay was very good. In fact ,as usual it was a pleasure to read, it's factual, a bit long winded-"

"It was a long war."

"Your conclusion was a bit short."

"Cough, Contradicting, cough," Amber mumbled.

Shahero snickered as Johnny grinned. Robert's head was hunched over his essay trying to see what was wrong with it, while Ian was waiting patiently for his turn and trying to shoot paper balls at Hiwatari.

"My one problem was the little comments."

Amber frowned. "Huh?"

"Such as: Even in the Munich agreement they conceded to Hitler's demands on Czechoslovakia for the guarantee that this was to be Hitler's last territorial claim on Europe. Which is very true but you didn't have to add: Gullible eejits! in brackets."

"Well they were gullible eejits, besides I could've called them worse."

"And then there was: In this essay we'll see the initial success of Hitler and the inevitable defeat. And then in brackets: His luck couldn't hold out forever."

"Well it couldn't."

"This was followed by rapid movement from the cavalry, which were tanks not horses although the Polish did have horses accompanied with: Will not go into that, in brackets."

"Well..."

"And my favorite one: The Nazi's received aid from traitors and Quisling was rewarded by being head of a puppet government, with Punch and Judy in brackets."

Amber shrugged sheepishly while the others chuckled and Robert shook his head.

"Okay, so maybe I shouldn't make those comments, but you said to put your own thoughts into the essay, and I put them in brackets."

"But you'll end up putting them in your exam essays."

"No I won't. Trust me, I'll be good and pass with flying colors. You do your job and I'll do mine."

Mr. Shallow shook his head, then glanced round the room. "Um, where is Miyami?"

"Oh Mr. Dickenson wanted to talk to her about something, he called her in when we were getting our detention slips."

"Detention already, and before Shahero, now that's unusual."

"Not really, I already got detention," Shahero pointed out.

"Why what did you do?"

"Threw a book at the alarm bell this morning, put a dent in it."

Mr. Shallow shook his head and turned to the more silent bunch at the head of the table just after he handed Johnny and Ian their essays. He looked at Kai. "How are you finding the school so far?"

Kai raised his gaze to meet the friendly brown eyes of the History teacher and he leaned back in his chair, lacing his fingers behind his head. "Yeah, it's not too bad. I mean it's definitely different from Clonmel."

"It would be a lot less stricter than Clonmel. Here they go a lot easier on students. Dickenson is very lenient with them, they don't know how lucky they are," he directed the last part at the students who were discussing Hitler's faults.

Shahero looked at him and laughed. "Oh we know how lucky we are, it's just a pity we can't get teachers who live up to our high standards."

"Be careful Kaeto, I can lay on a lot of homework for tonight."

"Oh sir, you wouldn't."

"Try me Amber and we'll see."

"Okay, we'll be good," the Irish teen replied quickly.

He made a face but turned back to Kai. "The students aren't too bad here. Social class isn't really a big deal since they've lived with each other for nearly all their time here."

Kai nodded. "It's a little too important in Clonmel."

Shallow nodded. "I know that all too well. I went there myself which is why I vowed never to teach there. Is Balkof still there?"

Kai made a face. "Oh yeah, if ever there was a reason not to do a class, Balkof is it."

Shallow chuckled. "So you looking forward to playing for the Tigers?"

"Looking forward isn't the phrase I would use. More feigning tolerance." At the rise of a bushy brow Kai quickly added, "I'm not exactly in their top ten favorite people."

Shallow nodded. "Well if you ever find work is just getting on top of you or you need a chat, then you can come talk to me or another member of staff you feel comfortable talking to."

Kai nodded. So the staff was making an effort to be decent, pity the rest of the team were so against him.

"Robert, where's Oliver?"

The HeadBoy looked up from the conversation he was having with the Imp. "Oh I think he isn't feeling well. He was looking a bit peaky through breakfast and he went straight to sick bay instead of going to the assembly."

"Funny that, I felt like going to sick bay after assembly," Amber announced.

Kai raised his eyes to heaven. She was so bloody different from Friday night. She'd been civil then, now she was being blatantly hostile. Well if she wanted to be childish then she could be so. He didn't have to associate with her or hers, so it didn't bother him.

"Amber," Mr. Shallow warned. "Now who can tell me about the Phony war?"

The class groaned as they reached into their bags and brought out their books.

* * *

"Hey guys!"

Shahero and Amber glanced over their shoulders as Miyami bounced into the media lab. They smiled brightly at her and waved her over. Breathless she slid into the seat beside them.

"Hey where were you, we didn't see you in European History," Amber wondered, as Miyami slotted her floppy disk into the modem.

"Ah, Mr. Dickenson wanted to see me and Tyson."

"Any particular reason why?" Shahero asked as she scanned the monitor.

"Yeah."

Amber shot her friend a curious glance. Miyami knew something but she was going to make them work for it and the look she sent Shahero had alarm bells ringing in the Irish girl's head.

"Are you planning on telling us any time soon?" Shahero was distracted by her computer work and the music which was playing into one of her ears - the other ear phone was in Amber's.

"Maybe."

"I'm not playing your games, Mimi."

Amber snickered at Miyami's crestfallen look. "You'll spill eventually. Can't keep something like this quiet forever."

"Girls the computer lab is for you to do work, not for you to exchange gossip," Miss Tate told them politely.

"Sorry miss."

"We hadn't technically gotten to the gossip miss."

"Well Shahero maybe you'd like to tell me it once you get it."

"I'll consider if you can handle it."

Mrs. Tate smiled at them before gathering her sheets and proceeding to work. The girls dissolved into a silent fit of laughter. The door opened and Tala strode in with Kai, both guys in deep discussion over something or other. Mrs. Tate looked up briefly and glared at them. Tala flashed her a smile and his gaze locked on the three girls talking silently at the end of the row. Leading Kai, he rounded the edge of the row and moved to two empty computers opposite the girls. Neither of them looked up, their eyes glued to the screens blinking rapidly against the bright light of the screen in the dimly lit room.

"Okay Mimi, spill."

"No holding power, Ams."

Amber stuck her tongue out and turned back to the computer. "Fine then... Ow my wrist is beginning to hurt."

"Aw poor you," Shahero clucked with zero sympathy.

"Hey what's our next History assignment?"

"You should have been in class," Amber chided.

"Assess the part played by Stalin in the History of the U.S.S.R 1927-1953," a male voice answered.

Amber glowered at the arrogant male leader of the Sharks. Miyami looked surprised then grateful. "Um, hey, thanks."

_'Um, no asshole!'_ Amber thought but said nothing. Instead she kept her gaze on the computer feeling Tala's gaze on her.

"Aw now you've pissed Benny off, Kai."

Amber looked over at her EX-best friend with cool disdain as she tucked that annoying strand of black tipped with gold, which always fell into her face, behind her ear. "Not really."

Kai looked between Amber and Tala. The tension had picked up a notch but the other two girls were either immune to it, genuinely didn't notice it or were just ignoring it. He turned to Amber. "Look I'm not trying to make enemies here."

"Too late, you've already made them," she stated in a monotone not even having the decency to look at him.

"And what exactly have I done to make them?"

Amber opened her mouth, then frowned not really sure what he'd done to earn her disdain of him. He was a Shark but then again, that wasn't really a bad thing. No it was and he was friends with Tala. She was about to make that point when Kai cut her off.

"Nothing, you're just being petty Benson, so either grow up or get over it. We'll have to play together; if you want your team to fail just because you're too childish to put personal differences aside, then on your head be it."

Shahero's head snapped up at his superior tone and bristled. "Look you're the new boy so back off, otherwise you'll be the one blamed for the team fucking up. Ams isn't on the fucking ice, so she can dislike you as much as she damn well pleases."

Miyami nodded her head but said nothing. Instead her gaze was on Amber whose gaze was stonily fixed on the screen. She wasn't saying anything, but Miyami recognized that expression. Her jaw was clenched her eyes a little brighter than they should be.

Suddenly Amber shoved out of her chair and stormed out of the media lab. Tala watched her go, before he got up and chased after her. Shahero made to go as well, but Miyami's warning hand on her arm stilled her. Miyami turned her silver eyes clouded with concern to the door her best friend had disappeared out of.

Kai frowned. Why the hell was Tala so strung up over this one girl? Sure she seemed nice and everything on Friday night but to him she just seemed like a spoilt and selfish brat who expected everyone to do what she wanted. She was petty and pathetic, he couldn't understand what it was about her that had so much loyalty given to her. People in the corridors, seemed to avoid their gaze or show them considerable dislike and not all of them were hockey players and it seemed as though most were doing it because they knew that the Imp was angry with them. He couldn't understand what made people be so loyal to her, she'd done nothing so far in his opinion to inspire such loyalty. Though there had been others in class who'd been fine to him of course they didn't have anything to do with hockey.

* * *

Amber strode quickly down the corridor but the slap of footsteps behind her told her that she was not alone. She'd just turned the corner when Tala caught up with her. He caught her arm and whirled her round to face him. Resigned she looked up at him.

"What?"

"What is with your attitude?" he demanded.

"Attitude? I don't know what you mean. I don't have an attitude."

"You're being a bitch. And you've turned everyone against me. How dare you?!"

"I didn't _do_ anything."

"Kirby told me she wasn't allowed to talk to me."

"I never told her to not talk to you. She made up her own mind, and you're just miffed because she won't let you fuck her."

Tala snarled. When did his mini-brat get so impetuous. "You have no right to turn everyone against me. Even Miguel doesn't want anything to do with me."

"You hurt him as well. You hurt everyone when you left, and then you changed, no one likes the new you Valkov, get that through your thick skull and leave."

He gaped at her. He hadn't changed, she had. Right? He was the same Tala, she was the one that had changed. She'd become bitchy and had a nasty attitude. She'd turned into a miniature Ruin without that understanding nature which kept Ruin from being completely unemotional. Amber was just a plain bitch who didn't give a damn about anyone. All she wanted to do was hurt him and control his life.

She turned to leave but Tala grabbed her arm and forced her to face him. She hissed in pain. She caught the animalistic look in his eye and felt the violence in his grip which made her step back but he wouldn't let her go. She suddenly feared for her own safety. Stabbing his foot with the heel of hers she stumbled back when he released his grip.

"Leave me alone," she ordered, her voice shaky.

"Amber just hear me out," he pleaded, voice raspy with desperation.

"No, leave me alone." She yelped and backtracked when he went to reach her, but before he could do anything he was jerked round and a fist collided with his jaw. He stepped back from the force and braced himself, rubbing his jaw tenderly. Raising his eyes he gazed into the angry brown eyes of Ruin Mulryan.

"You lay a finger on her and I hurt you, got it."

"Ruin I..."

"Don't you Ruin me. You are nothing, got it. You mean nothing here. Now why don't you go crawling back to your Shark friend and snivel about your pitiful life." Disgust dripped from every word.

He stared at her surprised. Ruin had never used that tone on him before, and Amber... he'd never used his temper on her before, ever. What the hell was happening to him? He shoved Ruin out of the way and made his way towards his dorm ignoring the fact that the bell had signaled the fact that he should be heading to his next class.

Ruin watched him leave and felt a hollow in her chest. She'd seen that utterly lost, vulnerable look on his face. He hadn't realized what he was doing. He had changed so much that he didn't even recognize himself. Shaking her head she offered her hand to Amber, who accepted it. Her face was shell-shocked and a slight flicker of pain filled her face but she wasn't even looking at her arm but in the direction Tala had left. Amber lifted her gaze to Ruin who looked as numb as she felt. What the hell had Clonmel done to Tala?


	5. Show Down

**Disclaimer**: _I don't own Beyblade and I only own Amber Benson and Ruin Mulryan. Miyami belongs to __**ChibiTari/Unlucky Star**__. Arista Belyaev was invented by __**AzN*PyRo*ArCaDa**__. And __**Animerle**__ owns Aspin. While Sonia belongs to __**Spitfire_Sae**__ and Kirby is the creation of __**Kindred Insanity**__. Shahero comes compliments of __**Animesk8er**__._

* * *

Chapter Five: Show down!

* * *

Ozuma slid his backpack on to his shoulders and sauntered out of his advanced math class. He hadn't been able to concentrate and the teacher had picked it up immediately. Which was why he was late heading to lunch. At least he knew he'd have a table to sit at, Ams or Kane would keep him a seat. A sigh escaped his lips. Why hadn't McGuire told them that Hiwatari was going to take over? Or had McGuire known? And with Hiwatari and Valkov here, did that mean that he and Rei would lose their position? He'd come to love his position, being the vice captain meant that the team and Rei came to him about their problems and things like that. He didn't want to lose that position.

He was also worried about his cousin. Amber wasn't in the best of moods; in Science she'd almost set fire to her own uniform when she'd forgotten to turn off the gas tap. It worried both him and Bryan, even Kirby and Daichi were concerned about her. They all knew she wasn't being herself. But he hadn't had any time to talk to her and gain an inside view of her thoughts. She had walked out of assembly, something Amber had never done in her entire time at the Academy and ensured her detention for the afternoon. If she kept it up she'd rival Russia Kennedy and what was worse, was that Rei wanted to show a united front to the new captain so he wouldn't try to divide them.

He jogged down the almost empty staircase and spotted a garnet head not too far in front of him. Ever since that party on Friday night Sonia had been avoiding him and it hurt. Sonia was one of his closest friends and they shared a lot in common, both being prefects and both having interests in soccer, though he couldn't play due to the fact that he was more involved in hockey, and they were in nearly all the same classes. He liked her a lot, she was kind, intelligent, considerate, had a pretty heated temper when pushed and was good fun to be around. It was unfair that a stupid drunken kiss could ruin their friendship.

He felt the familiar ache when he realized that she was ignoring him. What was bothering him most was that he didn't think he, himself, would be able to move past it. He'd tried for so long just to try and be friends with her but it didn't work. And that kiss was still playing on his mind. He knew she'd been drunk when it had happened and he'd taken advantage of the situation so of course she felt humiliated. She probably hadn't even realized what she was doing. But one thing was for sure, he wasn't going to lose her.

"Hey Sunny, wait up."

She glanced over her shoulder and he didn't miss the subtle wince or the way she fought to smile at him. He knew she would rather go huddle in a corner, but that wasn't the way to deal with things. They needed to confront this matter to move past it. At least he hoped they both could.

"Oh, um, hey Ozuma."

"Have you seen Amber around?" he asked casually, falling into step with her as they made their way head to the dining hall.

Sonia visibly relaxed. "Actually, no, I haven't. I'm a bit worried about her."

"You don't know if Tala's in any of her classes do you?"

She shook her head softly. "No, but he was in my Physics class." She grimaced as she remembered his taunting about her kiss with Ozuma. What the hell had possessed her to do so? And in full view of everyone? It was the drink, but that wasn't all of it which made it all the more mortifying. But if Ozuma was willing to keep their conversation easy and casual and as far away from Friday night as possible, then she was willing to oblige.

"Yeah he was in my advanced Math class, which means he can't have seen Amber yet because she has a free period in between her History class and Math class."

"Unless he saw her then."

Ozuma frowned. "Weren't you with her?"

"I didn't have a free period. I had that extra Chemistry class then."

"Oh, well then it's a possibility. I'm really worried about her."

"Me too." They walked on in silence.

Finally Ozuma broke it. "Listen, Suns about Friday-"

"Oh look there's Salima, sorry Ozuma but I really need to talk to her." Sonia excused herself and briskly covered the ground between her and the red haired junior with the dark blue, almost navy eyes.

Ozuma watched her go and shook his head. He'd just turned down the corridor towards the dining hall when a figure emerged from another corridor and almost walked into him. He stared bewildered at his cousin who was pointing an accusatory finger at him.

"What are you doing here?"

"Walking?"

"You're not supposed to be walking, your supposed to be in there keeping me a seat so that I actually get to sit down when I go to eat."

"Hey your last class was on this floor, you should be in there already. I just came from the third floor."

Amber scowled at him, considering what he'd just said then sighed nodding. "Okies fine, I'm in the wrong."

"You're not in the wrong, I just expected you to be in there already. Besides the others will have kept us seats, and if they haven't we can always double up, you can sit on one of Bryans' thighs, I can sit on the other."

Amber laughed out loud, sliding her arm through her cousin's. "That's mean. I'll tell him you said that."

"At least give me a head start so I can flee the country." He smiled when she chuckled again. "So why were you late?"

"Me and Spencer had to clean up our Math room, or basically I had to. We had a fight."

"What kind of fight, dare I ask?"

"Well he keeps borrowing my stuff, so I colored my ruler in with pink highlighter and it smeared across his page when he went to draw a line." She grinned at the memory. "So then he stole my high lighter and wouldn't give it back, and it escalated from that."

Ozuma listened to her explanation with total bewilderment. The thought of Spencer smearing his page with fluorescent pink ink made his lips quirk. Amber could lighten the mood, there was no doubt about it.

"So what's got you in a mood?"

He cast her a slight glance and rolled a shoulder, shoving his hands into his black slacks as she did though she kept one hand on the shoulder strap of her bag to keep it from sliding down. "Sonia."

The one word explained it all to the petite Irish girl. "Oh. She still iffy with you over the kiss?"

"Yeah. I just don't know how I can fix this."

"She's embarrassed. She likes you-" when he opened his mouth to contradict her, she raised a hand. "Arista told you for Christ's sake, so don't you argue with... Ozuma you still home?" she wondered when she realized that he wasn't listening to her but that he was staring at her with a far away expression on his handsome face. '_Oh dear, Arista did tell him that, didn't she, or did I dream it?'_ Amber wondered.

"What happened to your wrist?" Ozuma asked trying to keep his temper in check as he caught sight of the bluish marks around her delicate wrist which marred the gold skin.

"Uh..." she laughed nervously, unsure what to say. "I kinda had a run in with Tala, but it looks worse than it was."

"What was he trying to do, break your wrist?"

"No, no. You know me, I bruise easily. I come out of a hockey match looking as though I've been hit with a baseball bat multiple times and had Sumo wrestlers tap dancing on me."

Despite the fact she was trying to lighten the situation, he could feel his blood boil. "He hurt you."

"No, well not physically anyway. He scared me, but I think he scared himself more. Honestly, I don't think he knew what he was doing."

"That's no excuse, look at your wrist."

"Ozuma remember that time at Nana's? When we were playing tennis and I got that really big bruise on my leg when the ball hit me and Nana thought you kicked me? Or the time I was playing football and ended up almost breaking my leg when I tackled you?"

Ozuma nodded. Nana Benson almost thrashed his hide so it would look the same color as Amber's leg. It was a very terrifying experience one he didn't care to repeat any time soon. "I know. But still what was Tala trying to achieve?"

Amber raised her eyes to the ceiling. "The Goddess only knows. He was trying to get me to talk to him, said I'd developed an attitude and when I pointed out a few home truths he became a little creepy and stalker-ish. Ruin came, thumped him pretty damn good on the jaw, - I'm surprised she didn't dislocate it - and then he went away."

Ozuma nodded then smirked. "Ah so that would explain why he was wearing that scarf in class and refused to remove it."

Amber stared at him in disbelief then snickered. "Serves him right. She really did whack him though, even Seanín óg would have trouble standing against that punch and he's massive."

They moved to join the line of people waiting to get served as they scanned the dining room for their friends.

"Seanín óg's a pussy cat."

"No he's not, do you know his friends call him the pitbull, that's a contradiction in terms. I mean you can't call him a dog and a cat."

"Well I suppose pitbull sounds better than young little Sean."

It was true. Translated from Irish, then that's what Seanín óg meant, but it was technically meant to mean Sean jnr. so as to not confuse him with their great uncle Sean. It was an Irish thing, thankfully in Amber and Ozuma's opinion, their parents hadn't felt the need to call them any Irish names. Then again Seth Benson wasn't Ozuma's biological father, he was just Daichi's father, but he treated Oz as his own.

"Seanín Óg can be pretty vicious though. I don't like him, can't stand it when he comes over with Uncle Rory or Nana. Hence why I basically live in the Kinomiya's when they do."

Ozuma nodded. "Dad ain't too chuffed with having Seanín as a nephew."

"I know, James neither." Amber frowned. "Aw shucks, I was hoping to see Tala's bruise. He ran away before I could see." she grumbled bouncing lightly on the balls of her feet.

Her cousin rolled his eyes and placed a hand on her shoulder moving her down the queue so that they could pay for their meal and meet their friends. He watched as Sonia walked in with Salima and Mariah and went to sit beside Mariam and Kirby. He sighed heavily causing Amber to follow his gaze. She smiled softly.

"Why don't you go talk to her?"

"Because she made a fast exit the last time I tried to talk to her. It's obvious she doesn't want to talk to me."

Amber scrunched up her face in dislike as her gaze caught sight of Kai sauntering in and scanning the crowds. Amber smirked. Poor Kai, it seemed his boyfriend ditched him. She snickered causing Ozuma to shoot her a bemused look.

"What?"

"Hmm? Oh nothing. Just enjoying the fact that Hiwatari's been ditched by his boyfriend."

Ozuma's eyes shut before he looked at her and shook his head. "Lemme guess, Valkov?"

"Ding, ding, ding, you win the trip for two to Maui. You should invite Sonia." Emerald eyes flashed. "Or not."

"She's being immature."

"Who Sons? Look don't fret about it so," she ordered as she led him to the table where Johnny, Miyami and Shahero sat probing Miyami for info on what she knew. "Hey guys, where is everyone?"

Shahero looked round. "Ah... I think the rest are sitting with the JV team or are in the library or the quad."

The Irish girl bobbed her head noting that the rest of her team were indeed sitting with the JV team and the ones that weren't there, such as Aspin and Kane were probably out on the quad having some time alone. She suddenly froze when she caught sight of Spencer looking in her direction.

"Oh crap."

Johnny and Miyami regarded her curiously. "What?"

Amber giggled nervously and clasped her hands together as she watched the tall Russian make his way towards her slowly and deliberately. "Spence is going to kill me?"

Miyami tilted her head to the side. "Why?"

"Because I drew a smiley face on the collar of his shirt in bright luminous pink and never told him."

Johnny choked on his drink and nodded gratefully when Miyami slapped his back for him. When he recovered he looked at the dark haired girl. "Pink?"

"What? It looked pretty at the time." she smiled but the smile was weak and soon disappeared as her expression darkened. "Besides, I walked around with a library stamp -which said 'property of the library', on my leg for a whole day because of him and Ian."

Shahero grinned. "Actually that was my idea."

"Bad idea to tell her that Sen, she'll have you wearing a pink smiley face next time your back is turned," Ozuma warned as his cousin nodded her head eagerly.

The dark haired Asian girl shrugged and turned back to her meal, pushing the leftovers round on the plate.

"AMBER!"

"Hi Spencer."

"Don't 'hi Spencer' me. Do I or do I not have a pink smiley face on my shirt?"

"Well it's not really smiling because you moved, so it's more a confused face."

Exasperated Spencer stared at her, then glowered at Johnny and Ozuma who were snickering quietly at him. "What?!"

"You have pink hair." Miyami informed him sweetly.

"What?"

Amber covered her face and attempted to smother her giggles at her doomed future.

"Amber do I have pink hair?"

"Well I had to make sure the pen worked so..." she trailed off to giggles as he began to frantically check for strands of pink while the ones at the other table who'd noticed the pink but decided not to tell him, laughed at him.

* * *

Across the hall a group of girls laughed at the antics. Mariam shook her head causing royal blue strands to fall in front of her jade green eyes.

"Is his hair pink?"

Kirby nodded while muffling her laughter. "Spencer's got pink hair!"

Salima's eyes widened in disbelief. "Oh my god he's got a pink smiley face as well."

Mariah tossed her pink hair over her shoulder and slid back in her chair to enjoy the show. "How did she reach that high?"

Sonia remained silent, her gaze fixed on Ozuma and his laughing face as he and Johnny exchanged comments at the tall Russian's expense. Amber was trying desperately to reason with him but it couldn't have sounded very good when she kept giggling at him. Miyami and Shahero were trying to point out exactly where the pink was as his hand went to try and rub it out. She was oblivious to what was being said as her earphones were in her ears numbing her mind with _No Doubt-The singles 1992-2003_ track number nine. The lyric's seemed to describe her predicament exactly. She liked Ozuma, but he had no interest in her at all, only as a friend.

At the end of their table listening to their commentary sat Kai, on his own. He didn't know where Tala was, but he figured he must have had something to do. Besides Kai didn't mind being on his own. He was on his own plenty of times in Clonmel; this wasn't much different. Plus the entertainment wasn't all that bad. The tall enforcer didn't seem too pleased with the fact that the Imp had drawn on him. Yet again her personality had shifted. Now she was messing and fooling around with her friends, almost childishly. It was a wonder that her split personalities didn't annoy her friends. After all which was the real her?

He shook his head and turned back to his meal, watching the cute bluenette from out of the corner of his eye. So far he knew she wasn't a senior, she wasn't in any of his classes and her friends were all in a year younger than him. She was bright and had a cutting wit that she used on some blonde haired oaf who arrived with a green haired boy who he assumed was her brother since the similarities were there. She had a great pair of legs which he'd been exposed to when she leaned over to fetch something from the bag on the chair on the opposite side of the table, and that skirt showed them off perfectly. She was popular with her friends and with others from various years who greeted her as they passed. He could see why, she had a winning smile, a good personality and she was hot. Made sense to him.

She was now watching the distracted garnet haired girl with an amused expression but he could see the concern in her posture and those startling jade eyes. She tucked a strand of blue hair behind her ear and nudged the pink haired girl.

"What?"

"Is something wrong with Sonia?" she asked with a sultry yet confident voice.

The pink haired girl shrugged but her gold eyes were worried. He recognized her from the match. The number two goalie, Mariah Tanaka who was dating the captain Rei. He'd been in his Math class, he remembered, as had the garnet haired girl. Sonia they called her.

"She's miffed about Ozuma." The one he remembered from the previous morning, Kirby, answered. She had arrived with a group of boys, the bluenettes brother and the blonde before they scattered and she remained, which made him think she was in a different year.

"Why?" the red head with the pretty dark blue eyes, the color of midnight blue asked.

Kirby tore her gaze from the scene with Amber and Spencer to answer red head. "I think my cousin fucked up big time."

"Elaborate Kirby, we don't speak Amber talk." the bluenette reproved making Kai smirk. Was there tension between the Imp and the bluenette? And he still didn't know her name.

Kirby stuck out her tongue, she was definitely related to the Imp. "Well so far as I know, Sonia got slightly drunk and she kissed Ozuma and he didn't exactly push her away."

"So he kissed her back, this is great," Mariah squealed making the others wince.

"No, no it's not great. Sonia forgot about it and she avoided him which made him think that she thinks that he took advantage of her, and she is just mortified with her actions and thinks she's ruined her friendship with him."

The red head sent a pitying glance to the silent girl opposite her. "How fucked up is that?"

"What I don't get is why doesn't Ozuma just jump her and get it over with?" the bluenette demanded dryly.

"Mariam!" the red head exclaimed.

So her name was Mariam, Kai's ears perked at her name and a smirk slid over his lips. He caught sight of how her gaze flicked to him and he read the curiosity in her eyes. That pleased him.

Kirby sent her a baleful glance. "First of all my cousin doesn't jump people, second of all jumping Sonia, it's just not right. Besides-" she lowered her voice as she risked a glance at their friend. "Ozuma really likes her, jumping her might scare her away. I just say let them do their own thing and go at their own pace."

"Would make all our lives simpler if someone just shoved them into a closet together," Mariam muttered causing the teal haired girl to shoot her a glare and then another at Mariah when she began to warm to the idea.

"No, absolutely no way. You two stay out of it, and if I find out either of you have mentioned this to Miyami or Shahero of any of the other girls, you'll all face my wrath."

The older girls snickered at the determination on the youngest Benson's face. The girl they'd been talking about finally took off her earphones off and looked at them.

"Did I miss something?"

Mariam shook her head. "No, nothing."

Sonia smiled. "O-kay." Her face suddenly brightened. "Oh hey guys."

Kai looked up as the Imp and the silver haired Kinomiya - _Miyami_ - dropped into the chairs beside their friend.

"Suppity Sunny-D."

"What's with you sitting over here with these losers?" Miyami demanded haughtily laughing when Mariam nudged her.

Sonia smiled the first genuine smile since she'd sat down. "What's with you and Spencer, Ams, I saw you two flirting."

Amber gaped at her. "Me, Spencer, flirting?"

Kirby burst out laughing. "I never thought I'd see the day when those three words would be in the same sentence."

"Oh what is this, gang up on Amber day?"

"I think you deserved Spencer ganging up on you, Ams."

"What, I just gave him a pink smiley, besides guys like him have tattoos that say _mom_, what's so different?" Amber demanded stubbornly, her gaze flicking to Kai sitting at the end of their table. He was pretending not to watch, but he was and his gaze was very much on Mariam. Amber shook her head; boys would be boys. Then a thought occurred to her. Where was Ruin and where was Tala?

* * *

The answer to both questions was the roof. Ruin watched him sitting, his turquoise blue eyes scanning the droves of students littering the quad. She stepped closer to him and grimaced. She'd been worried about him ever since that scene in the corridor. It hadn't been like him at all to freak out like that. Tala didn't like losing his temper violently, he was more cold and preferred to give people the cold shoulder or to find things out in a cool manner instead of heated confrontations.

What the hell was his problem? She had watched him completely and utterly frightening Amber, something he would never have done. Amber was right to be wary of him; he had changed. But that didn't explain why she was up here looking for him. When she hadn't seen him in the dining hall, she had decided to seek him out. Damn her for actually giving a shit. She turned to leave again, he deserved to wallow in his own guilt and self pity.

"Are you planning of standing there for the whole time?"

He didn't even look at her just continued to stare out at the quad, the wind catching the twin wisps of hair before his eyes.

"Actually, I was just about to go."

"I can leave if you would prefer it."

She glanced over her shoulder to see he had risen to his feet and was watching her silently. She barely controlled the wince as she caught sight of the slight mar on his snow white skin. She really did wallop him. Pity she ruined that perfection, but then again, things changed.

"Don't bother."

"No, I can go."

She shook her head then wandered over to the railing. "I haven't been up here in ages."

He swallowed hard feeling the weight of guilt on his shoulders. "Why not?"

She jerked a shoulder. "Not much point." More to the point there was no one to share it with, it had been their special place and when he left it would have just been wrong to go up there.

"Look I'm sorry about earlier."

"I'm not the one you should be apologizing too."

Tala growled. Ruin could be so damn uncaring at times. It was as though she didn't give a shit about herself because she was too busy looking after everyone else in the subtlest way. "I will apologize to Amber, I will but I doubt she'll let me."

"Aw poor you," she replied scathingly, hers eyes darkening as she glowered at him. "You are so full of self pity it makes me sick. Where's the Tala Valkov I know?"

He blinked at the force behind her words. "I don't know what you mean."

Her lips curled in distaste. "I can't even stand to be around you right now." She pushed past him with every intention of blowing off some steam, but it seemed Tala had other ideas. He caught her arm and hauled her round to face him. "I wouldn't push me right now, Valkov, you're walking a thin enough line as it is."

"What do you want me to say?" he growled out.

"Nothing. There is _nothing_ you can say or do. You're not Tala Valkov. Tala Valkov wouldn't give a shit, he wouldn't be moping around like a pathetic piece of crap, and he didn't give a damn about what the world thought. If people didn't like him, he said screw them. He didn't care about what people thought. But you... you're so wimpish. You're like this little puppy saying 'Love me. Worship me. Adore me', and when they don't you get all psycho on them, or you run away and sulk." Disdain dripped off every word. "Get a grip, the world doesn't revolve around you. So either get over it or get out."

He stared at her surprised. Ruin was angry with him. Emotionless Ruin Mulryan who claimed that she didn't give a damn was yelling at him. "So who do you want me to be?"

"I want you to be you. You're not going to win people over by sucking up to them. That just makes you pathetic. Don't wait for them come to their senses, don't chase after them, make them come to you. I want _my_ Tala, not this _thing_ that's replaced him." she cried out motioning to him with a disgusted look and gesture of her hands. "I want the guy who would walk into a room as though he owned it, and he'd sit on his own and he wouldn't care."

Tala cast his eyes to the ground unable to meet her piercing gaze. "I don't know if I can be him anymore. You don't know what it was like at Clonmel, or how I was treated-"

"You're right, I don't, and I don't want to know. Stop making excuses Valkov. Preston is your school, not Clonmel. Clonmel means nothing to you now; they're just someone to beat on the ice. Now snap out of this little funk of yours and earn your right to be here. You're not an oaf and you're not a wimp. You were their leader, show them you can be it again. Don't let them walk over you."

As though she'd just realized what she'd just done, she turned to leave but Tala wasn't going to make it that easy. He caught her hand and turned her to face him. Confused she searched his face. His eyes had become that swirling, hypnotizing, blue again and there was a spark of his old self there again. A slight smirk played on his lips before he used them to cover hers. She stiffened feeling the press of his cool velvet lips against hers.

The hand that held hers intertwined their fingers, while the other moved to cradle her jaw. He pried her lips apart finally about to taste her for the first time in the whole of their relationship. His tongue delved into her hot mouth and everything melted away. She gave off the impression of being cold and detached but she was hot and responsive as her lips moved urgently under his, her tongue battling with his taking the kiss from teasing to passionate.

Then just as suddenly, she pulled back abruptly and stared at him shocked. Her eyes were large and liquid like. Dark chocolate, they swam with emotions but he'd be damned if he could read any of them. Her bruised lips had parted and her breathing shallow, but just as quickly she pulled her attitude around her and glowered at him as the shutters came down and she was on her guard again.

"Don't push your luck, Valkov." she told him sweetly, but he could feel the undertone of steel. She leaned up and using her teeth, tugged at his lower lip, grinding herself against him, then patting his cheek she turned away and walked off. He watched the sway of her hips as she left and groaned, but it turned into a laugh as he just realized what they'd just done. He'd melted the ice queen. Well, well, well, he'd just attained the unattainable, he thought with a smirk.

But more importantly she was right. He wasn't on his own. Sure the Tigers may hate him at the moment but he held all the cards. He wasn't on his own. Kai was still his friend and Ruin was still talking to him, maybe not all the time but she was still his. And the Tigers were on the boards, Nicolai wasn't about to chuck him off the team, so he would play on their team and they would be the ones left to adapt. Tala Valkov always got things his way and this time wouldn't be any different. And if he happened to get his hands on Ruin Mulryan from time to time, then all the better for him. Although he still would have to apologize to Amber.

Oh well, he'd do it sometime. Right now he had class to attend. Oh joy.

* * *

"Ok so why are you so happy?" Kai finally asked. Classes had finished and they were on their way to their dorm to grab their stuff before heading to practice.

Tala shrugged but the smug smirk remained fixed. "I'm not."

Mahogany eyes narrowed at his friends expression. "You got laid."

The red head looked startled at the bemused bluenette. "No I didn't."

"You've got that 'I just got laid' expression, I've seen it before."

"I didn't get laid."

"She must have been a pretty good fuck to get you smiling that long."

Tala shook his head exasperated. "I haven't got laid, so back off all right." Christ his friend could be annoying. Usually he liked to tease Kai about getting laid because the bluenette didn't get out that much being stuck in school doing homework, practicing or with his Dad. But he genuinely hadn't got laid.

Kai snorted. "Sure you haven't, so what's her name? Oh it wasn't your Imp, was it? She does seem to have a feisty spirit."

That was it. He turned around and slammed Kai into the wall shooting the other students an icy glare, a clear indication to leave. Holding his elbow to Kai's throat he glared menacingly at him. "Don't you dare imply something like that. If I see you even looking sideways at her, I'll hurt you," he hissed sharply before releasing him.

Kai slumped, straightened and fixed his shirt trying to keep his cool and not let his temper flare. "What the fuck was that about? Is something going on with you and the Plague?"

"Fuck off." Tala spat. "Amber was like my little sister. She still is."

"So what the hell put you in the good mood?" Kai demanded.

"I just got a wake up call from a very interesting source."

Kai cast him an intrigued look but didn't ask. He really didn't want to have to hit Tala for shoving him up against a wall again. He hadn't expected to him to react so violently about the jab at the Plague. What was the deal with them two? Didn't really bother him anyway, Tala was out of his funk so who ever got him out of it deserved a medal.

"So what did your Dad say about the team?"

"Nothing much, just that they need serious discipline and that he can't change the team much."

Tala nodded. "But someone will have to leave. There's too many players."

Kai agreed. "It'll probably be Hitoshi's brother and that blond kid, and I have got to learn their names."

Tala chuckled. "Well you'll get a good hint when you head to practice."

"Oh and by the way, I have no interest in the Plague."

* * *

The Plague scowled at Miyami's back. So far the silver haired Japanese girl was refusing to spill what exactly Mr. Dickenson had told her. They'd bugged her the whole way through detention and were now heading to practice and Miyami still wouldn't tell them her big news. She wondered briefly why she'd never gone to Tyson to ask him about it. After all Tyson would tell her without much persuasion. She was such an idiot at times.

"Have you noticed that we're late for practice," Shahero announced matter-of-factly.

"Yup," Amber answered. "Which is going to put us in Coach's bad books."

"Not our fault he overlapped the times with detention. Everyone knows that one member of our team is going to be in detention, usually Shahero. That's why Coach McGuire moved practice back so that we had ten minutes to get from Detention to Practice." Miyami explained. "It's his own fault."

"Oh well, Rei'll explain." Amber brushed it off as they exited the main building and headed towards the sports arena. Students littered the quad or were heading into town or wherever they hung out. She idly let her gaze wander to see if she recognized anyone but when she didn't, she sighed. It would have been nice to be able to procrastinate just a little longer so she wouldn't have to head to practice. She really wasn't looking forward to it. They were late and Coach Hiwatari seemed the type to want punctuality.

"What do you guys think the Coach will be like?" Miyami wondered out loud.

"He'll be no Coach McGuire that's for sure."

"No one could replace Dan, he was great."

"You once said no one could replace Tala as a captain, Ams," Shahero pointed out.

"Yeah well I made a mistake, but you guys have to agree that no one can replace Dan."

Miyami nodded. "She makes a good point. Dan was an amazing coach, but the Sharks are a pretty damn good team."

"Even if they are a bunch of emotionless bastards," Amber muttered under her breath as she tugged at the frayed end of her jacket. She'd been forced to remove her hoody in class or risk having it confiscated, so now she wore her school sports jacket with her number on it. She didn't mind the jacket, just the fact that it made her look like a jock. After all the soccer team wore theirs constantly.

"Hey what happened to Tala?" Miyami suddenly asked.

Amber smirked. "Can't tell ya."

"Why not?"

"I can't tell you until you spill on what Mr. D told you."

Miyami sighed then smirked looking at Shahero. "You're gonna love this."

Shahero frowned, now that couldn't be good. "What?"

Amber folded her arms and watched her best friend warily, until something clicked in her head and her face brightened. "Oh my god."

Shahero still looked confused, not liking the predatory glint in her friends eyes and then she froze. "Shit."

That was enough to have the ochre eyed teen bursting out laughing. "Nice reaction, Hero."

But Shahero wasn't paying any attention to her, but to Miyami. "This has something to do with _him_, doesn't it?"

"Who's him?"

"Who's him, my ass. You know damn well who I'm talking about, that fucked up cousin of yours, Hitoshi Kinomiya."

Silver eyes became curious. "Now what would Mr. D have to do with Hito?"

The dark haired girl tucked her tongue in her cheek, ignoring the chuckling fool who was Amber Benson. "He's coming here isn't he?"

Miyami's eyes lit up with mirth at the resigned toned which was laced with dread. "Um... yep basically."

Shahero scrunched up her face in disgust. "Why? He's finished with this school."

"He's coming here to coach the JV team, Coach Hiwatari has him as an assistant coach."

"Ugh. That's just brilliant. Oh well, I guess I get to kill him after all."

Amber laughed remembering the explosive relationship Hitoshi and Shahero had when he'd gone to the school two years ago. He was captain of the Varsity team and found it funny that a girl was vice captain of the JV team and would make subtle hints to Tala to get rid of her before they became members of the Varsity team. So after getting in a few scraps with him, in which he often over powered her, they decided to have a show down one night in the rink. First to three, hitting the bars of the net won. Well Shahero was leading but Hitoshi used unfair methods to prevent her from scoring and it ended up with him beating her by cheating. She'd been pretty furious with him, and rightly so, while he'd quit dissing her. And the rocky relationship had continued right up until he left.

"I don't think killing him will work, I very much think you couldn't kill him."

Shahero glowered at her. "What exactly does that mean?"

"You two would make such a sweet couple," Miyami teased, then laughed as the petite Asian girl turned her death glare on her. "Aw you know you would and you'd get married and have little babies and we'd be cousins-in-law."

Amber muffled her laughter at her friend's face as Miyami continued to taunt and tease her about what their babies would look like.

"Okies, that's it, you're moving up on my to-kill-list."

"Uh-huh, this is my scared face. See?"

"Hey Mimi, it kinda looks like you don't give a damn." Amber laughed playing along as they entered the empty changing room.

"Does it? Oh sorry, wait a minute. Okay do I look scared now?" she asked making the Irish girl stumble with mirth on her way to a bench.

Shahero screamed with frustration and stomped her foot.

"Now, hey that's mine. You can't steal it!" Amber snapped.

"What you steal my words all the time," Miyami pointed out.

Shahero nodded in agreement. "And mine. Thankies, need I say more?"

"I say that all the time."

"She does," Miyami backed up.

"But to fix everything, I now copy right my foot stomping. It's an Amber trademark!" Her two friends exchanged glances then stomped in unison making the Irish teen scowl. "Stop it, or I'll sue."

"Good luck to you," Shahero muttered.

"Yeah sue me now," Miyami ordered her airily.

Amber smirked. "Nah I'll wait until you're rich and famous."

"Won't really work then if you wait _that_ long." Shahero's voice was muffled as she pulled her sweater on.

Miyami looked at her indignantly but since the top was covering her face, her fellow country woman couldn't see it. "You wait I will be rich and famous and I'll invite Amber up all the time, but not you."

Amber beamed. "Thankies."

Shahero glowered at them and was about to say something when Miyami and Amber ushered her out of the changing room and down the corridor that led to the rink. They pushed the big integrated doors opened on to the rink. The team was already standing on the ice talking to the coach as he tried to reason with Rei while Kai and Tala stood off to the side.

"Oh yay, let the show began," Miyami mumbled under her breath making her friends smirk sardonically.

Kai looked up and noted them standing in the entrance watching their team with a slight smirk. He nudged Tala who followed his gaze and his locked with Amber's, before she immediately broke it and glided over to the centre leading her friends. They deliberately took a position as far away from Tala as possible. Amber took a nice spot beside Bryan, Shahero stopped beside Johnny while Miyami stood on his other side, pushing her way in between him and Kane. Her silver eyes scanning for her cousin and his best friend. On not seeing them she nudged her boyfriend.

"Where's Tyson and Max?"

Johnny leaned closer to her. "Coach said that they weren't seniors or juniors so they should play on the JV team. He's replacing them with Hiwatari and Valkov, and he says he's going to shake up our positions."

Miyami exchanged glances with Mariah who was standing a little to her right who looked as pissed as she was feeling. "That's unfair," she whispered.

"What a fuck up." She distinctly heard Amber growl.

Nicolai looked up and placed the three girls who'd walked in late. Shahero Kaeto, Amber Benson and Miyami Kinomiya. Each of them looked very irked, Kaeto seemed to be on the verge of launching herself at him and only the pale hand of the enforcer Malkovich kept her in place.

"You three are late."

"We wouldn't have been if you hadn't moved the practice time," Amber muttered.

"I'm the coach, Benson."

"You're going to have to call me another name, otherwise you'll get everyone confused on which Benson you mean, me or Ozuma. You would have got the same problem with the Kinomiya's, but you got rid of one of them."

Kai raised a surprised brow at the bitterness of her tone while her friends just looked bemused. Nicolai unconsciously mirrored his sons expression.

"I can solve this problem the same way if you like, Miss Benson."

Amber sneered but said nothing. Her gaze flickered to Shahero who was grinding her teeth in an effort to not hurl herself at the new coach. Bryan had stepped forward and was keeping his hand a warning pressure on her shoulders, ready to grab her should she make a move.

"Cool your jets, Kaeto. I'm not going to chuck your little girlfriend off yet. She proved herself on the ice the other night," he said keeping his eyes on the ochre eyed teen.

"I'll take that as a compliment."

Nicolai chuckled. "Always have something to say don't you, Benson?"

"You have no idea," Tala dead panned causing Kai to smirk at the infuriated Irish girl.

"Well some people make it easy," she shot back.

"Alright, first up. For all of you who don't know, I'm Coach Hiwatari. You can call me Coach or Coach Hiwatari."

"Or Kai's daddy," Shahero said.

"I prefer not to go by that term."

"Yeah I'd feel the same if he was my son."

Amber chuckled at Miyami's statement. Sometimes that girl could really put her to shame with her retorts. Miyami caught her look and shot her a smile.

Nicolai smirked. "Very sharp, Kinomiya. Now down to business. The rules."

"Yeah, like we don't have enough of them."

"I don't think you have enough, Benson."

"What I'm more interested in is Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee. What role are they going to play on the team?"

"I'm hoping they're going to be water boys," Johnny murmured.

"I'm Dee, you're Dum," Tala whispered to Kai who smirked.

"Kai and Tala will play whatever role they earn. I won't play favorites," he stated. "Now rules. One: Don't be late. Two: If you respect me, I respect you. Three: You treat your team like you would your family on the ice; all personal aspects are left in the changing rooms. Four: You do as I say. Five: You maintain a B average on all subjects-"

"What?"

"Is there a problem?"

"Yeah, there isn't a chance in hell of me maintaining a B average. I'm a C student."

Nicolai nodded at the Irish girls admission. "That's not necessarily true. I've been looking at your grades, you get A's and B's through the school year but exams seem to be your down fall, and Math and languages are your weakest subjects, am I right?"

"I have no clue but I'll nod anyway."

"Fine, for those of you who seem to have problems with grades, I'll assign a tutor."

"Who'll be the tutors?" Ozuma wondered.

"Well Tala Valkov, Robert Jurgen, Sonia Martini and yourself, Mr. Benson, for the science and math aspect."

_'I bet I know who I'll get.'_ Amber thought dully as her gaze landed on Tala who nodded at her with a brief smirk.

"Miyami Kinomiya, Kai Hiwatari and Aspin Grant."

"I request Aspin- OW!"

"Kane, you are such a pain," Miyami muttered removing her elbow from his side.

"Yeah Sonic."

"Shut up you little witch."

"Oh screw you."

"Watch out Pain, Ams will use her witchy powers on you," Shahero informed menacingly.

"Yeah," Amber agreed rubbing her hands with malicious glee.

"Children," Nicolai barked, growing annoyed with their childish taunting.

"You better get used to this," Rei advised.

"They can save this for off the ice. Here they should only be concentrating on how to play better instead of bickering like twelve year olds, I'm here to help you guys improve and maybe _win_ a hockey season for a change."

Both Rei and Ozuma bristled at his tone while Kai and Tala smirked. They had to agree with Kai's father, the Tigers were a mess and if this was how they acted during practice then it was no wonder they lost so often.

"The Sharks never act like this and that's why they win."

Amber bristled. "We're not your Sharks."

"Yeah if you want them so much, go home," Johnny snapped.

Nicolai shook his head. There was just no getting through to them; they were too hard headed. So instead he decided to ignore what they said and concentrated on coaching this team to be even better than the Sharks.

"Right I want you all to do 40 laps. And then we'll do some drills to see what position you'd be best playing in."

Shahero steamed. "We have our positions, the only ones who don't are your precious boys, and I don't think it's very fair shuffling us about so that _they _can get their positions."

"Kaeto, when I want your opinion, I'll give it to you. Now 40 laps."

* * *

Arista folded her arms and sighed heavily. She wanted to practice with the team and meet the new coach. She didn't want to lose her position on the team; it was one of the most important things to her. After all she loved the team; the people were like her family. The thought of being without them and attending this school without them to always be there for her made her cringe. She knew it was the same for all of them. Now Tala and Kai had come and they were threatening all they had fought to keep together. They'd gone through so much so that the girls could play on the team and now in their last year here, everything was about to come crashing down around her. Arista sighed; it was something she dreaded.

She wandered over the quad not wanting to head to study hall so early, and her leg really wasn't up to walking the whole way into town visiting all the shops and then briskly racing back in time for dinner. At least her leg was getting better. The school nurse said that she'd be ready to practice this week for sure. And that also meant she'd be able to play in the next match. She couldn't wait! She would have clapped with joy but there was really not much point, besides she was already a member of the loony squadron in the school so no need to damage her reputation further. If that was possible.

She wished that Aspin and Sonia had stayed down at the school because she had no one to hang about with. Her gaze moved over the empty quad. It was approaching dusk and the sun was setting behind the school making the shadows of the trees lengthen and swallow up the green of the lawn. The air was crisp and clean full of the freshness of fall and she inhaled deeply enjoying it.

She glanced up as she noted movement on the quad and her pulse rapidly increased. She was sure she hadn't seen any of the students down in this direction, but maybe it was some of the rebels out to have a smoke and drink away from the school building. Well, she hoped so. She stopped, deciding that her walk was long enough, and turned to head back to the school. Maybe she should start on her homework early; she had to write an English Essay on something or other. She should really find someone who would have half a clue what that Essay title might be - Ozuma might be a good choice.

She turned on her heel and walked back to the school as quietly as she could in an attempt not to draw attention to herself. Suddenly the temperature had seemed to dip drastically, shivering she rubbed her hands up her arms to warm them with friction but she couldn't control the slight trembling in her limbs or the sudden ice cold pit of dread which had settled in her stomach.

"Would you two shut the fuck up."

She started at the hiss of voices to her left. Looking over her shoulder, she scanned the quad with blue eyes flecked with amber. She could make out three dark figures walking through the quad behind the trees which were sporadically planted through the quad to give shelter to the students during those hot, sunny days when people wanted to sit and eat outside. She frowned watching them, tilting her head to the side, a clear indication she was puzzled by their appearance. She didn't recognize any of the figures walking in that huddled group.

It was doubtful that they were magic pixies, she thought sourly as she crept closer to listen into the boys conversation.

"Where would he be?"

"I dunno but I'll make him regret leaving us."

"It's not like we actually need him."

"True but no one deserts us and gets away with it."

"We're better off without him. Hey check out the school."

"We're not here to check out the school, you nimrod."

Arista listened to their bickering and rose an amused brow. They were like the typical idiotic oafs, side kicks to the villain in those cartoons she watched. They were the stereotypical, big, stupid and probably ugly. She idly wondered how long would it take for her to get to the changing rooms for her to give the team a heads up that they had spies on their turf, again. But she rethought it. There wasn't a chance of her getting away without them noticing and she didn't think they'd be too merciful on her. Besides she didn't know who they were yet and by the time she got the team, they might already be away. _I'm better staying here_.

"It's not nice to spy on people." a voice murmured in her ear.

Arista jumped the height of herself and spun round to face the person who had sneaked up on her. Her blue eyes widened when they processed who she was seeing. "You!" she accused in a hushed tone.

The boy smirked at her greeting. "Yes, me."

"What the hell do you want Adams?" she asked angry with him for sneaking up on her and miffed with herself for reacting the way she had.

He raked his light blue eyes down her form. She was definitely hot; but then again he'd noticed that at the game despite the fact that she hadn't been playing. Supposedly she was the best person to take on his penalty shot since her stick hand was quicker than her glove hand. Her hair was long and silver tipped with gold which hung down to her elbows. It glinted in the fading light. Her eyes were dark, navy possibly. Hard to tell in the dark. Her nose was small, her lips tender and his gaze hovered over them for a few moments. She had a pale complexion he pin pointed as Russian. Her petite frame, which stood about 6" shorter than his 5ft 10" was clad in a revamped version of the school uniform. "Do you honestly want me to answer that? But I'm pleased to see you remembered who I am."

"You're the guy who injured my friend and took her out of the game, I tend to remember that."

His hand covered her mouth as his gaze flicked over her head to the group over her shoulder. "Keep your voice down, do you want them to hear you?"

"What do you want here?" she hissed when she pulled his burning touch from her skin.

"I heard Valkov's joined your little school community. You must be pleased." There was a bitter edge to his words that warned her to be careful about what she divulged to the hot red head before her. A slight blush graced her cheeks when she remembered the conversation she'd had with Amber about him at the after game party.

She shrugged. "He's a good player, that's what matters."

He rose a ginger brow, though it was hard to decipher under the thick mop of hair. He ran his gaze over her pretty face and frowned. There had been a flicker when she said that... hmm there was something going on there. "Hmm, really?" he muttered dryly.

"Well you would know, he was your vice captain. That must say something about his skill."

His face stoned over. "He was mediocre, but he's no longer anything to the Sharks. I'm their captain now."

"Then why aren't you training _your_ team in _your_ school."

"Because I'm here to send them back to _my_ school."

"Well go do that and stop talking to me," She snapped flicking her hair over her shoulders.

"And here I was under the impression you enjoyed talking to me."

"Adams, I'd enjoy kissing a frog more than talking to you," she informed him sweetly. "Now please remove your goons before I report you."

"I could think of a couple of interesting ways to stop you from doing that."

"Please don't hurt yourself on my account."

"Do you ever get hurt when you use that razor wit of yours?" he suddenly asked leaning against the tree folding his arms and generally making himself comfortable. Something Arista noticed immediately.

"Not when I'm using it to cut down egotistical males," she retorted. This was fun, no wonder the Shahero spent so much time trading witticism with Hitoshi when he was here, and the same went with Aspin and Kane.

"I'm not egotistical."

"And now you're a liar. So, get your idiots and leave," she ordered and without another word she turned and left.

"I'll see you again Belyaev."

"In your dreams Adams," she muttered under her breath. '_What a jerk'_, she thought sourly. She hated egotistical muppets like him; they just annoyed her because they thought they were better. He thought she was going to fall at his feel or drool over his looks, but he was sorely mistaken. Ha, she showed him.

_'Hmm, now what am I gonna do?'_ Then a thought struck her. She could go up to the computer lab and see if Russia was on MSN. Russia Kennedy was the remaining member of the octopussy's. And she was also the other Irish member, the one who had no respect for authority figures and rules and who ended up in detention almost as much as Shahero. She'd come to America with her family and had attended the school for a couple of years but when her parents had headed back to Ireland she'd had to go with them because there would be no where for her to stay during the holidays. The girls had offered to let her stay with each of them during the various weeks of the holidays but her mother wouldn't relent and there had been some iffy business with local boy Zareth Forest. So Russia left last year but the girls still kept in touch via MSN and email.

Her thoughts were cut off when she caught sight of a familiar duo walking into the school. "Hey Tyson, Kirby, wait up."

Both sophomores stopped and looked round as she joined them. "Hey cousin."

Arista looped her arm round Tyson, her cousin by marriage. "Hey, you two. Actually, Tyson shouldn't you be practicing?"

"Nah, been chucked off the team to the JV team again."

"But you're one of the best players," Arista argued.

"The new coach is replacing him with his son and Tala."

_'They need both players to replace him?'_ "Jeez Ty I never thought you were _that_ good."

Kirby chuckled while Tyson scratched the back of his head. "Well I kept it hidden, didn't want to show you all up."

Arista snickered. "Well I'm heading to the comp lab, care to escort me?"

"Sure, you coming Kirbs?"

"Yeah, I think Daichi's up there anyways."

* * *

"Come on Amber!"

Amber glided in front of Kai as he made his way towards the nets. Her intention was to stop him, but that was easier said than done. _'Let him make the first move. Let him make the first move,'_ she repeated the silent mantra in her head, ignoring the urge to shove into him and take the puck because she knew the moment she made a move on the offensive, he'd anticipate it and she'd end up kissing the ice. It had been a long lesson but she finally learnt it and was determined not to make the same mistake. She looked up at him through her bangs as she skated rapidly backwards.

"Come on Benson, try to take me."

She winced. She wasn't going to fall for his baiting, she wasn't. To the side Miyami was standing, her silver eyes scrutinizing every move she made. The coach was doing the same thing, but she didn't much care about that.

"Fuck off, Hiwatari."

"Now, now, Benson, such language is un-befitting of a lady."

"Un-befitting eh?" she chuckled. "That's such a big word for you."

"You don't know anything about me."

"Correction. I don't _want_ to know anything about you," she growled. How long did it take to reach the nets?

_'Come on Benson. Take the bait,' _he thought, watching the player in front of him. He knew she was rash, all he had to do was push her buttons, and he knew exactly how to do it.

"I heard Tala taught you everything you know about hockey," He started, feeling satisfied when he saw her mouth tighten to a grim line. "You definitely haven't learnt much. That's for sure. Don't you know, hockey's a man's sport; little girls like you are just going to get hurt."

Instead of getting riled up, she laughed. "A man's sport, huh? Then what the hell are you doing playing it?"

Amber watched him warily. When she judged it to be the right time she made her move, but Kai expected it and moved expertly out of her way and raced off to the goal. He scored easily into the open net and turned back to a defeated and seriously miffed Amber.

"You're all burned out, Ember," he taunted before heading back to the rest of the team.

_'Ok that's it, he's going down.' _She scowled and followed him at a slower pace as her friends came up to join her before they slunk into the changing rooms. _'Just you wait Hiwatari, you're a dead man walking.'_


	6. To be Determined

A.N: Well here we go again. Another update. Got two more "In Death" books by JD Robb (READ THESE BOOKS, BRILL!) and also Spirited Away and Evangelion 1-4 on DVD. Wasted all my money. Crap. Well anyways, for your pleasure, I give you chapter six.

Chapter Six: To Be Determined

Grumbling under their breath the team set about getting changed. Amber slumped on the bench and slid further down, inching over when Miyami motioned for her to move. The Japanese girl dropped down heavily and her breath came out on a whoosh. Her skin was flushed, her hair a mess. Shahero didn't look much better, but she was definitely pissed. They could tell that by the way she kept kicking things out of her way. Johnny cursed under his breath while Kane pressed a hand to his brow. He could feel a headache looming.

"Well that was most certainly enjoyable." Enrique declared while the others snickered at his remark and glanced to the more silent members of the team, namely Kai and Tala who were silently getting changed exchanging quiet remarks.

"Hey Tala what happened to your face?" Miyami suddenly asked, the curiosity was killing her.

He looked at her and smirked, but lost it when he saw the one on Ambers' face. He still hadn't apologized to her. "I did something I regret now, and got punished for it."

Amber met his gaze steadily but said nothing, nor did she make any show to accept the subtle apology.

"Hey is that your ring imprint on his face, Ruin?" Ian suddenly asked peering closer at the bruise on Tala's jaw before looking at the gothic girl who smirked.

"Probably."

"Shit Ruin you hit him hard."

She shrugged at Kane's impressed comment. So what if she hit him, she didn't feel any better for doing it.

Kai frowned, wondering what the hell his friend had done to warrant the stoic woman showing emotion. It didn't seem to be a regular occurrence for her.

Bryan, who'd been relatively quiet through the whole practice since his energy was taken up restraining Shahero from doing damage, turned his icy lilac gaze on his ex-friend. "He deserved it."

This brought a sharp look from Johnny. "What did he do?"

Miyami instinctively rose to place a hand on his shoulder.

Before Bryan could say anything, the door opened and Nicolai strode in, his eyes scanning over the faces of his team. The tension in the air could have been cut with a knife; it was that thick. He frowned wondering what he'd just intruded on, but instead he said nothing merely strode through the small path between the benches to the notice board. He felt all eyes on him as he posted the positions.

"Listen up, you have ten minutes to clear out of here before dinner and secondly-" he paused to look directly at McGregor and Kinomiya. "I don't approve of team couples; it distracts the players from what they are supposed to be doing. So I'd advise team couples to break up, if you don't you're off the team. And if you have a girlfriend who's not on the team, don't bring your problems to the rink."

"Does that apply to Valkov and Hiwatari?" the words were out of her mouth before she could stop them.

Nicolai turned around warily already knowing who the owner of the voice was. "What do you mean Benson?"

"I mean, do those two have to break up due to this bogus rule? After all you wouldn't want to appear biased now would you?" she smirked as she met the dark gaze of the shark captain.

Nicolai sighed. This girl was nothing but trouble. Especially since she couldn't keep her mouth shut. "Benson your comments are neither amusing or clever, so keep them to yourself." he drawled, his words dripping with disdain.

Shahero opened her mouth to shoot something back in order to back her friend up since Miyami was suffering shock from the announcement that she and Johnny had to break up or quit the team, when a surprise voice spoke up.

"Oh I find her comments amusing, after all she's a funny looking thing, isn't she?"

The whole team turned to stare at Kai before turning back to Amber to see her reaction. Shahero hissed and made to launch at him, but yet again Bryan held her back. Amber placed a hand in the air. "Glad you noticed Hiwatari, I was beginning to think you were deaf, dumb and blind. Glad to see you cleared that up though."

"I'm so glad you're glad."

"Kai, Benson enough. Get changed." Nicolai exited the changing room and left the students to their own devices.

"Hey check this out!" Michael stared at the little white note on the notice board.

"Check what out?" Kane wondered.

"Says I'm playing on the left, I play right."

Kane moved up beside him. "Hey this bastard's re-jiggled all our positions."

"Well at least I know where I am." Mariah stated resting her head on Rei's shoulder, feeling glum because she would have to break up with him or drop the team. She already decided she'd drop the team, she was only a number two goalie anyway, not really important and the only reason she was playing was because Arista was injured but she was coming back this week.

"Wrong Mari, you're number one Goalie."

Mimi stared at Ian stunned. "What?"

"You heard me. Arista's riding the pine pony!"

"Is our Coach an idiot?" Ozuma exclaimed. "No offence Mari."

"None taken."

"Now I see where you get it from Hiwatari, it's hereditary."

"Fuck off Amber."

"Up your's Valkov."

"Hey whose captain T.B.D.?"

"That's not the name Enrique. It's stands for To be Determined." Shahero informed him sardonically then froze processing her words. Slowly she turned to Rei surprised as did the rest of the team to gauge his reaction.

Rei's eyes flashed but he managed a brief smile. "Hey it's no biggie guys."

"It's a big biggie." Ruin snapped outraged. Sure re-jiggling the positions wasn't too bad but removing the one person they all respected from being captain? That just wasn't done.

Spencer grimaced. "This whole thing is fucked up."

Bryan grunted his agreement while Johnny voiced what they were all thinking. "I'm not going to be captained by one of them!"

Kai looked at the mutinous expressions of his new team mates. Well things were turning out well.

"I think it's wrong for him to tell us who we can or cannot date." Amber suddenly spoke up.

Ian shrugged. "Makes sense to me."

"You're just saying that because none of us girls would go out with you." Miyami snapped angrily.

Shahero moved to her side and placed a hand on her shoulder. She didn't know exactly how Miyami was feeling, but she could guess and she was angry herself because she'd always felt that Miyami and Johnny belonged together. After all they'd gone through to be together, they didn't deserve this to happen. Coach Hiwatari was… she kicked someone's bag viciously. There weren't words to describe what Hiwatari was.

Miyami shoved her sock clad feet into her all starz and lifted her bag, slinging it over her shoulder. "Maybe Hiwatari's right." She ignored how Johnny's amethyst eyes tried to lock with hers as he searched her face with one of those deep penetrating looks. "We'd have to break up before heading off to college anyways."

She walked out of the changing room, head held high and not a hint of emotion on her face. Johnny watched her go feeling something inside him rip. He could feel everyone's eyes on him but he paid no attention, just kept his gaze on the door his girlfriend had exited. Then when he couldn't look at it anymore, he turned his attention to getting changed. Miyami didn't mean it. He knew she didn't. She couldn't. He loved her and she damn well knew it. He stiffened when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He glanced down to meet Shahero's worried gaze. Ruin stood beside her, her brown eyes showing emotion for once and for him. Amber stood slightly to her left, holding her sports jacket, a shell shocked expression on her face.

"Johnny, are you-?"

"I'm fine." He snapped shortly unable to control the temper which lashed out. He shoved his uniform into his bag and shrugging off Shahero's hand, he strode out of the changing room.

Shahero watched him go feeling a wave of sadness for her friend. _What the hell was Miyami thinking? Well wait till I catch up with her, then we'll see what tune she sings._

"Don't." Ruin commanded reading Shahero's thoughts easily.

"What?" the Asian girl bit out.

"Miyami hurting just as much as Johnny, she's just being a little more realistic."

"By dumping him so callously in front of the whole team?!" incredulity dripped from every word.

"Ruin's right."

Surprised Shahero looked to her Irish friend unsure if it had been Amber who had spoken; her voice hadn't been much more than a whisper. "Amber?"

"Just stay out of it Hero, it's not our problem besides-" her voice broke but she continued. "Miyami's our friend too, let her tell us her reasons when she's good and ready."

Enrique who'd remained silent in his little corner changing moved over to the Irish girl, pulling her into a hug. "Amber's right. Besides we can't fight amongst ourselves. We have bigger problems."

They all looked to where Tala and Kai had been standing but Tala was no longer there. Kai took one look at the mess that was his new team, then rolling his eyes he walked out of there. There was too much emotion in the air anyways. And he was hungry.

* * *

Dinner was always a busy affair at Preston Academy. Many thought there should be a time table so that each year ate at different times, but the school never put that into action. To be honest, Kirby kind of liked the hustle and bustle. It made it feel like dinner at her Nana's when the whole family was over. People would battle for seats which always ended with someone sitting on another's lap. Usually it was herself or Amber since they could never be early for anything unlike Ozuma. Daichi on the other hand would appear half an hour before dinner and sit at the table till it was served moving things so that they would be closer to his reach, swapping over knives and forks and other things like that. It was always a real family affair. Nana would tell them amusing tales of their parents' antics as children while Seth would valiantly try to defend himself by placing the blame on their stiff uncle Rory.

Dinner at Preston was like that. It was her second home and sometimes she idly wondered if other boarding schools had that same homely atmosphere. She doubted it.

"Pass me one of those salt sachets Daichi." Mikel ordered as he made a face at Tyson's eating habits. He never sat beside Tyson usually so he never usually got to observe the spectacular exhibition of a teenager eating four courses and never gaining weight. Kirby reckoned her Nana would love Tyson's ability to eat everything. She always complained that Ozuma never ate enough.

Daichi tossed the paper square towards his friend before scooping up a mouthful of stew. Kirby frowned at something green in her lasagna; picking it out deftly she placed it on the side of her cousin's plate which caused him to look at her funny.

"I dunno what it is, there fore I'm not eating it."

"Then why give it to me? Give it to the bottomless pit."

"He's sitting too far away, I don't want to touch it any longer than I have to."

Mikel smirked amused by his vice captain then turned to his new team mate. "Hey Ty, what's your brother like?"

Tyson stopped shoveling food into his mouth to consider the question. "Um... Miyami would call him arrogant, actually I agree with that statement. He is arrogant, rarely cares for anyone but himself but would hate to see his team lose. Hockey was his one true love. He was spotted for a team, but did his leg in before he could actually get out on the ice."

"Woah that's way harsh." Mikel winced, he had his own dreams of playing pro someday and his biggest fear was getting an injury that would jeopardize his career.

Tyson shrugged. "Yeah I guess."

"Ooh I'm sensing some tension between you and big bro." Again Tyson shrugged. "Come on T, you can tell us."

"Yeah spill all to uncle Mikel." Kirby quipped earning a mock glare from her captain and a snicker from Kevin Wong as he got to his feet and left the hall, patting her back as he left.

"Nah, it's nothing. It's just weird him being here and coaching us no less. Everyone always compares me to him." he muttered pushing his food round on the plate. "I mean we're nothing alike yet people have always made comments about how I'm not as good Hitoshi and how he taught me every thing I know and if it wasn't for him then I wouldn't be so good."

"Don't be stupid." Mariam bit out. "You're good because you love the game. You practice and just because your brother taught you doesn't mean shit. You already had talent otherwise you'd never have made the Varsity team."

"Hitoshi played on the Varsity team when he was in his sophomore year and he also captained them and led them to several consecutive finals and won. The team hasn't won since he left."

"Which is why the Varsity team is so against Tala." Salima stated from her seat beside Daichi.

"What do you mean?" Goki Sato, one of the JV enforcer's asked.

"Well Tala was their captain and he was really good as one. Kept up their moral and made practice fun and knew how to manipulate them to do their best." Max answered.

"Yeah and they were heading to the finals when Tala announced before the final that he was heading off to better his hockey career." Tyson continued. "That was a blow to them, but when they got to the finals and saw him playing for their opposition team the Sharks, well that crushed them. They had a pretty nasty defeat during that game and seeing Tala scored most of the goals and then rubbed it in their faces, well it was harsh. They never won a cup after that."

"Yeah they blame him for their bad luck." Joseph jumped in as he joined them.

Mariam grimaced. She could understand their anger towards Tala because he had betrayed them in the most callous of ways but there seemed to be no reason to their disdain of the Shark Captain. He seemed to be pretty decent and she couldn't understand why each of them were so horrible to him. She knew what it was like to be the new girl and if it hadn't been for Amber jumping in to help Joseph she may have been in the same position but Amber had befriended her and brought her into her gang of friends. Maybe she would have become friends with them eventually but it had been handier being friends with Amber first. And the Irish girl was usually so nice to everyone when she first met them but she couldn't understand why she was so bitchy towards the new guy. He didn't have anyone and the Varsity team wasn't making things easier.

Her thoughts broke off as she noticed the subject of her musings stride into the seating area of the cafeteria. His gaze roamed over the students and fell on her. Their eyes locked for a brief moment and she smiled invitingly. She raised a hand and beckoned him over. A slate blue brow rose intrigued before he took up her offer and crossed over to their table.

"Is this seat taken?" he asked smoothly and she had to admit the voice was good, melodic. She liked it.

"No, sit down." she replied with a smile as he took the seat without so much as acknowledging the looks she knew the two of them were getting.

"So you're Kai Hiwatari, the famous captain of the sharks?" she took a minute to survey him. He was probably older than the other members of the Varsity team, he looked to be around eighteen maybe coming nineteen or maybe it was because he held himself as though he was more mature. His slate blue bangs fell into dark brown eyes that she felt she could sink into. His expression was so serious even though there was a cynical quirk to his lips. His shoulders were broad and firm under the white shirt which was unbuttoned over a black T-shirt. He was definite eye candy.

Kai smirked, something that seemed to suit his face. "More infamous than famous."

"Yeah I suppose the Varsity team aren't exactly the most welcoming of people at the moment."

"Understatement." he replied noting how all the JV team exchanged glances and watched him warily.

"They're not that bad. Just very close. They're like a family, they're wary of outsiders. After a while though they'll mellow." she informed him calmly.

He shrugged. "Not really my problem whether they do or they don't as long as they play well."

"They will play well, they always do." Kirby suddenly spoke up her garnet eyes flashing dangerously. "You don't know them. You come in here and you expect them to fall down at your feet. No wonder you and Tala get on so well."

Kai rose a brow at her abrupt outburst. "I wasn't talking to you."

"Great comeback." she muttered.

"Kirb's leave it." Daichi warned quietly.

"Yeah Peanut settle down."

Salima cast her gaze down onto her plate and concentrated on her food feeling the tense atmosphere intensify.

Kai noticed the awkward aura surrounding Mariam and realized that if he was going to have a chance with her then he would have to befriend her friends. Besides maybe having the JV team on his side wouldn't hurt with his own team either.

"Look I wasn't saying that to insult your friends. I gather that some of them are your family anyway so I guess you would take offense-"

"Yeah three of them are my direct family." Kirby informed him and made a blue brow raise.

"Three, the two Bensons and who else?" he asked genuinely interested. The fact that so many members of one family were involved in a hockey team was unusual.

"Bryan Malkovich."

"Seriously, he's related to you and the Imp."

"Imp?"

"The she-Benson."

"Who also goes by the name of Amber." Daichi suddenly spoke up his green eyes glittering.

"Yeah yeah, fine. So he's related to her?"

"Yeah. Such complete opposites, aren't they?" Mariam laughed trying to break the tension. "But those two are very tight. In fact all the Bensons' are very tight."

"Yeah I noticed that in the locker room." Kai mused wondering what it would be like to belong to a family that was that close. They probably had a motto such as one for all and all for one, or something lame like that. They probably didn't have a dick ass of a Grandfather who thought he was the head of the Russian Mafia.

Daichi and Kirby exchanged glances wondering what their cousins' had gotten up to. Daichis' gaze traveled to the where the Varsity team usually sat and was surprised to see that most weren't there. Kane sat there with Aspin who was in deep conversation with Enrique. Bryan and Spencer where there. Johnny and Miyami were probably off together. His brother Ozuma wasn't there. Rei wasn't there and neither was Mariah. Michael was there talking to Robert Jurgen, Lee Tanaka and Ian. Arista, Amber, Shahero and Ruin weren't there. He frowned. They'd just had practice so surely they'd be in here to eat but they weren't.

"Where is everyone?" he wondered.

Kirby shrugged and again deposited some of her food onto his plate. "I dunno. Oi, captain guy, where's your team?"

Kai followed their gaze and shook his head. "I left the changing room before they did, so I dunno." He didn't add that when he'd left they'd been seriously distraught and probably most had lost their appetites. Idly he wondered where Tala was and if he was getting laid again, when his gaze fell on Hitoshi's brother sitting at his table. He hadn't noticed him before because he hadn't spoken to him directly, instead he preferred talking to his blond friend.

"Um, hey, Kinomiya."

Tyson looked round hearing his name. "Yeah?"

"Sorry about you losing your place." That was hard but he figured that had to win him some brownie points. If it didn't then he'd saw off his tongue because he wasn't going to apologize ever again. That was a real first for him.

"Nah it's ok, it means I can keep an eye on Davidoff. Making sure he doesn't harass Kirb's anymore than usual."

The teal haired girl glowered at him while the boys laughed even the platinum blond captain. Kai could see the same loyalty and familiarity in this team and wondered at it. How come these teams seemed so healthy compared to his team?! His old team, he amended

Mariam caught his confused expression and smiled. "The teams are like families, I told you that. But yours will come round eventually, especially if you have someone on your side to bridge the gap."

He smirked. "And that would be you, would it?"

"Sure. You can't find a better person than me, I have every one of those members wrapped around my finger."

"Or so she likes to think." Salima teased with a laugh.

Mariam merely tilted her head regally and sniffed at them. "You guys don't know how lucky you all are to have me."

"We'd be luckier if we didn't have you, sis." Joseph retorted earning a mock glare from his sister.

"But seriously, you'll need a friend here, and I'm offering my services." she said to Kai holding out a slender hand which he took in his own feeling the comforting warmth seep up his arm before he released it with a nod of acceptance.

"Mind you, she means her services as a friend, not a fuck toy." Mikel stated and winced as Kirby cuffed the back of his head. "What was that for?" at her cool gaze he quickly amended. "I expected it from Joey not you."

"She was acting on my will." Joseph replied not even bothering to look up from the magazine he and Jim were looking at as it sat on his lap.

Mariam shook her head before engaging Kai in a conversation about what he thought of the school so far and the teachers.

* * *

"Hey you guys."

The three girls, namely Ruin, Shahero and Amber, glanced over their shoulders at the voice that called out to them. They were heading from their dorm to the somewhere. They weren't sure yet but they weren't all that hungry. Each lost in their own thoughts until the voice heralded them yanking them back to reality. A few seconds later Arista bolted out of the stairwell and jogged to catch up with them, her silver hair streaming behind her. She slung her arms round Amber and Shahero noting the gloominess in the atmosphere.

"Did something happen during practice?"

The three team mates exchanged glances. Ruin spoke first. "Do you want the bad news or the very bad news?"

"Um, the bad news?"

"You're riding the pine pony."

"WHAT?!"

"You heard me, you Arista Belyaev, number two goalie are riding the pine pony."

"But, I-I, what? No fair."

Amber smiled faintly at her friend's exasperated outburst but said nothing. Her thoughts were on Johnny and Miyami. She didn't know where either was. She hoped they were in the dinner hall but knew they weren't. She'd gotten a text from Aspin wondering where they were and when she questioned Aspin on whether either of them was there or not, she had replied no on both counts.

"How can I be riding the pine pony? Just because I didn't turn up to practice? But I was injured, I'm coming back."

"_We_ know that but it's that bastard of a coach who doesn't." Shahero shot back. "Oh and Hitoshi is coming to this school as the JV coach. I really don't like Coach Hiwatari."

"Hitoshi Kinomiya?" Arista asked unsure if she had heard right.

"What other Hitoshi would Shahero be talking about?" Ruin drawled not one bit phased by the Asian girls death glare.

"Hmm, strange. And here our li'l Hero thought she'd banished him for good."

Ruin chuckled then cast a curious glance to Amber before Arista snapped her back with her next question of what the very bad news was. "Hmm? Oh right, well Mr. Hiwatari has installed a new rule that there are to be no couples on the team, which means if two team mates are seeing each other they have to either break-up or one has to leave."

Arista's brow furrowed in confusion. "But Johnny and Miyami, and Mariah and Rei-"

"Yeah we know."

"So what are they going to do?"

"Mariah's quitting the team which frees you up to be number one goalie again. And Miyami broke up with Johnny." Shahero stated, a dark current running through her words.

Miyami's Russian cousin gaped then closed her mouth glumly. "They broke up, but I thought..."

"We all did. You know they really liked each other which is why I find it so hard to actually understand why she could break up with him. I mean for crying out loud how long did she try and keep her crush a secret from us?" Shahero demanded, frustration distorting her expression.

"Too long, but she couldn't hide it from me, I'm her cousin after all."

Shahero and Amber exchanged bemused glances. "It's still fucked up. He's like Hitler on an authority high."

"And we all know how much you despise authority, Sen." Arista chuckled then grinned. "How about we put him in his place?"

"How?" Shahero wondered.

"I don't know guys, he doesn't seem the type to just take our shit." Ruin added her two cents. "He's not Dan."

"We know that." The blue eyed girl snapped.

"I'm wondering if you do." Ruin murmured. 

Amber jumped as her phone buzzed. Pulling it out she tapped a button and read the message from Aspin. '**Did Miyami and Johnny break up? F so y? And y didn't u tell me?**'

Amber sighed heavily knowing Aspin was hurt that everyone seemed to know before her but the simple fact was that she didn't know how Miyami would react knowing that her love life was the current hot topic of the school? And she'd rather Miyami told Aspin and explained it to all of them. Instead they were speculating on why they broke up. '**Coz Spin. I thought Mimi mte tell u. Yeah they did and I dunno y. She mte tell us l8r**'

She sent the message and sighed wearily. It seemed that everything was moving so fast that her head didn't have time to catch up with it. Suddenly Tala comes back like the phoenix from the ashes though that was probably the wrong simile since she knew that Hiwatari's nickname was the Phoenix since he never stayed down long when he was attacked on the ice. But Tala came back and then a couple of days later Hiwatari turns up and invades on their life. And his Dad takes over their whole team, their captains are removed from their positions. Miyami and Johnny break up and Mariah quits. And it just seemed to be spiraling out of control. It seemed their whole future was TBD. She found it irritating to not be in control of what was about to happen.

"So where have you been?"

Arista shrugged. "Well I went for a walk and…" she glanced over her shoulder. "Ok come up to the computer lab with me and I'll tell you all."

"Why the computer lab, and wait till I text Aspin and she can come too." Amber stated rapidly tapping the little buttons on her cell.

"I was kicked out a while ago, but Ms. Maye's bound to be gone by now. So I say we go up there, I'll tell you who I saw today and we'll download MSN onto all the computers. Ooh in fact I'll tell you it all on MSN on random computers."

Amber shook her head. "We'll down load MSN but you can tell us what you did by word of mouth."

"Downloading MSN onto all the computers will take a while, we have study hall." Ruin reminded them.

"So someone can check on it while we're in study hall. You can pretend you have to go to the bathroom." Shahero decided logically. She was good at working out plans, sometimes. Most times she'd go with impulse and get herself in trouble.

"Well then we have a plan." Amber decided. "Let's go."

* * *

Ozuma scanned the dinner hall casually for Sonia, or he hoped he looked casual. She really was avoiding him. He'd noticed that in the classes they shared she'd made a point to come in really early so that she could choose a seat that he couldn't sit next to. It was really beginning to bug him especially when she would sit and talk to Michael and act as though nothing was wrong. Something was bloody wrong all right and he was going to sort it out even if it took all year.

He stuffed his hands into the pockets of his trousers feeling slightly uncomfortable because he hadn't dried off properly from the shower. He felt sorry for the girls. They had to head up to their dorms to get a shower and properly changed or wait for the boys to leave, because the girls' showers were under reconstruction. The whole job should be finished by the end of the month, he mused, but it was still causing havoc to the girls. It was then that he noticed that the female members of the team were missing.

His team was falling apart. Three new members turn up and the whole team had gone to hell. What was the point of all they'd worked for, if it only took three people to ruin it? They should be banding together against the outsiders, but they weren't. Amber had decided that this was her battle to fight alone and all she was coming across as was a bitch. Miyami and Johnny had broken up, and they usually worked so well on the ice together. Shahero still got herself in trouble but he feared it would get worse once Hitoshi turned up. Mariah was quitting so she could stay with Rei. His mind seemed to be on Sonia more and more. Ruin, though she seemed outwardly calm, was definitely concerned about both Amber and Tala. Ian was becoming more and more annoying and no one seemed to know why. And if Rei was removed from his position as Captain then it was highly likely that the team wouldn't have any respect for the new captain nor the coach.

He hoped Hiwatari, both of them, knew what they were doing. And Tala would have to sort things out with Amber before she turned out to be the Queen of all Bitches. In his opinion she was damn well giving Clover Nixon a run for her money and the funny thing was, Amber had sworn that she would never be like her.

"Hey Zum-Zum."

He looked up at the greeting and noticed that he was standing by the JV's table. He'd been so busy thinking that he hadn't realized where he'd been going. He smiled at his younger cousin. "Kirby, where's everyone?"

The teal haired girl shrugged. "I dunno, Ams never appeared. Zum-Zum, are you ok?"

He smiled weakly as she referred to him by the name she'd called him when she'd been a child unable to pronounce his name, then shook his head. "No, no I'm not."

"What's up?" Daichi asked concern for his brother moving down the bench to make space for him.

Ozuma climbed in between him and Kirby. "My team is going to hell." he said shortly.

"What do you mean?"

From the other end of the table Kai looked up interested. Benson looked lost and very much alone, something Kai was surprised to see on his face. Did this team really mean so much to him? He found it hard to see that a team could mean so much, after all the Sharks didn't care about the people underneath the uniform, but he kept forgetting the Tigers weren't like the Sharks.

Ozuma just shook his head at his cousins as he caught sight of Hiwatari sitting at the end of the table beside Mariam and Salima. "Nah it's nothing."

Kirby sighed at the stony expression on his face. Ozuma was usually so calm and never let anything phase him, it hurt to know that something was worrying him and that it had to do with his team, then again the only thing that did worry him was his team, family or Sonia. "Has something happened during practice?" she whispered.

He gave a subtle nod of his head but motioned for her to not ask anymore questions. She sighed heavily and co-operated, letting her gaze move over her team. She hoped she was never put into a position like that, it would tear her up.

"Have you seen Amber?" he suddenly wondered.

Kirby shook her head. "No, no I haven't. I told you she didn't turn up for-"

"Ams is in the computer lab downloading MSN onto all the computers." Aspin interrupted leaning down to talk to them as she passed their table. "I think they'll get food from the vending machine."

"Is the rest with them?" he asked quietly.

She shook her head, her purple hair streaked with black swishing slightly. "Not all them, Shahero, Arista and Ruin are, but Sonia isn't and Miyami isn't. We don't know where they are. If you want Sunny, I have the feeling that she may be practicing her tennis down at gym."

Ozuma nodded watching her walk away to deposit her tray before heading towards the lab. He thought about it for a few minutes before deciding to see if Sonia was there or not.

Mariam looked at Salima curiously as he walked away. "Um, isn't Sonia in our dorm?"

Salima pursed her lips. "I think so."

"What?!" both girls winced from the JV vice captains exclamation. "Why didn't you tell him?"

"Because he left before we could."

Kirby growled but said nothing, instead she shoved her plate away and got up. "I'll see you guys later."

Mariam sighed. "Oops."

"Not your fault." Kai consoled.

"I know, but now Kirby's pissed with me." 

"Far as I can see all the Benson's are high strung, they'll snap at you for the simplest of things."

"But this isn't simple." Salima argued.

"Oh well I'll deal with her later. Anyways we have study hall to head to." Mariam stated getting to her feet. "Come on Kai, you'll need someone to show you the way."

* * *

"So Brooklyn Adams just walks into our school and starts talking to you?" Shahero wondered with a laugh of disbelief.

"Exactly, and then he was all put out when I didn't respond to any of his suggestions. Man, now I can see why you spent so much time pissing Hitoshi Kinomiya off." Arista laughed, clutching her stomach and trying to push the sliding strap of her bag back onto her shoulder.

"Hitoshi Kinomiya is a wanker."

"Now, Kaeto, that isn't very nice."

Shahero froze, her blue eyes widening. Slowly she turned around hoping and praying to god that it wasn't who she knew it would be. Her friends chuckled at her predicament and it just confirmed her dread. She pulled her gaze from the floor and moved it up the figure, taking in the long, lean and hard body, the casual way he was standing, legs braced and defined forearms folded. She also took in the strong square jaw, the thin but kissable lips smirking lazily, the chiseled features, and moved her gaze up to lock with light auburn eyes. She didn't need to look any further, those eyes were unmistakably his, unmistakably dark, dangerous and sexy. Everything Hitoshi Kinomiya had always been. She knew without looking that his hair was stone blue, long and tied back from his face as usual, the bangs were choppily cut to fall down over his brow to hood those eyes. Just as she knew his voice was smooth, and masculine, laced with cynicism and mockery and when talking to her, amusement; which usually infuriated her more than the words he spoke.

'_Oh _it_ would just have to turn up and hear that._' She sighed resigned, folding her arms unconsciously telling him to keep his hands to himself and leave her alone. "No one ever claimed I was nice, Kinomiya."

He ran his gaze up and down the fiery spirited Asian girl taking in every detail of her which had changed over the two years he'd been away. "I always said you were a nice piece of ass."

She bristled at the tone and the easy way he spoke of her as though she was nothing but a slab of meat for him to stare at. It made her feel cheap and dirty. Before she could say anything, Amber interrupted. "Hey Hito, long time no see. So you're like, what, a teacher or something? Does that mean we have to address you as sir? Or _are_ you a teacher?"

He nodded with a smirk of superiority. "Yeah I'm something like that."

Shahero smirked as he fell into the trap Amber had so cleverly laid for him. "So that means you just sexually harassed a student, right Ris?"

"Hate to say it of family, but yeah." Arista replied with fake reluctance.

Hitoshi growled. Goddamn bitch squad had always annoyed him, always keeping Kaeto from putting her hands on him so he couldn't get his hands on her. And Christ had he wanted to get his hands on her during their school days, he thought reminiscing. But she was a student now and he was a member of staff, so he had to keep reminding himself that she was too young for him. Why would he want a bitchy teenager anyways, when he could have any woman he wanted?

"Stay out of my way and we'll get along fine, Kaeto."

"Just remember to keep your lips to yourself this time, Kinomiya."

Amber snickered then yelped. "Shit we're late for study hall. Thanks a lot Hito."

"You're welcome ladies, Kaeto."

Shahero took a second to sneer at him, before she turned and walked off with her friends. Hitoshi watched her walk off and admired the view. She may have always been a skinny bitch but she sure did have an excellent ass. And irritating her had always been a favorite past time of his, and it wouldn't hurt him to pick that hobby up again. Sure she'd pull a few punches at him, but as long as he kept his desires in check, there'd be no trouble at all. He finally realized he wasn't alone anymore and flicked his gaze to Ruin Mulryan.

She was leaning back against the wall taking him in, her dark eyes observing, her sultry mouth pursed. Ruin Mulryan had always been a looker but he'd never seen her as anything but a sibling. She didn't form opinions on someone because her friends disliked them. She formed her own opinions and didn't care about whether her friends agreed with them or not. She didn't let emotions over rule her thoughts, but that didn't mean she was unemotional. She was just good at controlling them. She was like a guy in that sense, a guy with a rack. Christ wouldn't Ruin love to hear herself described like that?! He chuckled.

"Care to share the joke?" she drawled.

He shook his head. "Nah, it's nothing. Nice to see you again Ruin, you still kicking guys asses for looking at you?"

She rose a brow and barely disguised a smirk. "Now that would be petty. I'm too mature to do that for just looking at me, but groping me on the other hand..." she trailed off with an amused spark in her eyes.

He chuckled. "You haven't changed, much."

"Same to yourself, but a quick warning. If you have an itch to scratch, do it elsewhere. It won't look too good on you if you're found out to be fucking one of the students, whatever is going on between you and Shahero-"

"There's nothing going on with me and Kaeto! Jeez Ruin, cut to the quick why don't you?! You should learn a little humility."

She rolled her eyes. "I'm just giving you some friendly advice. If you hurt Hero, she'll kick your ass. I don't particularly want to have to scrape your ass off of the floor with a pair of fucking tweezers and hand it to your parents, got it? You wanna get laid, then there's plenty of whores knocking around, find them, pick one and get it out of your system. You're a grown up now."

With that she walked off and left him staring at her bewildered. Like he said -a guy with a rack, how uncomplicated. And tweezers?! Like hell. He could handle Kaeto.

* * *

The buzz of activity in the Study hall made Mr. Shallow rub his temples in an attempt to ward of the headache that loomed in the back of his mind. "Mariam, sit down please." He called out to the blunette girl who was sitting on the table in front of the new boy talking animatedly. She didn't pay him any attention. "Mariam I know you like Mr. Hiwatari, I'm sure we can all say he's a good looking young man, but how are you going to impress him with a good job if you don't do your homework?"

The girl shot him a dark look even as her cheeks darkened to a pink hue. She slid off the table and walked over to the Junior table and dropped into a seat beside her best friend, pulling her books from her bag. Shallow sighed. He didn't mind doing Study hall duty, especially if it was the late one, his only problem was the fact that the Ice hockey team had a problem with keeping their attention on their work and they turned up late. He ran a hand over his short curly black hair and raised a bushy brow as a familiar lanky figure sauntered in as though he owned the building.

"Hello Tala, I heard you were back."

"Hey Shallow-Hal. Long time no see." Tala replied cheerily, letting his turquoise eyes run over the students assembled. He was pleased to see Kai had found his way because after leaving the changing rooms, he'd sort of lost his friend. Ruin wasn't there yet, he noted, neither was Amber. He figured those two were off somewhere.

"You're not taking European History?"

The red heads' attention switched back to the teacher beside him. Shallow was one of those teachers who seemed to respect the students as long as they respected him and he was often found to be joking around with them in class and in study hall. When Tala had been there, Shallow had been the head of his year so they'd often met up just too see how he was doing in his classes and to see if he could be transferred to more advanced classes. The curse of being a genius. He'd always refused not wanting to leave Amber, Ruin or Ian but when the Clonmel opportunity came up he grabbed it with both hands, for the first time making a decision based on his desires, not on his friends.

He offered Shallow a wolfish grin. "Figured I'd be better in physics. More challenging than dwelling on the past."

Shallow shook his head, before leaning over the desk and fetching a piece of paper. "Well you can do your physics homework over at the table Bryans' sitting at."

Tala sought out the burly enforcer who was sitting on his own, eyes locked on a magazine which lay flat in front of him. "Who else sits there?"

Shallow scanned the sheet. "Bryan, Ruin, Michael, Ian, Kane and you." he looked up and smiled at Tala who simply jerked his head and made his way to the large oak table, a slight curve to his lips.

Tala hadn't heard the rest of the list, his mind had switched off at the mention of Ruin Mulryan and moved to more interesting thoughts involving his vixen. He hadn't had a chance to see her up close after their little encounter. He was looking forward to this study hall.

The lavender haired enforcer didn't even acknowledge his existence as he dropped his back pack on the table and slid into the seat opposite him. "Hey Bryan, what are you reading?" he enquired casually, when Bryan didn't answer; he leaned over the table and snatched the magazine from his hands and looked at the car on the sleek glossy pages. "Hmm, nice. You thinking of buying it?"

Bryan merely snarled at him before trying to snatch the book back. Tala, expecting this, held the thin paper out of his reach. He knew Bryan too well, they'd been roommates and friends when they'd both attended the school together, both bonding over Amber, but now Bryan seemed to want to rip his throat out. Not really surprising, he reasoned, he had upset his cousin. Bryan did have an overprotective streak.

"Fuck you Valkov!"

Tala smirked languidly. "Nah, I think I'd prefer Ruin for that." his eyes blurred over for a few seconds, then locked on the furious boy opposite.

"You leave her alone, you've done enough damage here, I won't let you do anymore." Bryan growled.

"I already had an encounter with Ruiny and I didn't hear her complaining."

"Yeah well you deserved it." he gestured to the bruise marring Tala's skin.

Tala nodded in full agreement. "I guess you're right. I was being a prick and Ruin's fist was a nice way of informing me of it. But that wasn't what I was talking about, I was talking about... no wait I don't think I'll bore you with my sexcapades." he concluded with a grin as he tossed the magazine back to him.

"I knew you got laid," a voice said from behind him.

Tala chuckled; tilting his chair back until it came into contact with Kais'. "I did not get laid. And if I did you'd be the first to know."

"Ditto."

Tala frowned. "Why you got someone in mind?"

"Mariam Tikashi." Kai replied quietly, his gaze wandering to where the bluenette was holding court with her friends all gathered around her hanging on to her every word.

"Yeah she seems like she'd be a good lay, and she isn't that bad to talk to either." He caught Bryan's slight shake of the head before he was roughly shoved back onto all four legs and he jerked forward so his chest hit the side of the desk and had his breath whooshing out. Winded slightly, and with a definite pain along his chest, he looked round to see Ian and Kane taking their respective seats at the table. Both avoided eye contact with him and kept their expressions' stony. Tala shrugged and leaned back again to talk to Kai.

The door opened and Ozuma walked in looking slightly out of it, followed by Johnny McGregor who didn't look too good either. Johnny took his seat at the table in front of Tala's while Ozuma circled round to sit at Kai's.

"You got much homework?" Tala suddenly asked Kai.

Kai gave a slight shrug. "Not really, but I have a history essay to write which'll take a while. I wanna get it started tonight, finish it over the weekend. Why?"

"I want to win my CD back. Figured I'd challenge you to pool."

"Fuck you, I've got it now." Kai laughed.

"Aw c'mon Hiwatari, you afraid I'll beat you?"

"I know you won't. But I'm still not giving it up."

"Chicken."

"Tala, you'll only end up looking like a prat."

"Your point being?" another voice interjected.

Both boys looked up as Aspin Grant wove her way between them and slid into the chair beside Kai. Kai merely chuckled as the purple haired girl turned to face Kane who scowled at both boys before focusing on his girlfriend.

"Where were you?"

"Up in the computer lab with the other girls." she answered smiling slightly as he inter-linked their fingers; then she looked round the room. "Hey, they should be down by now."

"Hn, who cares?"

She glared at him. "I do, obviously, Aqua." she snapped out her nickname for him, one he didn't particularly care for.

"Well you're allowed to make a few mistakes." when she hissed at him, he only winked and was about to tug her closer when he caught Shallows' eye and decided against it. Then again... he kissed her quickly, then turned back to his table but not before tossing Shallow a grin and hearing Aspin's muttered curse.

Shallow shook his head at Kane's antics. The group was full of smart asses. Glancing at the clock, he lifted his attendance book and began to go through the names, ticking of the names he knew were there, after he took a quick glance round the room. On one of those glances he realized something.

"Kinomiya?" Both Kinomiya's looked up and he sighed. "Miyami?"

Miyami glanced up at him from her sketch she was working on since she wasn't feeling up to working on that History Essay. "Yo?" she inquired, lifting a silver brow.

"Where's Amber?" he asked; tucking his tongue in his cheek as he checked off other names.

Miyami looked round the room and for the first time noticed her friends weren't there. Frowning, she caught Aspin's eye. "Aspin where's Amber?"

Aspin, in turn, looked round and frowned. "Um, where is Amber?"

Shallow raised his muddy brown eyes to heaven. "I take it none of you know where she is. And Belyaev, Kaeto and Mulryan?"

"Oh! They're on their way." Aspin called out, hoping that they were on their way, but she crossed her fingers anyway.

"They're late." he declared.

"No we're not. See, with us being here and everything, so not late." Amber babbled out breathlessly as she almost fell into the room clutching Shahero's sleeve to keep steady.

Shallow ticked off their names meticulously, berating them in his mind but not saying a word as the girls took their seats. He looked up and rolled his eyes. "Where's Mulryan?"

Shahero winced and managed to not curse. "Uh, Ruin is uh... "

"Here with us in spirit." Amber quickly interrupted.

"So technically she's not late." Miyami agreed before returning to her sketch. There was a chance that if she looked up too many times, her eyes might be tempted to look at Johnny and that would destroy the mental barrier she'd put up.

"Exactly." Shahero nodded and gestured with her index finger, almost taking out Rei's eye.

"She's-"

"'Sup!" Ruin swaggered into class ten minutes late and didn't look a bit phased by everyone's gaze as she took her seat which happened to be opposite Tala, who she regarded with a raised brow.

"-Not late." Mr. Shallow finished ticking off her name. There was a deal that if you were in the room before roll was finished than you weren't late. So far Ruin Mulryan, technically, had around 74 tardies and not one of them were turned into detentions because she always just arrived as her name was called or just as the book was about to be closed.

Tala smirked at Shallow's face and then surveyed Mulryan. He stretched his legs out, crossed his ankles and his arms across his well defined chest. Finally after feeling his gaze burning into her, she looked up so her gaze locked with his and she felt the usual sudden jolt to her system. His stomach contracted as her leg brushed his and made the skin underneath his pants tingle. She smirked then turned back to her homework, she had an English Essay to do.

Arista nudged Ozuma. "What's the title for our English Essay?"

Ozuma flipped through a few pages of his English ledger then passed it to her, pointing to the title which was underlined in red and written in Ozuma's neat script. Arista read it and smiled before turning back to her ledger.

"Have you girls seen Sonia?"

Aspin shook her head, as did Arista. Amber did nothing.

"Ams?"

Amber scribbled furiously, ignoring the dull ache beginning to form in her wrist. She hissed as something protruded into the side of her gut. She tossed a furious glare at Kai who she had the unfortunate displeasure of sitting beside. "What?" she growled.

"Your cousin was speaking to you, try cleaning out your ears and answer him."

She snarled at him but said nothing, only turned pleasantly to Ozuma. "Yes dear, what's wrong?"

Kai shook his head and turned back to the History essay, even though conversations buzzed around him. He sighed heavily, and inhaled, breathing in the scent of something sweet and fruity which mingled with the stale air of the study hall. He tried to concentrate on it for a few minutes, to distinguish what it was, to find out who it came from.

"Have you seen Sunny?" Ozuma whispered.

"Uh, no actually I haven't. Hold up." Amber leaned back on her chair so she could see behind Kai and found she was too close to Tala for her liking, but he seemed to be staring into space and paying no attention to her. "Psst, Mariam?" she whispered loudly.

Mariam looked up bemused at Amber's stage whisper which carried over the buzz of whispered conversations. "What?"

"Have you seen Sonia?"

"Amber!"

Amber jerked in her seat and almost toppled back wards if it wasn't for Ian -who'd turned around when she whispered-, catching the back of her chair. There was a slight moment where she hung midair before she got her balance back and set the chair down again. She flashed a grateful smile at Ian, before rounding on her teacher. "What?" she snapped irked.

"Stop talking."

"I wasn't talking."

"Then what were you doing?"

"I was whispering, it's a whole different adjective."

Kane snickered at her pronunciation of the word but shut up when Ruin nudged him non-too-subtly.

"That's still conversing."

"You said talking." she retorted sweetly, then shut up when he stared at her pointedly. "Well you did." she muttered.

"What were you two talking about, Miss Tikashi?"

"She wanted to know where Sonia was."

"She was in the earlier study hall, now get back to work."

"Sir yes sir!" Amber saluted gaining a snicker from both Miyami and Shahero.

"Amber don't salute me."

"Just be glad you're not saluting her." Ruin muttered and Tala choked getting the hidden innuendo.

Shallow shot Ruin a look and then shook his head at Amber who was now silently pounding her head against the table.

Kai growled, his hand instinctively catching Amber by the scruff of the neck and stopping her from banging her head. "Grow up."

Her eyes blazed abruptly as she shrugged his hand off, her own hand rubbing the nape of her neck. It felt as though something tainted was spreading along her skin and she didn't like the feeling one bit. Scowling she turned back to the goddamn history essay. How dare he tell her to grow up and what the fuck did he do to her neck. It felt as though an army of fire ants had decided to march up and down and it was as uncomfortable as fuck. Grow up, huh, she'd show him how grown up she could be. He wanted to piss her off, well fine but she'd damn well make his life a misery. She was good at being a pain in the butt. Everyone found her annoying at some point. Sure it shouldn't be anything to be proud of but it seemed to be the only thing she was exceptionally good at.

Sobering, she cast a glance at Miyami and Johnny. Both were ignoring each other. Miyami had her ear phones on and the white CD cover of 'Coral Fang' sat on the desk in front of her. She was slouched in her chair, her sketch book propped up against the desk as her fingers moved the pencil deftly over the page. Sometimes, she'd bite her lower lip and then shake her head, before changing the angle of the lead. Johnny was hunched over his desk writing something but every so often he'd glance up when Shahero nudged him and he'd lean to her side, write something before turning back to his work. X's and O's she decided, that was probably what they were playing.

Curious, she peeked over Hiwatari's arm to look at what he was doing. History essay, figures. Folding her arms, she sighed heavily and slumped back on her chair and planned her new nemesis... She frowned, how many 'S's in nemesis the plural? She looked around at the group sitting at her table, Enrique wouldn't know, it would plague Arista all day, Aspin wouldn't care, Ozuma might know but he'd snap at her because he was in a foul mood, Hiwatari _would_ know but she'd saw off her tongue before she'd ask. No need for him to think any less of her than he already did.

"Someone at the back open a window or something, it's really stuffy in here." Kirby's voice carried over the silence of the room, as she leaned back in her chair and rubbed her eyes tiredly.

Ian got to his feet, obliging her and opened two windows. "Anything for you Kir-baby." when Joseph shot him a dark look, he grinned toothily. "Get a life, Tikashi."

The room descended into silence again. Kai sighed annoyed as yet again the bitch beside him began to fidget. Now she was kicking her foot against the chair leg and making the table shake. The teachers at Clonmel would have a fit if she appeared in their study hall. Not one of them would be able to cope with her; she'd be thrown out of the school in record time. Yet another complete difference between Preston and Clonmel. She heaved a heavy sigh and began to twirl a strand of black hair tipped with gold round her finger.

He turned and tried to catch Mariam's eye. She looked up and smiled at him radiantly, before turning back to her work. Groaning inwardly, he turned back to his work, noticing with some grim satisfaction that the bitch was looking a bit miffed at Mariam's disloyalty to her. He scribbled a few more pointers that he had to include on the essay. Now he could smell cloves. He lifted his head and looked for it's source. Ah that would explain it, he thought as he watched Ian offer Amber a Clove Rock. He tucked his tongue in his cheek, he always craved those sweets when he smelled them but his supply had run out. Amber caught him watching them and smirked wickedly as she sucked on the sweet, then sighing, she grabbed the packet out of Ian's hand and offered him one. He raised a brow, before taking one and popping it in his mouth.

Amber smirked and handed the packet back to a grinning Ian. Then digging round her bag she produced a book and began to read it. She didn't think she had anymore homework, and any she did, she'd done it in her spare time and detention. And everyone at her table was busy, Enrique was doing math, Arista her English, Aspin was doing something with some science subject that didn't seem to be biology, the only science subject Amber would touch with a barge pole and Ozuma was hiding his work from her, but she surmised he was writing a heart felt letter to Sonia, or composing a sonnet. She snickered causing the table to look at her, Kai watching her more warily than the others. She shook her head and covered her smirk.

She leaned back in her chair and began to read, looking up momentarily when Shahero made an excuse to go to the bathroom, in other words she was going to check on their MSN downloading.

Ruin looked up as Shahero brushed past her and walked out of the hall. She was stuck on ideas for her art project. It had to be something dramatic and profound that would capture the onlookers imagination and draw them in. She had an idea for something with a tempest in it, but was unsure what exactly to do with the tempest. Her gaze went to Tala. He'd be a good model, she decided. He had the looks and the coloring to make painting him a pleasure. But she didn't think she'd have the gift to do him justice. How could she paint in that glint of a secret in his eyes, or how he found amusement in everything or how he seemed to know something no one else did, a universal joke that he couldn't or wouldn't tell the rest of the world. How could she paint the feminity of the lashes and the cheek bones but the sheer masculinity of the face at the same time?

Tala looked up at that moment and caught her watching him with those cagey brown eyes. Her face was serene and her eyes somber and at that moment she was beautiful, not hot, not fuckable, just beautiful. The cynical glint in her eyes was dulled and her face wasn't filled with scorn or superior amusement. It was a mask but not one she showed to everyone. This was her contemplative mask, she rarely wore it unless she was actually thinking about something important to her, such as her art or when she was playing her bass. What was she thinking as she watched him in that eerily calm way of hers?

Ruin snapped back and her gaze locked on Tala's and focused. As soon as it did, she felt the slash of desire whip through her making her pulse quicken and her blood simmered under his gaze. She lifted a brow at him and he merely smirked. It was an age old game between them, neither said what they were thinking or feeling in front of the others, and only sometimes in front of each other. Both preferred to keep their thoughts and feelings private and to themselves, which was why, when one divulged it was always respected and never used against them. They trusted each other like no other.

She switched her gaze to Amber who was reading a book and wondered when Tala meant to apologize to her. And when he did, would she accept it? It felt so wrong for them to be at odds with each other when they'd once been so close. Her lips quirked as she read the title of the book, _Conspiracy in Death_. Amber did seem to love her murder mysteries and romance books. Ruin didn't get it but Amber seemed to have a very romantic side she never saw in herself.

Amber told everyone that she was a cynic, that she didn't believe in true love and soul mates, but in reality that seemed to be what the girl craved deep inside. For someone to need her as much as she needed them. It was just another one of Amber's insecurities. She had so many but they were all hidden under the mask that Amber wore. She seemed to be so very open but there were things she hid from nearly everyone, and she only told those close to her if she was having a particularly bad day. Ruin wondered if Amber did ever find herself falling for a guy, how would she react? Would she embrace it, or would she run away in fear? Ruin was betting on the latter and it made her wonder about Amber's reaction to Hiwatari.

She noticed that Amber was almost sitting on Ozuma in her effort to be as far away from Hiwatari as possible, but did Amber notice that? Probably not.

Before she could analyze further, Shahero came storming into the room. Ruin's first thought was Hitoshi and thinking that made her turn to Shahero's table. As Shahero dropped into her seat and folded her arms, Ruin poked her in the shoulder, knowing the reaction she would get.

"What?" Shahero spat angrily, then some of the anger drained as she saw it was only Ruin.

"What's with the Godzilla act? You came stomping through here as though you were trying to destroy Tokyo."

"Ms. Maye, who by the way will always be a miss because no one would ever marry that pimply assed bitch-"

Miyami rose a brow at the interesting description that had intruded over Brody's low singing of 'The Hunger'. "Who?"

"Ms. Maye." Shahero ground out.

"What did she do?" Spencer asked as he lifted all sharp pointy objects away from her grasp much to Johnny's amusement.

"She removed MSN again, after we down loaded it. I hate her." she seethed.

"You're not going to do anything drastic again?" Rei pleaded.

She didn't speak just scowled at the piece of paper in front of her which was supposed to be her history essay but had X's and O's all around the margins.

"Look just calm down Sen, we'll get her back later ok?" Miyami reasoned, her silver eyes glinting with mischief.

"Yeah sure, fine, whatever. But this is the final straw. That bitch keeps flinging me in detention for nearly everything even if I don't do it."

"Which is hardly ever." Rei commented under his breath but received a snarl from her for that comment.

Somewhere in the old school a bell rang and the students scrambled to their feet. Amber shoved her book in her bag hoping she didn't ruin the spine or crumple the pages, then slung it over her shoulder. She was about to catch up with Shahero to find out what pissed her off, when a hand snagged her elbow. Sighing she turned to see Tala standing over her, more looming with that unfortunate height of his.

"Problem?" she drawled, thinking that he was a problem.

"Can I see you?"

"Uh, you're looking at me, so you tell me, can you see me?" she deadpanned.

"Benz, we need to talk."

"Some other time, I feeling rather tired now and I'm going to my bed." she stated wrenching her arm out of his grip and wandering over to her friends who were chatting about stealing the junior common room and chasing them to bed so they could watch TV.

Kai rose a brow as she discussed what she wanted to watch and argued with Aspin over which film they were going to watch. Finally he turned to Tala. "Well, what are you going to do with her?" he asked at the same time that Tala growled.

"Fuck her."

"Really? Won't that be a bit awkward?"

"Fuck you Hiwatari."

"You're really getting around Valkov."

Tala smirked and shook his head. "If she doesn't want my apology then she can do without. I'm not chasing after that stuck up little bitch, as far as I can see, there's nothing that would make me want to be friends with her anymore."

"Glad you came to your senses. Personally I never could see what you saw in her."

"Nice to see you again Tala." Ruin stated coming up beside him and nodded in acknowledgement of Kai.

"I hope I'll be seeing more of you Ruin."

"Maybe. I'll catch you guys later, I have to go baby sit."

Tala chuckled admiring the view as Ruin sauntered over to her friends making a comment about Amber and Aspin which caused them to glower at her and then start on her as they walked out of the door with the boys following.

Kai just shook his head having no clue what that conversation was about. Weird coded conversations annoyed him. He liked people to be straight up and not hide behind words.

Mariam sidled up to them. "Out of interest, Kai, you didn't happen to eat that sweet Amber offered you, did you?"

"Yeah why?" he asked feeling a pit of dread in his stomach.

"Nothing, it just fell on the floor, that's all." a smile played on her lips.

Tala snorted out a laugh as Kai took in the rather disgusting floor. "Great." he muttered. "I really, really don't like that scrawny little bitch."

"I can tell you that the feeling's probably mutual." Mariam informed him, not even trying to hide the laughter in her voice or in her eyes.

He raised his eyes to the ceiling as he led Mariam out the door keeping a hand on the small of her back and Tala followed. He had to admit, maybe Preston wouldn't be so bad, once he won over a few more of the team, but for the moment he had a pretty girl who didn't dislike him and his best friend. Things were looking up.

Reviewers:

**Lee the Ice Queen****: **All guesses were wrong I'm afraid though you came close. Lol, Ozuma and Sonia get very little fiction time I find so therefore I feel I must whip up a nice story line for them. They are so cute together, but I have so many ideas I can use for them. Yeah I'm not too sure on Coach myself, so maybe your picking up on that.

**Ryouya-Kyuuketsuki****:** Amber's revenge has yet to be plotted. Lol, I've got small ideas' to make Kais' life hell so hopefully that'll do until I get a big idea.

Rayne: Yeah Tala was actually making me sick in that last chapter, and I really think Ruin could have hit him again to get her point across but I don't promote violence, I merely spectate. You're right about Kai facing Amber's burn, she just has to plot his downfall first and she can enjoy razzing him until she's got the perfect plan.

Kara: Yeah I totally know what you mean. My fave stories rarely get updated which sucks eggs. But I understand that most of my favorite authors have lives so I can't really complain too much, I don't update that often either.

Moi: Nah you shouldn't feel stupid. Very little people seem to know what TBD means, it's a thing from the Mighty Ducks anyway so unless you've seen it and memorized lines like I have, then you prolly wouldn't get it. I figured everyone would be expecting Hiwatari to be this really mean, unfeeling git but he'd never be able to coach a team if he was.

Twerp: Aw thank you. Such a kewl review, really brightened my day.

**Miss Wright****: **Aw there have been a lot of hockey fics springing up since I started this one. Maybe I'm inspiring. ::Snorts:: as if!! My pairing will always be Kai/Amber, always and forever, unless I decide to fuck it all up.

**Dark Destiny2****: **Thankies. You're a great Beta reader.

**swoosh-98**: Yeah Kai was having a hard time, but it's not like he's going out of his way to make friends. Ruin doesn't hate him, Tala is his friend and Mariam likes him. The others will get over it eventually, cept Amber.

**ArcadaAvaLon****: **Lol, you know what TBD means, good for you. Don't complain about Rain, I live in Ireland, we don't see sunlight through the thick gray clouds.

Bookie1: Rain is no stranger to me, since I come from the Emerald Isle. I love Hockey and I support Canada. ****

**Dragon-eyes22****:** Tyson doesn't mind, nope. He feels a bit left in Hitoshi's shadow but he doesn't mind playing JV. Tala's back to himself in this chapter I feel. Don't worry the Amber/Kai relationship will be believable I promise. It won't change over night, it'll be gradual.

**kaieshakai:**Aw thank you.

**Krixel****: **I love Ozuma, he's so great. Lol, the path to true love is very bumpy, especially since someone is running the wrong way. Or actually both of them are, one just is running blind. Ruin and Tala are always interesting to read about in my opinion. Aw I like Brooklyn too, just don't tell anyone that I said that, because I call him an ass constantly.

**grandsummon****: **Good luck in the JC, it's not too bad. Don't worry about it. Amber gave Kai a sweetie in this chapter, that was civilised. ::Snickers:: I love these two fighting all the time. I did get the game, I just got bored because I was doing well and then I gave the stupid sphere to stupid hot Baralai, and that was a bad move to make. Stupid evil, shit hot guy. I live on a sheep farm, ye gods. I hate it and leave to my brothers most of the time. I never seen that film, it's the one where he says he loves her. I must get it, I've seen every episode and the first film so I should get the second.

**Cyberlink42****: **We play field hockey in Ireland, I can't stand it because it's all our school cares about. But I adore Ice Hockey.

**ChibiKai02****: **No Brookie in this chapter, why? Because he's an ASS!!! And Mariam is nice. We like Mariam. Jeez, must do more about that being Gay thing.

**MagicianCyborg****: **Well here you go.

**Smiley Joe****:** Yeah Spencer and Amber are kewl, I actually did do that to this guy in my maths class who annoyed me and stole my pens. Ugh, so childish. I saw Harry Potter on the 31st of MAY!!! So kewl!! Ruin and Tala are turning out to be my fave couple at the moment. Who wants Kai and Amber?

Sum random person: Glad I'm you're current obsession. Yeah poor Johnny. ::Sniffs::****

**Coors****: **I had to remind you what TBD meant. ::Shakes head:: Kai is a dead man, if Amber can work up the energy to get revenge on him. Yeah and Hero would have won if Hito had kept his lips to himself. Evil Hito. She'll prolly challenge him again.


	7. Gnomes

Smells like Team Spirit

By: Zadien

A.U.: I've really got into Rayearth recently, but there isn't that many good stories, no offence, but there isn't. I've been working non stop recently, which has slowed my writing down and chapter twenty one for L/H will take a while because I'm collaborating with Zimo. Um please read **Devilish Desires** by **Coors** it's excellent. BROOKLYN IS AN ASS!! REPEAT AFTER ME, BROOKLYN IS AN ASS!!! Can't think of what else I was going to say, oh well. Here ya go, this is Gnomes.

Chapter Seven: Gnomes

"Hey Kai!"

Kai glanced over his shoulder and smirked inwardly as Mariam said goodbye to a group of her friends and quickened her pace to fall into step beside him.

"So..."

He raised a brow. "So?"

"Where are you heading to?"

"Practice." he replied shortly, letting his gaze roam over her. He slowed his pace casually to catch a glimpse of those long white legs which had been playing in his mind for the past couple of days. Smooth as white satin, long and slim.

"Oh practice, I didn't know you had practice on Fridays?"

"My Dad." he said it apologetically; figuring that would get him some reaction.

"Aw that sucks. Friday nights are great because there's no study hall, and we all head to the pool hall or the senior mess to watch a film. I guess that means the others won't be there either." she said the last part to herself and Kai knew who she was thinking about. For some god known reason Mariam seemed to like the Imp and more mind boggling was that she liked spending time with her, for Kai it was impossible to fathom how any one could stand to be in the same room as her for any length of time. She was a pest.

"Probably." he said non-committedly.

"Well," she continued brightly. "I guess we'll only be watching one film then, no biggie. It'll be fun, I think Rei's choosing it and he's really good with coming up with ones. We watched some scary film Saturday much to Amber's chagrin." at his questioning look, she quickly filled him in. "Ams hates horror films. She cowers, she'll smother herself with a pillow in order to avoid watching one. I know for a fact that Ian and Kane choose horror films for the sole purpose of torturing her. Sometimes the girls get into the act, except for Miyami since Amber almost crushed her hand in Psycho, I think." she chuckled.

Kai smirked. "I'll have to go to this tonight. Will they turn the lights off and pretend it's a cinema?" he asked watching Mariam's laughing jade eyes as she nodded. "Then maybe we can pretend we're in the back row."

His smirk widened at her reaction, as her eyes rounded and her mouth fell open before her eyes glazed and a blush tinged her cheeks. Oh yes, he would definitely be going to the mess tonight.

"Kai!" she gasped, slapping his forearm but he caught her hand amused to watch the blush grow.

"Don't you want to sit in the back row with me?"

"I-I," she struggled to find a cool answer. Of course she wanted to, the guy was a god. But still she didn't want him to think she was a bimbo. Every other guy she could handle, but Kai Hiwatari unnerved her and she always felt as though she was off step with him and unable to regain her footing. She swallowed and watched as his eyes darkened as they focused on her mouth. She knew that look, knew it so well. Instinct had her eyes closing, and her head tilting as she felt him close in, her heart galloping-

"Yo loves young dream!" a voice called out and broke the spell.

Kai cursed recognizing it immediately. His gaze snapped up to see the Imp striding towards them with Ian and Arista flanking her. Mariam stumbled back from him gulping in air to steady herself as her gaze flicked to Ambers' both cursing and thanking her mentally.

"Problem Benson?" he sneered.

"Only with your face, but no ones perfect. Actually I was just going to tell you both to get a room, preferably one with monster that'll eat him, or a vortex, actually go for the vortex, don't want the monster to get indigestion."

Ian snickered at Hiwatari's face. Benson was really playing with fire with him. Unlike Kane and himself who she regularly annoyed, Hiwatari had no real past or any reason to not hurt her or make her life a misery.

"You're such a kind person, thinking of the monster, Ams." Arista congratulated.

"I didn't think you'd like monsters, Benson, aren't they scary?" Kai drawled, folding his arms and gauging her reaction. He saw the confusion clear to understanding, as those ochre eyes widened then narrowed and the petulant mouth thinned.

"If I can cope with the Devils spawn, I think I can deal with a monster." she snapped then pushed her way past them to head to the Gym.

"Amber!" Mariam called out; her eyes flicked to Kai and there was anger there because he'd used something she'd told him in confidence to hurt her friends and it didn't seem to register with him at all.

Amber sighed turning to regard her supposed friend. "What?"

"I- You going to the mess tonight?"

Amber thought about it then nodded with a slight smile. "Sure, you want to throw popcorn and annoy Aspin and Kane?"

"Well actually..." the bluenette trailed off awkwardly and it didn't take long for Amber to comprehend especially with Kai's smug look.

She nodded somberly. "Right, you've got lover boy. Well maybe I'll see you, I've got practice." she turned and walked to catch up with Arista and Ian the pain.

As soon as she disappeared out the swing doors, Mariam rounded on Kai. "What was that?" she hissed.

"What?"

"Oh you know fine well what? I know you and Amber don't like each other, you make it blooming obvious, but Ams is my friend and that was horrible to take something I told you and use it against her."

"I just mentioned monsters, it was up to her to take it whatever way she wanted."

Mariam took a deep cleansing breath and closed her eyes, when her temper was under control she opened them again. "Am I going to have to watch what I say around you from now on? I mean since Amber's my friend, she's going to turn up in conversation, so just tell me now if you're going to use everything I mention in casual conversation against her? Because if you do then either I'll have to divulge information to her or stop this friendship altogether."

Kai cursed Benson mentally for fucking things up without even saying anything. That girl was just out to annoy him. "Fine, I won't use anything you happen to tell me about her against her." he'd just use whatever he found out himself. "And secondly, I think we should stop this friendship, friends don't do what I want to do."

Mariam sighed but couldn't help the way her lips curved. "I'll talk to you later, you're late for practice." she stated and with that headed back up the corridor while Kai admired her legs again. Christ they reached all the way up to her ears, he was almost sure of it.

-x-

Sonia scribbled furiously, her mouth moving silently to the words echoing in her head. The bell had gone a while ago but she was still sitting in her seat working on a math problem which wasn't going to solve itself. She'd told Salima and Mariam to come get her when they wanted to go into town. Aspin had wanted her to come to the practice but Sonia had declined. She'd been declining a lot recently, and everyone knew why.

Why the hell had she kissed him? Exactly a week ago she'd gotten herself drunk stupid and plastered herself against her long time crush and good friend. Why?! She was an idiot. She was a great big fat idiot. She needed electrotherapy. That's what she needed. A good jolt to the system every time she thought of that green eyed god. The problem was that she always got a jolt to the system every time she thought of him already

God why did it have to happen now? She'd resisted the temptation to kiss that perfect mouth for almost two years and now with only a year left she'd succumbed. It would have been alright if it'd been at the end of the year but no, she had to kiss him within the first term.

She let out a frustrated whimpered sigh of frustration. Why? Why? Why? Life was so unfair. And what was worse was that he now knew she had some feelings for him. He was never going to let it go and he'd keep wearing her down until she gave into him and got hurt. And she wouldn't be able to bear it if she got hurt by him. He was far too important to her.

So, she decided, she'd just avoid him till all this had died down and if she to, she'd deny everything.

She stopped writing as she felt a presence in the room and thinking it was Salima or Mariam, she turned off her discman. The welcoming smile on her pretty face faded then fixed itself in place. It seemed Ozuma had other ideas.

"Salima said you'd be down here."

"Did she?" You're dead Salima. "Don't you have practice?" She wondered tightly; trying to keep herself busy by gathering her pens and calculator.

"Yeah, but Coach has given me some time to find my sports bag."

"Well, uh, shouldn't you be looking for it?" And why did he have to look so good in that uniform? It was unfair!

"I lied." He confided mildly. "I know where my sports kit is."

Sonia's insides began to squirm unpleasantly as he began to approach her, his hands dipped in his pockets, a deceptively deceiving image of harmlessness. "Oh well then shouldn't you get it?"

"Nope." he answered easily, moving close enough to her to see those amazingly blue eyes dart nervously around the room. He quite liked the idea that he made her nervous, and she looked good when she was. Her skin was flushed underneath the tan, blue, blue eyes were large and wary, her ample chest rose with every shallow breath which feathered out of her parted lips. He was having very interesting fantasies about her lips and when sitting behind her, the nape of her golden neck.

"Well, um, I have to go meet Salima and Mariam." She stated getting to her feet, but when she rose from retrieving her bag from the floor, he moved in and her body bumped with his. Nerves sizzled. Her eyes widened then she stumbled back bracing her body and folding her arms, while her lips pouted unconsciously. After a few agonizingly long seconds passed, her insides began to dance the rumba. "I have to..."

"Go. You said." She wasn't leaving, he noted almost giddily. He was so close that he could smell the peaches scent she wore and it made his pulse scramble with anticipation. This was the closest she'd let him get since the kiss and the taste of her which lingered on his lips was driving him crazy.

"Yeah well I have to." she tried to put some authority in her tone but it was pointless. She couldn't think straight when he was looking at her like that. Like he wanted to devour her from the mouth down. Guys just didn't look at her like that, especially guys who'd seen her as a friend just weeks ago. A kiss shouldn't change someone's' opinion so drastically. Though it had been one heck of a kiss. Christ almighty Sonia, get a bloody grip! She scolded herself then gasped as Ozuma shifted closer so their bodies brushed again and heat spiraled through her.

"You're not going." he pointed out, his eyes hungrily taking in every aspect of her.

"I'm not." she sighed as his hand reached up and caressed her jaw, then blinking she retreated back a step, so she could look at him without hurting her neck.

"I mean I am, I should be."

His hand caught her wrist and he was smug to feel her pulse race under his touch. "Your pulse is racing as though you've just ran a marathon. But you've been sitting here since our last class began, so either that Math problem you've been doing is very exhilarating." he paused to rub the pad of his thumb over the smooth inside of her wrist, enjoying how her pulse fluttered and her eyelids lowered. "Or I make you nervous."

Her pulse jerked and her eyes snapped open to focus on his and made his own heart jolt.

"You do not!" she snapped aggravated; wrenching her wrist from his grip. "Look I have enough to deal with without having to add you and your hormones to the mix."

"Then if I don't make you nervous then prove it by talking to me the odd time."

"I'll talk to you if and when I feel like it!" with that she grabbed her books and stormed off.

Ozuma stood alone in the empty classroom staring at the door she'd just vacated. "Me and my hormones? Me and _my_ hormones? Goddamn frustrating girl's going to be the end of me, I just know it."

-x-

To understand one unreasonable female, you had to talk to the Queen of unreasonable; in other words his cousin. And, to Ozuma's mind, there was no time like the present. So with those thoughts, Ozuma turned to Kai.

"We need to catch Amber."

Kai frowned at the dark haired vice captain over the head of Ruin, whose hand he was currently holding. "No we don't."

"Look, I need to talk to her."

"Talk to her later."

"You're being unreasonable."

"You're being a pain."

"Look do you want this team to accept you?" taking Kai's grunt as affirmation, Ozuma quickly continued, "Then do this for me."

Kai groaned and decided he was going soft. "Fine but I'm not holding her hand."

"You don't have to. Swap with me."

The other three members of the chain looked on bemused as Kai released Ruins' hand and took Ozuma's place holding her other one and Ian's much to the Russian midgets distaste.

"So where is she?" Kai asked.

Ozuma scanned the scattered team mates who were fleeing the two chains of people chasing them. This was one of Hiwatari's team building exercises. A version of chain tag, which meant the two chains had to work together in order to collect the most members. In Ozuma's mind it was also to see who the team took orders from which was why Tala and Ray had been paired and he and Kai for the other team. So that was why there was such a power struggle when it came to Ozuma giving Kai orders, because Kai was use to giving orders while Ozuma was use to taking and giving them.

"Ams is over there hiding behind Spencer." Arista commented then sighed, breaking off from Ian's grip to wipe her hand. "Your palm's all sweaty Ian."

"Well you shouldn't be holding it so tightly."

Arista raised a silver brow, then quoted one of Amber's favorite phrases of the month. "Kiss Ass."

Ozuma chuckled when he caught sight of his cousin peeking out from underneath Spencer's arm. The blond enforcers body almost hid hers completely from view. He heard a yelp and glanced round to see Shahero jump onto Johnny's back to avoid Rei's hands, but unluckily for Johnny or maybe fortunately, Miyami's hand snagged his and he got pulled into that chain. Shahero, of course, got away. The girl had the luck of the devil.

"We going to get her then?" Ian demanded.

"Hold your horses half pint." Kai snapped, his gaze counting the amount of people on Tala's chain versus his. Tala had one more than he and he intended to rectify that immediately. No one could say that Kai Hiwatari didn't have a healthy competitive streak, you didn't get so involved in a sport if you didn't have one and he was damned if he was going to let Tala Valkov beat him, best friend or no best friend.

"Tala's going for her." Ruin suddenly commented.

Kai followed the Goth girls gaze and realized she was right. Tala's chain was closing in on her position and she wouldn't see it until too late. Crap, he frowned. He didn't much care if Tala took her onto his chain, but it was more the fact that Tala already had more in his chain than Kai, and he couldn't afford to lose another.

"The hell he is."

Amber grinned, as she held onto Spencer. Who would have thought that the bulky enforcer could hide her so effectively? No one had even noticed her yet. She snickered as Kane had to do some very quick maneuvering to avoid Johnny's hand. Shahero was going around risking her own neck to annoy the various members of the two chains. She continuously charged them and broke through their links and since the chain was broken, she couldn't be claimed. She noted with a slight bit of glee that Miyami had captured Johnny and so she had to hold his hand as they made their way round the ice. Arista had been caught, as had Ian, and Ruin. Bryan was on Tala's team which sucked but he wasn't very fast at skating so he'd been one of the first caught. So the only ones left were Michael, herself, Spencer, Kane and Shahero. Mariah had quit the team so Arista was back up to number one goalie. Their team was severely depleting, she thought sourly.

Sighing, she turned her gaze up to the stands, releasing her grip on Spencer when she noticed Hitoshi up there watching them or Shahero to be exact. So far he'd kept out of Shahero's way, or so she claimed, and Amber wondered if her friend was just a little disappointed because he had. Aspin and Emily sat discussing various topics in the bleachers. Aspin had once been a member of the team before she injured her leg. On the doctors orders she had to give up strenuous exercise or risk losing motion in that leg. She'd been so heartbroken over it, and Kane had been the only one to get through to her and make her see that she didn't have to be depressed. For all of Kane's bad points, and there were a few; he cared about Aspin more than anything.

Aspin caught her eye and motioned for her to look behind her. Frowning Amber turned round and saw that Spencer had moved and now she was almost face to face with Tala.

"Fuck." she squeaked moving back to give herself more room to maneuver. How the fuck could she be cornered in an oval? Ovals didn't have corners!

Her ochre eyes darted nervously round as she felt the laughter bubble up her throat. Giggling breathlessly, she backed up. "Oh shite."

"Give up Ams, you're finished."

"No." She stated defiantly as Miyami shook her head.

"Come on Ams, you'll like it on our chain."

"No I won't."

"You're caught."

"No I'm not." but she wasn't moving, then she noted that since Bryan and Tala were both quite tall, their hands weren't as low, she grinned. "I'm outtie."

With that she waited till they closed in, then biding her time, she ducked under their linked hands, and whirled round to laugh at Tala's annoyed expression. "Nice try shit-head."

She did a happy dance then turned to skate off to tell Shahero, that idea burst when her gaze lifted and locked with the amused brown of Ruin's and then a hand locked round her wrist. She tugged at it like a frightened animal, not willing to admit defeat. It wasn't fair; she never won this game.

"You're caught Ams."

Pouting like a child, she nodded and linked her fingers with Ozuma's. "Why does everyone chase after me?!"

"I need to talk to you." Ozuma stated as the chain began to move again.

"About what?" Amber asked as she snickered at Shahero who was scrambling to her feet as she tried to avoid Johnny's hand and since Tala was trying to catch Kane on the other side, their chain broke and both Shahero and Kane got away scot-free.

"Sonia."

"What about her?"

"I cornered her today."

"That's where you made your first mistake then. You don't corner Sonia Anne Martini. You coax her into coming to you or you grovel and make her pity you."

Ozuma's eyes narrowed. "I don't want her pity."

"Then- shoot." she cursed as Michael scooted out of her grasp. "What do you want?"

He gave her a level look but when Amber still didn't comprehend, he explained to her. "Her. I want Sonia and if she doesn't want me like that, then I'll settle for the way things were."

"You'll never be able to be her friend." Kai suddenly spoke up.

"Bullshit." Amber snapped.

Ozuma blinked. "What's your opinion, Hiwatari?"

"Why can't a guy be friends with a girl?" Amber directed the question to Kai.

"I never said that, I just said Ozuma and Sonia won't be able to be friends because there'll be sexual tension between them if he wants her. It's impossible."

"It's not. If both of them have will power then they won't act on those emotions." She stated tilting her head and would have folded her arms if Ozuma wasn't holding one of her hand, so instead she placed one of her hands on her hip and braced herself on the ice. The rest of the chain had come to a halt and were watching the whole scene as it unfolded. Ian and Arista exchanged glances with the other chain who kept tossing them bemused glances as they skated round gathering the remaining team mates.

"Typical female."

"Typical male who has to think with his dick. Ozuma you and Sonia can be friends, you respect her don't you?"

"Of course I do." Ozuma growled, wondering how the hell this conversation had turned into a fight between his cousin and the new boy.

"See." feeling childish Amber stuck her tongue out, but Kai merely ignored her and looked at Ozuma.

"Would you honestly be happy with that?"

"Well if that-"

"I said be honest."

"Fine, no."

"Need I say anymore." Kai smirked at his nemesis's frustrated features.

"If you two are quite finished, maybe you can continue practice." Coach Hiwatari commented skating on to the ice. "By the way, Rei and Tala won that exercise because they kept their team together and focused on the goal."

"I didn't want her on my team anyway." Kai muttered while Amber snarled at him turning her back and slinging her arm around Miyami and resting her head on the silver haired girls shoulder.

Ozuma shook his head bewildered. He didn't even get anything from Amber, sighing he decided to make a note of talking to his cousin when there were no distractions around.

Shahero growled as Hitoshi came on to the ice, his gaze flickering to her before back to the Coach who he began to talk to in hushed tones. For the past couple of days Hitoshi had kept his word and kept out of her way but she was wondering how long that would last. He had never been good at keeping his word. 'Oh it'll be a fair game, don't worry.' he'd said, and then when she was winning and going for that last goal, he'd kissed her. That had been unfair! Of course he then stated that there was no where in the rule book that said that a player wasn't allowed to kiss another. But it was bloody common sense; she fumed. You don't kiss your opponent senseless. Her cheeks heated at the memory. Who knew the arrogant jerk could kiss like that, but if he tried that again she'd shove her hockey stick where the sun doesn't shine.

With another growl she turned away abruptly and crossed over to where Bryan sat talking to Spencer and Ian.

-x-

The mess had been completely renovated in honor of the film night. Due to the fact that last week they'd watched a scary film, this week they'd gone for an action film. Because of it the mess was a hive of activity. Grimaces, gasps and exclamations punctuated the normal silence needed to hear the dialogue. Every so often someone got irritated enough to shush everyone up but it was very rare since the group seemed so comfortable with each other, that everyone had something to say.

"Aw my God!"

The hoarse cry corresponded with Mariam's gulp as she buried into Kai's chest, not that he minded. In fact this torture scene was proving to be a pure favorite of his. The Imp was smothering herself with a cushion while telling Ian to shut up since he kept hitting her leg swearing the scene was over. Petrovich was definitely growing on him, though the kid did have his annoying traits which were revealed to Kai since they shared the same dorm. He smirked as Bryan Malkovich, a very quiet teen, reached over and clipped Ian round the ear.

"Rewind that!" Shahero ordered someone near the front.

The figure who was lying on his stomach, chin propped on the heels of his palm frowned. "Why?"

"'Cos I want to see it again?!" The Asian girl deadpanned.

"Fine!"

"Don't get shirty with me Kevin!"

"I'm not getting shirty, but I'm not rewinding."

"Hush the fuck up!" Someone cried out from the back making Shahero sneer and lob popcorn kernel in that direction feeling innately satisfied when someone yelped and cursed her name.

"Rewind it Kevin."

"Why do you plan to use it on him?" Miyami inquired pinching some of Daichi's popcorn since Tyson's was all gone. She never saw the glare Johnny aimed in the red heads direction.

"Well it's an idea."

"As much as I hate rats." Amber's muffled voice intervened. "That would be cruelty to animals."

"She makes a point." Johnny stated.

"Who are you talking about?" Tala wondered, idly stroking the back of Ruin's neck enjoying how she purred under his touch.

"None of your bees wax." Miyami growled.

Kai lifted a brow. Usually Miyami was easy going and intriguing to talk to. He'd conversed with her numerous times when they were in History together, and Art. Unfortunately she seemed to dislike Tala, but it seemed to have always been the case. Tala's misdemeanor against Amber only heightened that hostility.

"Is it over yet?"

Arista laughed. "Yeah Amber it's over, but if Shahero has her way you'll have to hide all over again."

Amber re-emerged from under the cushion, shoving her silk pelt of black hair out of her face and sneering at Ian who was grinning like a cheshire cat. "Oh shut up midget, beware I'll find out what you have a fear of, and I'll get you."

"Gnomes."

"Huh?"

Kane grinned. "Ian has a fear of cute little garden gnomes."

"They're not cute, they're evil creatures with all their eyes that look at you." Ian shot back.

"What else are they supposed to do with their eyes?" Rei wondered to a bemused Ozuma who merely chuckled, his gaze was solely on Sonia who was giggling at Ian's expression.

"He has nightmares about them." Kane also confided; his periwinkle blue eyes sparkling when Ian glowered at him.

"True, he fell out of bed last night screaming about them." Bryan confirmed, only joining in because it was to aid his cousin.

"From the top bunk?" Amber asked eagerly.

"Nah, he sleeps on the bottom." Spencer drawled muffling a yawn. "But all the same, he fell hard enough to wake the rest of us from our sleeps."

"Hey!" Ian exclaimed indignantly while Tyson almost rolled off his chair laughing at the midget.

"Oh really? Aspin, what're your thoughts on Gnomes?" Amber wondered; expression filled with malicious glee.

"Cute aren't they?" Aspin grinned wickedly, then turned to Kane. "Alright Aqua, who are you and what have you done with my... Kane?"

"You never call me your boyfriend, why not?" Kane suddenly demanded.

"Have a domestic later." Shahero commanded. "Now rewind it Kevin."

"I don't want to see it again." Amber moaned.

"Too bad." her friend retorted.

"Grow up!"

"Kaeto, you've seen it already. Benson, grow a spine!"

Amber's anger flared at how the bluenette captain of the sharks spoke to her as though he was talking to a small child. "Oh, I'll grow a spine, and then I'll shove it up your hole."

"He's probably enjoy that." someone murmured from the front making the group snicker Kai tried to spot who spoke but couldn't in the dim lighting all he could see was Benson's smug smirk and her chortling cronies.

He felt Mariam stiffen then she sat up rigid staring at Amber. "It was you, wasn't it?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Don't you?"

"Not a clue."

Kai frowned. "What's up, Riam?"

"There's a rumor going round the school that the reason you and Tala are here is because you both were kicked out of Clonmel because you're gay." Kai blinked surprised. Him? Tala? Gay? Oh that was wrong, oh so very wrong. But that would explain the lack of female interest in him. Fuck was that what Mariam thought? "Of course I didn't believe it but it doesn't take a genius to work out who thought it up." Mariam glared accusingly at Amber. The girl shrugged but the look she shot Kai was filled with menace.

"I can't claim to be the genius who thought it up." se declared breezily then frowned. "Unfortunately. But it's a pretty damn good idea, besides how do we know it isn't true?"

Kai gaped at her, completely speechless. The girl was unbelievable and not in a good sense.

"Well." Mariam began haughtily. "I can assure you that I know and I have proof he isn't." as though to back herself, Mariam shifted her snug butt and Kai felt his eyes cross.

Amber lifted a black brow. "So what if he has a hard-on, that doesn't mean dick." Shahero snickered at the phrase. "He just might like having someone wriggling about on his lap. Hell I bet if I did it, he'd probably have the same reaction."

'_I wouldn't bet on it._' Kai thought, but said nothing as the girl continued on.

"He may even be imagining you're Tala!"

"Jesus Christ Benz!" Tala choked out.

"The words going and too far spring to mind." Miyami muttered while Daichi nodded.

No one was watching the film anymore but the conversation between the two supposed friends.

"Kai glared darkly at the petite Irish girl promising revenge. Amber met his gaze and saluted him with her bottle of fanta, a smirk curving her lips which faded when she caught sight of Mariam's expression. Taking a deep breath, she let it out slowly.

"Look I'm sorry Mariam. If I'd known you had a..." she trailed off her words dying in her throat. She didn't actually know what was going on between Kai and Mariam and she wasn't going to endanger their friendship by putting Mariam on the spot and making her vulnerable to the Shark captain. "Listen, if I'd know you too were going to be friends then I wouldn't have done it, please forgive me."

"Why did you do it? What's Kai ever done to you."

"I-" Amber frowned, knowing the captain hadn't done anything to her physically or mentally, but he'd done something and it annoyed her, what ever it was. "Look I'll admit it. I'm an immature, selfish, brat. All right? Y'all know that anyway. And I'm sorry I hurt you, Riam. I never meant to do that. I actually forgot that I'd done it. I promise I won't spread any rumors about him, again. As long as he's your friend. All right?"

The sincerity in Amber's voice shocked Kai and melted Mariam. You couldn't stay mad at someone who could apologize like that. "I'm not mad at you Ams. It's far too hard."

Amber smiled warmly but her eyes glittered when they locked with Kai's knowing gaze. He stroked Mariam's blue hair idly and wondered if Mariam knew she'd been manipulated. It seemed that Tala and the minx had more in common than previously thought.

"Ugh, too much emotional shit." Shahero decided as Arista threw some popcorn in Amber's general direction. "Back to the film."

-x-

Half an hour later they were still watching the film. Somewhere during the middle of the film, Mariam had intertwined her hand through Kai's and her head was now nestled on his broad shoulder. She liked the way they fit and the way they looked when she caught their reflection in the glass around the school. Even now she could feel envious glances from her class mates and from senior girls. It made her feel good, though it annoyed her how he always set out to make a comment to Amber. Every time Amber opened her mouth, he would say something back, almost as though he was trying to get her attention. But that was ridiculous. She was being paranoid. She knew that. But Kai was so… amazing. He was caring and intelligent and had a great body. A really great body.

He was so different to all the other guys in the school. More mature than the guys in her year and available. None of the senior guys were currently available, apart from Ozuma. She sighed, and smiled slightly when Kai glanced at her with concerned filled eyes.

She'd always had a soft spot for Ozuma. He'd been so great to her when she first arrived, and she had thought something might happen between them. Especially when he turned to her after his break up with Kennedie, but then this year he'd returned and confessed that his interest in Sonia was more than friendly. It had broken her, but Sonia was her friend and a good one too, so Mariam had stepped back to let things run their course. Of course she hadn't betted on Sonia having such a stubborn streak.

Lazily, she let her gaze roam over to where Ozuma was sitting beside Rei and Mariah. He was laughing quietly at something the lead male had said, but his eyes would flick to where Sonia sat beside Salima and Emily. He must have felt her watching him, as his eyes locked with hers and he smiled that seductive lopsided smile that all Benson's seemed to acquire. She smiled back then averted her gaze to the screen.

"Pass me the Pringles, please."

"Nu-uh, Ams. You've reached your limit."

Amber blinked at Ruin. "Huh? Since when do I have a limit?"

"Since the time you got really hyper and wouldn't stop talking the whole night." Miyami answered.

"It was more gibbering than actual talking." Aspin commented without removing her gaze from the screen.

"And you have had Fanta tonight, we can't let you have anymore." Sonia added.

Amber blinked twice as she slowly processed what her friends had said. "That is so not fair, and I wasn't that bad."

"You had to be exiled from our room. You had to kip down here." Arista informed her.

Mariam grinned. "Oh yeah, that's right."

"Yeah you weren't much better, Riam. As I remember, Amber had a partner in crime, in other words you."

Kai looked intrigued at the girl on his lap, who blushed sheepishly. "Yeah I kinda remember a sore back the next morning."

"Why was that?" he wondered.

"Because Amber got the long couch. Which was unfair."

"Ah quit your bellyaching."

"Excuse me, my legs are longer than yours. I should have had the long couch." Mariam stated unconsciously crossing her legs.

They were damn fine legs, Kai agreed. And smirked as Amber scowled down at her own. "Hey no fair, my legs aren't short, it's just the rest of me is."

Her friends snickered at the comment. And finally the group settled down to watch the end of the film.

-x-

It was still dark outside when he heard the frantic whispers and breathless giggles that pierced his dream. For the life of him he couldn't remember it so instead if returning to his sleep, he opened an eye and then the other snapped open to see if what he was seeing was true.

There were four dark figures standing in his room by Kane and Ian's bunk. He frowned bewildered and rolled over making his mattress groan. The figures froze and looked at him but his eyes were closed.

"Ssh, you'll wake him up." the voice was female and familiar.

"How about I give Hiwatari a Hitler mustache while I'm here." said another voice. Amber, he'd know that voice anywhere.

"I thought we were here to pay Ian back."

"We are Aspin, but Hiwatari has it in for me. By rights I should get him back before he gets me."

"Huh, Ian's actually cute when he's asleep."

"I think everyone is, Ari." Aspin replied to her friends shocked exclamation. She smiled softly at her boyfriend who was sleeping in the bunk above. She knew she'd hurt him last night and she hadn't meant to. It was just all so new. She and Kane had fought like cats and dogs and now suddenly they were together. It had changed so fast, or maybe not. In between the taunts and insults, he'd always expressed an interest in her. And through it all, he'd grown on her till her heart started beating erratically when he was around, there would be butterflies in her stomach when their eyes locked and her skin would tingle when his brushed it.

Then she'd damaged her knee in a match. It had changed everything. As though to remind her, she felt a pang in her knee. She hissed then glowered as her friends shushed her. Kane had been raging at the injustice of her injury and he'd snapped her out of her depression. During the whole time he'd never taken advantage of her and he'd waited until she was steady on her feet before he'd made his move.

Her emerald eyes softened as she played with the silky tips of his blue hair. "Where did you get it?" Ari wondered cocking her head slightly to observe the undoubtedly ugly Gnome Amber cradled.

"From the garden."

Shahero frowned. "We don't have Gnomes in the school garden. Come to think of it, we don't have any flowers, just a whole bunch of trees and shrubs and stuff."

"We have daffodils." Aspin informed them. "And wall crawling roses."

"Hmm." Shahero murmured absently running her fingers of the Gnomes face. The painted on black eyes, the eerily cheerful smile, the red button nose that matched his pointed hat. "So where did you get it?"

Amber smirked secretively. "You know the garden across the road-"

"You didn't." Arista gasped.

Shahero grinned. "You did."

"What are the owners going to think?"

"I don't know. That it migrated." Amber shrugged aiming a glare at Kai's bed as he snorted and rolled over; but he continued to sleep.

"Migrating Gnomes." The silver haired Russian snickered. "Can Gnomes migrate?" she suddenly wondered.

"They're inanimate objects, so you tell me?!" Aspin deadpanned.

"There are Gnome-nappers in France." Amber reasoned as she laid the Gnome on the bed and looped Ian's arm over it.

"Last time I checked, Ams, we didn't live in France."

"Oh who cares Ian's vengeance is over, let's get to bed." Aspin snapped earning a glare from Shahero.

"No wait!" Amber's whispered order made them all jump. Smirking she withdrew a camera from her pocket.

"It's dark Ams, it won't come out unless the flash is on and that'll wake him." Aspin rolled her eyes at Amber's pout.

Arista shook her head. "Leave it to me." She reached into her own pocket and pulled out her cell phone smirking. She retreated a few steps, wincing as she stumbled over a shoe. Amber made a comment about men and mess to which Aspin replied with one about pot, kettle, and black and Shahero pouted because she was going to say it.

Kai watched them then glanced across to see Tala was awake and grinning at the four girls on the floor. Kai struggled with a sigh. This never happened in Clonmel and he had to admit, Clonmel was definitely losing its shine in Kai's eyes. Had they ever sneaked out after curfew to play pranks? No. Had they ever had movie nights? Not really. Did his team hang out after practice? Hell no. He froze. Shit, he was picking up phrases from the minx. Oh dear God. He shook his head. He was picking them up from Mariam and Miyami, probably from his dorm mates as well.

"Ok done it."

"Ssshhh!"

"Oops. He's still sleeping, isn't he?"

"He's not the one I'm worried about." Amber grumbled as she crept over to Bryans' bunk. "Tala's the lightest sleeper I know."

Above her head, Tala smiled softly, wishing he could just talk to his best friend. There was no one quite like Amber, and the past couple of days had outlined that more than ever. There were jokes that no one but she would get. Memories he could only share with her. But she still pushed him away every time he attempted to get close. Someday she'd come round to him; he knew she would. Using his first name was a step.

"You called him Tala." Aspin pointed out quietly.

Amber shrugged glumly. "Slip of the tongue."

"Why'd you leave the camera by Bryans' cabinet?"

"Because Arista, Bryan will know who did this and with the camera there, he'll know to capture Ian's reaction." Shahero explained.

"Ok girls, our mission has been a success, let's go."

Shahero, Arista and Amber filtered out, pausing at the door for Aspin.

"You guys go ahead, I'll catch up."

"Ok, but watch out for Maye. Which reminds me, I have the perfect revenge for her." Shahero cackled quietly.

Aspin listened to them leave, then stepped onto the bottom rung of Kane's ladder. Slowly she raised a hand and ran her fingers over the outlines of his smooth and gorgeous face.

"I'm sorry." she whispered, moving her hand to his to place her lips against his. She pulled back and looked down to figure out where to put her feet. His hand gripping hers had her gaze snapping back to his enigmatic blue ones. He blinked groggily at her twice before releasing her hand to sit up and rub the sleep out of his eyes.

"Aspin? What time is it?" he wondered groping for his small square alarm clock with the luminous LCD screen.

"Ssh, it's late." she whispered, hoping he wouldn't wake Ian.

"Damn right it's late. It's 4:30. Wanna explain why you're here at 4:30 in the morning?"

"Shut up." she hissed. "We were just getting Ian back. God I wish I never stayed round."

"Why did you?" he wondered moving over and patting the spot next to him for her to sit. Which she did, feeling only slightly hurt when he never pulled her closer as he usually did.

"I wanted to...ugh." Apologizing, she figured, was like taking bad medicine. It was good for you but it tasted bad so it was best to get it over with quickly.

"Yes?" Kane felt a grin curve his lips as his girlfriend stalled.

"Hold on, I'm getting to it." she snapped.

"Get to it faster." he mumbled against her neck as he gathered her closer. He couldn't resist her for long.

"All right, I'm sorry, ok?"

"You can do better than that Aspirin."

"Fine." she growled hunching her shoulders to prevent them from quivering as he nibbled on them. He was enjoying this, she could tell. "I'm truly sorry that I wounded your amazingly huge ego! There is that better?"

"I think I liked the other one better."

"Tough."

"Hmm, you are. Very tough. But I know a way to soften you up." he murmured turning her to him.

"Do you really?"

"Yeah." he whispered before covering her mouth with his. He never got bored of the taste of her. It never failed to entice and excite. He'd known it would the first time they'd bumped into each other in the corridor on the way to the try outs for the JV team. She'd been prickly as a rose with him but she was irresistible. He'd had to have her and he vowed he would. Falling for her had been a curve ball in the plan, but having her fall for him was a bonus.

She made a sound of greed as her pliable body strained against his and her hands dove into his hair. His arms banded around her as his tongue stroked hers, slowing the kiss to torment them both.

They parted breathless, his brow resting against hers. "You'd better head back to your dorm."

"Hmm." she agreed but made no move to go, she liked the fact that he needed her as much as she needed him.

"C'mon, Aspin. You have to go."

"In a minute." she affirmed, leaning back to look him in the eye. God she was crazy about this boy, though she didn't know why. "What I said earlier was careless and cruel. I didn't mean it to be, that wasn't my intention."

"What was your intention?" he asked; eyes narrowing.

"I didn't have one. But it certainly wasn't to hurt you. And I'm sorry I did."

"You've been hanging around the Queen of Bullshit apologize for too long." he muttered, then grinned when Aspin's emerald green eyes flashed indignantly.

She slapped his arm, and moved down the ladder of out his reach. When her feet were back on the floor, she stopped and looked up. "We're ok, aren't we?"

"After that kiss, I'd say we're more than ok."

She smiled warmly before leaving the room. Kane sighed then looked down at Ian's sleeping form, and the garden Gnome stared lifelessly back at him. He grinned. Another success for the Octopussy's. Tomorrow should be good. He looked around the dorm and saw the others were fast asleep. He turned back to his clock. He now had a couple of uncomfortable hours ahead thanks to his girlfriend. He made a mental note to pay her back.

-x-

Miyami bounced down the stairs on her own for a change. The girls in her dorm were sleeping after their late night excursion, except for Amber who'd been dragged off by Mariam while Miyami had been getting changed much to her amusement. Amber was not a happy bunny first thing in the morning, especially if she hadn't been awake. She wouldn't leave the bed, unlike Shahero who actually had to be dragged from sleep, Amber woke up wide awake, she just liked to daydream and pretend she was sleeping which in Miyami's opinion was worse. There was only so long you could listen 'I'll be up in a minute' or 'yeah, yeah I'm up' before it got on your nerves and you just left her to her own devices.

It was weird heading down to breakfast on her own, and into town. Usually Johnny would be there to keep her company, but her decision last Monday had changed that. She sighed heavily. She'd been battling the depression of that decision for the past couple of days, not allowing herself to wallow because her friends would pick up on it, and if they showed her compassion she'd break down. She knew herself so well. She preferred to attack something head on but this was something she couldn't use that tactic for. Johnny was ignoring her, and though she would have liked to just make him talk to her, she knew he was hurting. That was her fault, she knew. But it had been for the best.

If she hadn't broke up with him then he would have done something stupid like give up the sport because he would have felt that, that was what she wanted. It wasn't. He loved Hockey, he was really good at it. To sacrifice it was something she couldn't, wouldn't let him do. So she sacrificed them. It was for the best. That way they both got to play and maybe some day the stupid rule would be broken. Besides, they would be heading off to college, him off to Scotland her to LA or where ever. Long distance relationships were grand and dandy but not when the distance was hours away.

She hugged herself against the cold that chilled her to the bone. God she missed him, she missed the way his arms would come round her and the way a look from him could have her skin tingling, her heart doing cartwheels and pleasure bubbling inside her. She just missed him so much. And friendship wouldn't replace what she missed so much. She wiggled her fingers in a slight wave to a group of students who passed by and greeted her.

She suddenly yelped as she was grabbed from behind and dragged roughly into a near by classroom. Her angry exclamation was muffled by a large, warm, callused hand. The burning in her cheeks had already started before her bewildered mind processed who it was. The hand was removed and she turned to face him warily.

"What now Johnny?"

Johnny ran his gaze over his woman possessively. Her silver hair was parted and tisted into two buns on each side of her head. Her silver eyes, not tinged with crimson, which he had been hoping for, because an angry Miyami might be easier to deal with than a mildly annoyed one, were heavily lined with black mascara. Her lips were tinted crimson and there was a stain of pink along her very pale Russian skin. She wore a scarlet rancid shirt with the sleeves ripped off and frayed and a strip taken from the bottom. She wore a black skirt and boots with a black and scarlet belt. It was very unique and very Miyami and quite revealing which he could enjoy as long as no one else did. Miyami with all her subtle curves and petite stature was his, no one elses but his.

And seeing her last night with that shit head baby Benson brat was doing his head in. Why couldn't she see Daichi was completely and utterly obsessed with her. And if she did, why did she continue to hang round him. Was it to annoy the fuck out of him? Was it to torture him? If it was, then she was succeeding.

Didn't she see how crazy he was about her? Or maybe that was just crazy, Johnny thought sourly. He'd never believed in love at first sight, Miyami was the exception; but then again in every matter she was the exception. She was talented, fiery, opinionated, stunningly beautiful and completely oblivious to his desiring of her.

He still couldn't get over her just dumping him like that. He would have gladly given up hockey to stay with her, but she just had to ruin that gesture by getting rid of him so coldly. Well she wouldn't get rid of him that easily. He was a McGregor; they never gave up easily. He let her have her few days of freedom and he'd waited and waited and now he was going to reclaim what was rightfully his.

"Do you think I'd stand by and watch that maggot put his paws on you?"

"Maggots don't have paws, Johnny. Last time I checked, though biology isn't my strongest suit." she added as an after thought. The best way to deal with an angry Johnny was to keep a cool head and make him feel like an idiot until he regained it, and saw he was being an ass.

Johnny scowled, amethyst eyes flashing. "You know what I'm talking about."

"No, I don't. Johnny, what's going on with you, you're acting, scarily enough, like a jerk!"

He shrugged confused. He was acting like a jerk. And a big one at that. He generally wasn't a jerk, well not so much of one. Sure he'd been a sarcastic know it all twat when he'd been younger but he'd outgrown that stage and mainly because Miyami hadn't looked at him twice when he'd been showing off and making an idiot of himself.

"Look, I'm sorry I went off at you like that, but Mim's... did you have to-"

"Did I have to what?" she interrupted as he sat wearily on a table.

"Last night, I had to sit through that film watching you flirt with that kid." And that torture was still ripe within him.

"Who? Daichi? I wasn't flirting with Daichi."

"Then what would you call it?" he demanded taking a step back, feeling his gut clench when she didn't back down.

"Talking. I'd say I was talking to my best friends cousin. Johnny... I never had you down as the possessive sort."

"Of course I'm going to be possessive of someone I care about, especially when I don't know why we're not together."

She sighed running a hand over her face, before crossing her arms, a gesture to warn him to keep his distance. "Johnny..." she trailed off unsure what to say. If she told him the truth, his ego would get bruised because she'd been protective of him and not the other way round. And she didn't want to lie to him. She still loved him, and she was the one who would live with the consequences of her actions, but she wouldn't expect him to. She would live with the desire to just touch him, the need to run her fingers through that red hair that had attracted her from the start, or how she craved his mouth. There was something about Johnny McGregors mouth that got to her every time, the way it curved in a smirk, the way his whole face brightened a room when he genuinely smiled, as though the sun was only shining on her, no where else. Then again there was the way he spoke, there was just something compelling about the words he spoke, like you had to listen, it always captured your interest and his eyes would blaze with passion for the subject. Johnny McGregor had been perfect for her, but for the both of them, she had to forget that and move on.

"I gotta go, breakfast won't wait forever." with a slight smile, which she'd barely managed, she turned away and left him, feeling something inside her wring painfully.

Johnny watched her leave, and cursed viciously as his foot shot out and kicked the table closest to him. Damn her.

-x-

Amber stared at the door to the boys dorm and wondered how the hell she'd ended up here. Someone shifting beside her, reminded her exactly how. Mariam. The girl had stormed into her room this morning, woke her up and dragged her off to her room before bringing her here.

"You know, Riam, this is called returning to the scene of the crime, and it's generally frowned upon by all the greatest pranksters."

"Look Amber, I really need you to do this."

"Do what? You like the guy, ask him out. Why do I, the girl he hates, have to be here?"

"Moral support."

"You could have got that from Salima or Mariah, or Kirby or someone who he actually doesn't hate, or more importantly doesn't hate him, as I do." Amber pointed out logically staring at the door.

"Look, we can use you as an excuse, you could say your visiting Bryan."

"No one is going to buy that, and what are you going to do, casually ask Kai to go into town with you?" when Mariam nodded, chewing her lip, Amber groaned. "They're so not gonna buy this."

"Please Amber."

"Fine, but this just shows how great a friend I am, by entering the enemies lair, risking Ian's wrath and probably making dear old cousin Bryan hate me. Hate me, Mariam, how can you stand to break such an unbreakable bond?!"

"Your over reacting Ams, and if it's so unbreakable, it won't break, will it?" she asked smirking lightly at her friends downcast expression. "Now do it."

Amber inhaled deeply and let her shoulders slump. There was no use arguing with her when she had her mind made up. She exhaled quickly and loudly, then gripped the handle, then twisting it, she yanked the door open and strode in. One scan of the room told her that her blue haired nemesis wasn't there, thank god. Bryan was lying in his bunk, Tala was staring at her bemused while he messed with his hair. Kane was sitting up in the bed scowling down at her and Ian... Ian wasn't there. God, could the day get any better. Smiling brightly, and not faltering in her step she crossed to Bryan's bunk.

"BENSON!"

She jerked around at Kane's yell. "What?"

"This is a boys dorm, now I know you're having trouble with your gender identity but you shouldn't be here."

"I'll remember that the next time you come to visit Aspin, pain! Besides, it not like you guys have anything I haven't seen before, at least I don't think you do." she added as an after thought. "Maybe you're the one with gender identity crisis, for all I know."

Kane gaped then shook his head, his gaze snapping to Mariam who he finally noticed had followed Amber in and was looking disappointed. "Kai's gone for a shower."

Mariam's eyes widened slightly, then she blushed as Kane grinned at her. She was being very obvious which was completely unlike her. She was never obvious when it came to guys, she was always cool and sometimes a little mean. Oh this wasn't good.

"Oh goodie." Amber muttered dryly, kneeling down to observe her cousin's slumbering body. "So he'll come back half naked and send her into la la land, great!"

Tala choked back a laugh. "You always did have a way with words Benz."

"They come out of my mouth, what can I do?! It's not like my brains' connected to it." she said simply, frowning as Bryan showed no signs of waking up. She glanced over her shoulder as Spencer groaned and sat up blinking the sleep out of his eyes. She smiled and waved as he finally noticed her presence and he waved back slightly. "So where's Ian?"

"Burying the Gnome, no doubt." Tala answered flicking his fingers through his hair, and squinting at his reflection in the mirror sitting on the wall.

"Really?" she asked grinning gleefully, then her face fell. "I must ask him where he buried it, I'll have to return it today."

Kane snorted. "Good luck getting any answer from him, he wants your blood. He woke up screaming and then hurled the thing across the room almost smashing it against the wall. Instead it fell on Bryan. It's a good thing that your cousins so burly, he'd be knocked out cold otherwise."

The Irish teen started alarmed and her gaze whipped to her cousin who was sleeping peacefully. "How do you know he's not?"

"Because he jumped out of bed and half dragged, half carried Ian out of the room by the scruff of his neck." Spencer replied amused, rubbing a hand over his chin and decided it needed a shave. Shoving off the quilt, he was just about to get up and walk out when he remembered that there were females present, no matter how much Amber acted like she wasn't one. "Hey, Valkov, toss me that pair of pants."

Amber looked up and shook her head. Like she hadn't seen half naked guys before, christ sake. Shrugging, as Spencer pulled on a pair of jeans and left the room, she turned back to her peacefully sleeping cousin and brushed his lavender hair out of his face. He was in need of a trim, and a shave. Unlike Tala, Bryan actually did have to shave. He didn't have girly skin like Tala did but it was still soft. But him having to shave in the morning meant he occupied the bathroom at home which plain annoyed her. When she woke up, she had to pee. She couldn't just wait for Bryan to get out, that's not the way she worked. So she got her body use to waking up late so that she wouldn't have to wait for him to get out.

She couldn't remember a time when her cousin Bryan didn't live with her. He was more of a brother than a cousin, she decided. When his parents split up, and his mother returned to Ireland, Bryan had come to stay with her even though her father, his blood uncle wasn't living with them. She'd been the only one who could really relate to the quiet introverted boy and besides, she could babble away all she wanted and he never told her to shut up. He was more likely to toss her out of his room when she was getting annoying. They'd formed such a bond during those months, the thought of being without Bryan was just wrong. He was everything to her. No man would be more important, not even Ozuma, though he came pretty close. Tala had once shared the same position in her heart as Bryan, but he betrayed that. He'd destroyed that.

She glanced up at him, then quickly away as he looked down. Scrunching up her nose, she studied Bryan. Why wasn't he waking up yet. She wondered vaguely if he'd taken that picture before he'd sent Ian out of the room, she hoped so. She glanced round as the door opened and there he... All words and thoughts rushed out of her brain leaving it for a few blissful moments, completely and utterly empty.

-x-

Kai sighed and rubbed a hand over his wet face. He hated the senior showers, there wasn't much privacy. Sure there were screens, but what was to stop some fag coming along for a peep show? With that thought in his head, he'd made his showers brief and he'd gotten out of there as soon as possible. He could dry himself off in the dorm. Despite the fact that there were five other guys in that dorm, he knew each one of them was as straight as a die. But all the same he'd pulled on a pair of boxers and jeans, forgetting to hook them up and headed back to the dorm.

Now standing in the doorway to the dorm, he wondered how the hell he was going to get dressed when Mariam was sitting in the swivel chair by the study desk. She was staring at him as though... Now that did his ego good, he thought, to have a girl like Mariam look at him as though she wanted to eat him alive. His gaze flicked as another figure shifted and a small smirk played on his lips. Seemed Benson wasn't immune to his looks either. Her eyes were large, dark and almost liquid but her brows were furrowed and her mouth was in a thin line. She was interested and not happy about it, was his opinion. And not one to give up a chance to rile the Imp, he took advantage of the moment.

"Problem Benson?" he asked, halting her gaze from running down any farther and had it snapping back to his gaze. Meeting it directly had an affect Kai wasn't prepared for. A internal liquid tug that was gone almost as soon as he felt it. Out of the uniform, she didn't look as small. That was probably since the clothes she was wearing actually fitted her. A Irish green t-shirt which ended just above her navel and a pair of faded jeans which almost hid her scuffed sneakers which she never seemed to remove. Maybe she slept with them on. It was an amusing thought. Her hair fell in a sleek wave down her back. Something about the whole innocence of the picture tugged at him, he couldn't understand it. There were so many faces to the girl, it was hard to understand.

Her gaze turned cool and measuring, looking more adult than it usually would. "Put some clothes on before you send Mariam into a frenzy."

"She wasn't the only one staring." he muttered but caught sight of how her eyes blazed abruptly. She scowled and turned back to Bryan.

He crossed to Mariam who blinked out of her trance and frowned. "Hey, what are you doing here?"

"I came to see you." her embarrassment sharpened her tone and had his brow shooting up. She sighed heavily, what was going on with her. "I'm sorry, I just came to-" she broke off when she realized that he wasn't paying attention but was staring off in the opposite direction. Following his gaze she blinked as she saw Amber poking Bryan's chin and tilting her head in such an innocently child like manner that had her lips twitching.

"Benson, what are you doing?"

She made a face before she turned to him and kept that patient yet annoyed expression on her face. "What does it look like I'm doing?"

"You're poking your cousin, kind of how those baby chimpanzees do to their mothers." Kai replied grinning lazily as she snarled and Kane laughed.

"She's trying to wake him up." Tala informed them with a hint of warmth coating his voice. Amber had done the same to him when they were younger. She'd come into his room, settle herself on the ground, lay her head on the pillow opposite him and patiently poke him till he woke up.

Mariam sighed heavily lazily let her gaze linger on Kai's frame. "So anyway I was here to ask you if-"

"I'm gonna kill that witch!" Ian announced as he opened the door and stepped into the room. "I've got a detention now because Maye caught me digging...YOU!"

Amber yelped and scrambled to her feet. "Hiya Ian. How're you?"

Mariam chuckled at her friends tone, all nice and polite, all the while her eyes jittered nervously for an escape route. "Yeah Ian, how're the gnomes?"

He snarled at her. Goddamn women thought they were so smart. If Kane hadn't let that little piece of information slip then everything would be all right; of course Kane could never keep his mouth shut. He should have expected it. It was something so typically Amber and he should have known the girl would have wanted revenge immediately. But he had second guessed himself so many times; that he'd figured that she'd know that he'd know that she'd make a move that night so she'd postpone it. That was his mistake.

"You're a dead woman, Benson."

Amber looked herself up and down. "Hey for a dead person I look pretty good!"

Growling he lunged towards her and she quickly ducked behind Tala and scurried up the closest stairs which led, unfortunately to...

"Get off my bed, Ember."

"Fuck off Hiwatari!" she snapped, unable to concentrate fully on her nemesis when Ian was following her over the steps and worst still his mattress was all soft and the quilt was tangling round her feet making her stumble. "Shit, Ian, it wasn't _all_ my fault."

Ian grunted. He'd only get distracted if she responded, but he hadn't a fucking clue what he was going to do to the girl when he caught up. He'd could tie her to the banisters again. That was always fun but her friends would only rescue her. So that was no good, it only helped if all the guys were against the girls, that way they could divide their forces between the girls.

"If Kane hadn't told you..." Amber trailed off realizing that she'd run out of places to go. She glanced over her shoulder. "You guys could be helping you know."

"You'd never accept our help." Tala said truthfully watching the slight flicker of sorrow in her eyes.

"Ah, shit. Fuck off Ian, I didn't..."

"I'm going to tie you by your feet and hang you up in the gym."

"Gee, how thoughtful. But first you'll have to catch me."

Dropping to her ass, she swung her legs over the side of the bed and jumped. She landed neatly on the ground and quickly got to her feet, then snagging Mariam's wrist, raced for the door. Mariam tugged her hand back as Amber closed the door and leant against it to catch her breath.

"I never got to ask him."

"Ask him later." Amber hissed, her pulse still tripping with nerves and adrenaline.

"I can't. What if he has plans."

Amber growled, then rolled her eyes. "Fine." Opening the door, she popped her head back in the door and got a nice look of Kai's back as he stretched. His skin was all smooth and subtle muscles rippled, including one under a tattoo of a phoenix. Her eyes were so focused on it, she didn't even realize that the boys were looking at her, until Kai turned. The look of amusement and smugness made blood rush to her cheeks, because she'd been caught staring, but that tat was pretty damn cool. Who'd have thought Mr. Posh-Private-School would have a tat.

"Problem Benson?" he asked again and the smug tone made her bristle.

"Uh, no. OW!" she gasped as Mariam poked her in the ribs. "Uh, yeah you've got a date- fuck! with Mariam, so meet her- would you please piss off?!" she hissed over her shoulder much to the boys amusement. "Meet her in the dining hall in like a few minutes. Got it?!"

He nodded surprised. "Sure."

She rolled her eyes then grinned at Ian. "Bye-bye Ian. Hope the gnomes don't get you. Yikes!" she slammed the door closed as Ian rushed for it, only to be grabbed from behind by Bryan.

"Go near my cousin again, Ian, and you'll not be wearing those boxers much longer!"

Ian gulped. "Uh, yeah. Um ok, fine." he'd get his revenge later and it would be sweet.

****

That's all folks. Man that chapter was filled with crap, but meh, I couldn't figure out where to go. Kiss my ass if you don't like it. I'm in a pisser of a mood since my fucking DVD player that I just bought, decided it would play everything but DVD's!! What the fuck is the point of that? So anyways, never mind. Hope you enjoyed.

Now for my reviewers:

Smiley-joe: Aw I love Ozuma, and yeah Sonia's just confused. He screwed up but just doesn't see it. Too bad for him. As for Ruin, well she's one of my favouritist people who I can't write properly, I just don't do her justice. As for Harry Potter, yeah the werewolf stank but the film didn't follow the book and the lack of Quidditch and no Oliver, pissed me and my friend off. Well no Kai and Amber in this chapter and there won't be for a while till I figure out how to get the two idiots together.

Alex: Yeah Mariam is so OC here, but she hasn't grown up around a bunch of guys so that's expected and Salima has had an impact on her life. Bryan is brilliant. I adore him so much.

**KaieshaKai:**Well the break up is explained in this chapter.

ChibiKai02: Ok Brooklyn in my opinion ranks along side Brent, so that is my opinion. If you can't see it, then I'm sorry. But he's not a good person. And as for the innuendoes. You were the only one who saw them. I even had some people who are really perverse go through it and they didn't even notice it.

Twerp: Ah ha you're onto my evil plan to make everyone review. Quite frankly I love reviews, especially for this fic because I didn't think people would like it all that much. I'm glad they do because it gives me a chance to write a more childish and more fun Amber. And it gives everyone a chance to see Amber from another perspective.

ArcadaAvalon: Well I did update Love/Hate and now you have a longer wait because I plan to update both this and TD before I update L/H again. I feel sorry for the Flames; they had so many supporters among my reviewers so I was routing for them. Maybe I'm bad luck.

Kara: I don't do many cliff hangers, never much chance to do them. I'm not that sure about this chapter, some parts I like; others I don't. Next chapter should be better.

Krixel: Aw thank you. That was a nice compliment to read, especially first thing. Really wins an author over, lol. Yeah I like this Tala better, so much better. I know Johnny and Miyami breaking up almost got me threatened by Tari, ye gods. But I know what I'm doing, and if I don't, I'm allowed to flee the country. Um, Amber and Kai will probably get together some time, but I like this relationship they have got going now. And I like Mariam. Um, Ozuma's taking up the hitting on Sonia now. He's not going to stand back anymore, which is a good thing I think. Hitoshi is brilliant, so much better than Brooklyn. Just so you know, my friends and I are split down the middle. Me and Coors on the side of Kai and Hitoshi. ChibiKai02 and ArcadaAvalon on the side of Brooklyn, we think they're brainwashed. I love the study hall scene too. As for the Ruin describing Tala thing, I have no idea where that came from. I get these odd moments where I start writing and a few minutes later I'll re read what I just wrote and I'll be like, woah, um ok that was odd. Lol. Yeah Amber and the candy thing was very childish but soo funny. Her and Ian make a good pair when they share the same enemy. And Kai's reaction was funny.

Moi-innconue: Yeah but I had to remind Coors what it meant, twice!!! I have seen the Mighty Ducks film too many times to count, number three being my absolute fave. No matter how many times I see it, there's always something funny.

Swoosh-98: Clove rock is like a humbug, red and white and it gets sticky real easily and the floor was filthy. Just seemed like a good idea at the time. Yeah Mariam is pretty lucky. I have to agree.

Dragon-eyes 22: Hey Emma. Yup you got the MD references. Miyami's not a bad person; she was doing what she thought was best. And Arista's not on the bench anymore, thank god. And yeah depressed is the word. It doesn't affect Kai so much because they don't really matter to him. It would be different if he knew them, but he doesn't and he doesn't want to really. Besides they don't all hate them, they're just getting use to him. I really like Tyson and I often wonder why people treat him so bad. He's a great character with so much spirit and determination. If we had more people in this world like him, it would be better. Mariam does want Kai, but she's being confused by her own feelings. And I used Amber's argument against my wonderful Maths teacher. It made sense at the time.

MagicianCyborg: I have no clue what will happen to Tala, at the moment he's doing pretty well, for being surrounded by people who can't drum up the energy to actually dislike him and he's lost his childhood best friend. So he's in an iffy spot.

Miss Wright: I'm glad you like this fic and that it's going to be an Amber/Kai pairing, I'm just having trouble pairing them. They're so very much against each other. And I don't want to be predictable, so that kind of makes it even harder.

Dark Destiny2: Amber wasn't so bitchy in this chapter, I don't think. She's basically working on the, 'you don't exist to me' idea. I have reasons why she's coming off bitchy, trust me. It'll take a while to get to that though. At least I think I do. Yeah… I'm just so tired at the moment and my nerves are shot to hell from my job. I just keep getting these flashes of someone stabbing me in the jugular while I'm working. Oh well, might make a good chapter in one of my fics.

****

Cristina: Oh thank you, that's sweet. I'm not so sure about this chapter, but well this is just a filler chapter I think.

****

Angel Night: I've got enough fics on the go as it is. I don't think I'll be working on anymore, yet at the same time, don't be surprised if another one turns up. Seems I've got a really bad imagination that pops up new fics all the time.


	8. Socks and Shoes

****

Disclaimer: I don't own Beyblade. I only own Amber Marie Benson, Nicolai and Jean Hiwatari and Ruin Mulryan. Miyami Kinomiya belongs to Unlucky-star, or Tari. (Thanks for the picture of Amber, it totally rocks!! ) Shahero Kaeto and the Kaeto family belong to Coors and her hockey stick. Arista Belyaev is the inspired creation of ArcadaAvalon she who does disappearing acts. Aspin Grant has Animerle's name stamped on her butt. Sonia Martini is Spitfiresae's. Kirby Preston-Lee is owned by KindredInsanity.

Chapter Eight: Socks and Shoes

The bed creaked and groaned as the restless figure rolled over and sighed. Ochre eyes contemplated the lilac ceiling now darkened by the night. Around the light fluorescent stars relieved the pitch blackness but she'd long grown bored of counting them. She just wasn't patient enough and her mind was buzzing. She got these odd nights when she couldn't sleep and nothing she could do could help her comprehend why. Today was no different from the other days. In fact Thursdays happened to be her favorite days since she had no biology -though biology wasn't bad, the teacher plain annoyed her by saying she'd never pass.

Tomorrow night she'd have to spend an hour in the library with Tala Valkov. That was something she wasn't looking forward to. Being in an enclosed space would probably warrant his death. She had thought Ruin would stand by her, but Ruin was still as close to Tala as ever, maybe more. And she couldn't understand why. Why didn't Ruin feel betrayed? Tala had left her too. He had hurt her just the same. So why had Ruin so easily forgiven him? It just wasn't... fair?

She sighed heavily. She was the one being unfair to Ruin. Just because she wasn't ready to forgive Tala for hurting her, didn't mean Ruin couldn't. If Ruin had forgiven him, then there was a reason for it. Amber wouldn't question her friends' loyalty to her. If she wanted to remain Tala's friend then there was no reason she couldn't. Amber just wasn't going to follow the same path. She had been so hurt by what he'd done. The way he'd treated _her_ so callously. They'd been so tight all their lives, yet he'd never thought to tell her that he wanted to go to Clonmel. She would have understood if he'd only told her. She would have supported him; he was after all her best friend. She'd have done anything for him, yet he hadn't understood that. He'd been so self obsessed that no one else or their feelings occurred to him. The months and years afterwards had hardened her heart towards him. The others were right, he had no right to abandon them without a word. They were a team and he'd deserted him, for that he no longer was a Tiger and no new Coach would ever change that.

Besides he'd scared her. No one had scared her, not with that mind numbing fear that kept her rooted to the spot waiting for the blow to fall. But that day in the corridor, she hadn't recognized him. She hadn't known what he planned to do to her. Had he been planning to hurt her? Was that why he'd followed her on her own? If Ruin hadn't come along, would he have struck her? And if he had, would she ever be able to forgive him? No. She wouldn't have. She wouldn't take it, that wasn't the type of person she was. She' have reported him straight away. She just hoped Ruin knew what she was doing. If Tala was capable of violence, then Ruin may even be in trouble herself. And as her best friend, Amber knew it was her duty to keep an eye on her.

If Ruin showed any hint of having been hurt, Tala Valkov would be a dead man walking. No one would be able to stop her. Her rage was something, she thought with a grim smile. No one had ever fully seen it released, because it never had been. She got pissed easily, annoyed very easily and she did get angry at times. But furious? No not in a long time. But Bryan, Kirby and Daichi had seen it while Ozuma had heard of it.

She could vaguely remember that day. It was mainly a blur in her mind, like she hadn't really been there. It was almost like she'd been... possessed. Yes, that was the word. Possessed. She'd just seen red, everything had, had a red tinge. She hadn't had any control over herself, and she'd snapped. To Kirby who'd never seen her older cousin lose her temper in any way shape or form, this had scared her. But Amber couldn't have stopped if she'd wanted to. But the Irish boy had learnt his lesson and hadn't ever approached her Nana's home ever again. Bryan was the one to make her come to her senses and wasn't that so typically him? The only one to reach her would be the one who she'd reached out to first. Everyone said Tala was her soul mate and maybe that was true, but Bryan was her other half, the one who made her complete. While she was dark, he was light. She was loud and fiery, he was quiet and cold as ice.

She supposed Tala leaving was a good thing. It had made her closer to Bryan and Ozuma. Ian didn't hate her as much -though he still was intent on getting revenge two weeks later which would be tomorrow. Johnny and Spencer were always looking out for her and Rei was no doubt a brilliant captain. Tala leaving hadn't been so bad, she'd mainly thought everyone had put up with her because of him, she soon found out that, though that had been the case at the start she'd grown on them. They liked her for who she was and that meant something to her. Most people abandoned her. Her father did, Tala did, her maternal Grandmother despised her, her paternal Grandfather had died on her birthday, the day she'd been born. That had hurt. William-James Benson had got to hold Bryan, and Seanín óg and Sinead, but not her. He'd been in hospital when her mother had been rushed in and he'd died shortly before she'd been born. Her father had been with him when he'd died, he hadn't been there for her when she'd been born.

Everyone close to her eventually abandoned her. It was something she'd learnt to live with, all males left her life. Bryan would leave after they left college; he wanted to travel the world for a while. That was something that hurt her heart more than anything. Ozuma would go to Australia. And the rest of them to colleges so far away from her. Every male eventually abandoned her and every time they did, it hurt more than she thought it was possible. She wouldn't let anymore get close, that was a vow she'd made when Tala had left. For her own good she couldn't let him get close again.

She sat up and looked round the dorm. The heating was on again and buzzed through the room giving it some noise, instead of the eerie silence that unnerved her in the dead of the night when she lay awake. Miyami was sound asleep in the bed next to hers and she was in a good enough mood not to wake her up. Besides she didn't feel like incurring Miyami's wrath, the girl was in a jumpy mood recently and what was to bet a certain gorgeous Scot was behind everything. It made Amber's heart wore to watch the two of them. Miyami had been her first female friend in the school that she'd made, which made Miyami so important to her.

Then there had been Ruin, Aspin, Arista, Sonia, Russia and last but certainly not least, Shahero. Their bonds had shifted and reformed but they were all so very strong together. Amber couldn't imagine her life without them. She'd never had friends quite like those seven girls, she didn't think it was possible. Sure they got bored of each other and they would fight with each other, but all friends did that when they were living out of each other's pockets. The main thing was if one was in trouble, the others would be there for them always and forever.

Sighing Amber climbed out of the bed and meandered drowsily towards Arista's bed. Her head was spinning from the warmth, the weight of sleep and the blood that was rushing to it from getting up so quickly. She rubbed a hand over her face and crouched by her friends bed. Arista was sleeping soundly. '_Probably thinking of the hot red head Shark'_, she thought with a snicker. It was obvious to everyone that though Arista constantly declared her dislike for the boy, she was hoping to have another run in with him. It totally escaped Amber's understanding. The guy was an ass. He'd hurt her wrist, which was still acting up every so often when she had a lot to write in classes. A soak under cold water usually helped but sometimes she had to ask Matron for an ice pack from the sick bay. Why was it called a sick-bay anyway? With a slight shake of the head, Amber turned her concentration back to feeling out Arista's CD -technically hers but Arista had borrowed it. She wanted the MUSE one, the music would suit her mood. Finally finding it under a group of other CD's and Shahero's missing French Text book, Amber got back to her feet and crossed back to her bed to put it in her Discman which Spencer had fixed for her.

"Amber are you ok?"

She jerked and let out a slow breath, as she recognized Aspin's voice. "Yeah I'm fine, you ok?"

Aspin shifted in her bed. "Yeah, can't sleep is all."

"Me neither."

"Something you want to talk about?"

"Nah it's nothing, just waiting to see if Ian plans to strike back."

"Ok then, well it's only one so why don't you try and get some sleep, ok?"

"OK, I'm just gonna listen to my music for a little while. Good night."

"Bon nuit."

__

Oiche mhaith. Amber sighed and crawled onto her bed hearing the bed springs groan. She glanced out the window and noted one of the staffs lights still on. Intrigued she turned on her music, and shifting her body to a horizontal position, she watched the light and made up ridiculous fantasies in her head on why it was on.

-x-

Nicolai punched the number into his phone. Flicking his auburn eyes to the clock, he winced. She wouldn't appreciate this, he thought with a grimace as the phone began to ring. After four rings, there was a click and sound burst into his ears.

"Hello?" the voice was feminine and groggy hinting at the sleep he'd just roused her from.

He took a deep breath, then let it out. "Hey Sweetheart."

"Hi darling." the voice was syrupy sweet, dammit, he was going to get it. "What the hell do you think you're doing phoning me at, wait, 1 o'clock in the morning? Nicolai..." she trailed off exasperated.

"I love you?"

"Nice try. Shouldn't you be sleeping? You have work to do tomorrow don't you? Classes to teach and everything?"

"I couldn't sleep." he mumbled sheepishly. He didn't want to admit he couldn't sleep without her next to him. After so many jobs which required him to be there a lot of the time, you'd expect he'd be use to not seeing his wife for a while, but he wasn't. He needed her, and it was a scary thing for him to admit. Most men would stray being away from their wives, but not him. Jean was everything to him. After all this time, he still loved and needed her the same way he had when he first met her.

It had been a blind date of sorts. His best friend wanted to go out with her best friend, but she wouldn't go out unless her friend went out, so James set him up with Jean so he could get his hands on her friend. It had worked out for him in the end, though he'd been reluctant. Dates had just not been in his life plan. Growing up under Voltaire Hiwatari meant he had a life plan he was supposed to stick with. Dating Jean Mason had been the first but not the last defiant act against his father. The one thing that had helped his marriage to Jean was that his father approved of her social standing. But even if that hadn't been the case, he would have married her. It was meant to be, even though she could be a lot of work. Nicolai figured if a woman wasn't any work, she wasn't worth it. Jean was worth it.

"Miss me, don't you? Well I miss you too. I've been shopping with Treasa all day, worked up quite a bill on your credit Card." her voice was clearing from the sleep and he could almost see her sitting up in their bed. Her blue hair would be loose and she'd be wearing something lacy and her green eyes would be sleepy and dark.

"It's a good thing I have such a good paying job."

"You miss working at Clonmel?"

"Not really, it's just the team there was so disciplined. The Tigers are... work." He said with a hint of a smile.

"And what's your saying?"

"That only works with women."

"Bullshit."

"Excuse me?"

"Bullshit."

"You have been around Treasa far too long." he decided with a half laugh. "You rarely say such things."

"Neither does Treasa, we blame her daughter."

"That's nice," he said with a laugh, leaning back on his chair to get more comfortable. "I'm coming home after tomorrow."

"What?"

"I said I'm coming home for the weekend. I miss you."

"Damn, I'll just have to ask those nice body builders to leave for the weekend then."

He grinned. "Please do. I don't want to show them up with my great physique."

This time she laughed throatily. "Hmm, will you bring Kai?"

"Not this time. He's settling in and the weekends give him time to get to know the students better outside of class."

"Is he ok, Nico?"

"He's fine Jean. Had a bit of trouble recently with this one girl who..." he trailed off with a tongue in his cheek. "Jean what's Treasa's daughters name?"

Jean frowned. "Amber, like her eyes. Nicolai how could you forget your god daughters name?"

Nicolai chuckled in disbelief rubbing a hand over his face. He knew he'd recognized that face from somewhere. She was so like her mother, but she had her fathers facial structure. It had been so long since he'd seen Treasa or Amber, god it had been years and years since he'd seen his goddaughter. Jean was the one who visited the most, no wonder none of them had put two and two together. Kai had never met the girl and vice versa, not since they were months old he guessed. Well, well. "Jean what school does she go to?"

"Well really Nicolai... Preston, my, my. I never thought, I guess she must be in Kais' year. You probably haven't run into her... unless... Go on Nicolai tell me."

He smirked. "Our dear goddaughter's causing all sorts of hell. She's in my team and I never even realized it. Amber Benson, James and Treasa's little girl." he shook his head in disbelief. "Such a long time since I saw her, I didn't think."

"Ice hockey? Treasa never told me, or if she did it never clicked. How are her and Kai-"

"That's just it. Amber Benson is the girl who's basically declared Kai as her mortal adversary. She reminds me of James now I think of it. She has Treasa's looks, no doubt about it, but she has James' wit maybe more so. James's wit and Treasa's brains created a lethal combination."

"Oh dear. Do you plan to tell Kai who she is?"

"Why? It won't affect their relationship. He doesn't like her, she is determined to hate him no matter what. They're like two opposites of a coin."

"Hmm... Funny, me and Treasa use to say that the two of them would grow up, fall in love and give us grandchildren."

Nicolai smiled softly remembering his son when he was only a toddler learning how to walk. It was one of his most vivid memories. It was the day he'd decided to teach his son to skate and only if Kai wanted to, would he teach him to play ice hockey. Nicolai wouldn't force his son into a mould as Voltaire had done him, but Voltaire still tried to control his son's life. It annoyed Nicolai and Jean to this day still.

"Well don't be planning any weddings. These two are stuck firmly in their beliefs."

"Pity. They would have been so pretty together. Oh I must get a picture of Amber, just to see what she looks like now. I haven't seen her in ages. Treasa says Amber won't be coming home till Christmas because she loves being at school so much. Says she has such a great bunch of friends. I hope I can say the same for Kai."

"At the moment he just has Tala really. The boys sharing his dorm are getting use to him, I think they'd get along pretty well."

"Hmm... Oh dear. Tala, now there's another blast from the past. That would be the little red haired friend of Amber's I dare say. Oh well this circle is really coming round isn't it?"

Nicolai stared unseeing at the grounds outside his window. This was all so surreal and odd. He wasn't sure now how to deal with his goddaughter. By rights she should know who he is. She had adored him once. She'd been this exotic gypsy princess dressed in those brilliant red and black dresses her mother made her wear. She'd sit on his lap and watch the sports with him, James and Seth. She'd been his first thought when he heard James and Treasa had gotten a divorce and Jean had told him when she'd visited that Amber was holding her father solely to blame. He wondered how much of her relationship with her father was influencing her attitude now.

"So does Kai have any female friends?"

"Yeah some bluenette with green eyes."

"Oh really, I hope he's not developing a mom complex."

Nicolai chuckled. "I don't think so. She's nice, a cheerleader in her junior year and she happens to be good friends with Amber, funnily enough. I'm not sure how I feel about it, though I don't think it's serious."

"At Kai's age? Oh he's not serious about much except for his hockey and to be honest I don't want him to be serious about any girls. He's got plenty of time for them."

"Well then Mariam will keep him entertained for the moment. He comes down a couple of times to the office, I'll have him phone you soon."

"Thank you. Oh and I have the most wonderful news about Treasa."

Nicolai perked up. "What?" he beamed brightly when she began to relay the news.

-x-

Kai walked into History on Friday afternoon and immediately dropped into his seat. Shallow wasn't in class yet and the other students were either talking or on the floor. He frowned bewildered as he watched Shahero Kaeto -on her knees- rummage through the cabinets at the back of the class. Robert Jurgen was frowning annoyed with Johnny and Oliver Du Pont, a green haired French boy who was relatively friendly and quite mature for his age. He was in Kai's English class so they had talked before and Kai could find no reason to dislike the boy.

Shortly after, Miyami breezed into the classroom. Miyami seemed to lighten the room, she was friendly and good for a laugh. She was another he had a hard time disliking. She was very likeable and didn't hold anything against anyone unless need be.

"Hey guys."

The others looked up and nodded or greeted her as she took her seat beside him. "Well aren't you Mr. Sour-puss today, what's up?" she greeted him when he didn't greet her with his usual hello.

He shook his head. "Nothing, just found out my girlfriend wants me and the Imp to be friends."

"Oh, well was there an ultimatum?"

"Nah."

"Lucky you, because if it was a choice between being friends with Amber or not being with her, I'd have to wish you luck being on your own. You and Amber being friends, well if it's possible, it's a long way off. If anything, Amber can hold a grudge."

He nodded. "I just don't see why she can't ask the Imp to play nice."

Miyami laughed. "She probably has but it won't work on Ami. Oh but here's a hint, don't refer to Ami as the Imp in Mariam's presence. It won't look good."

"Duly noted."

"I don't live _in_ a castle. I just said my parents own one." Robert snapped.

"What do you call that thing you live in? If you don't call that a castle, then I'd love to see your castle." Johnny retorted.

"True enough Robert, that's quite a house you live in." Oliver pointed out.

"Yeah it's like a bloody hotel."

Robert glared at Johnny, then sighed smoothing a hand over his hair. "It is one when my family has reunions." he muttered.

"Ah the harsh life you live when you have loads of money, I'd hate to be you Robert." Miyami chimed in with a grin.

The door opened and Shallow walked in whistling cheerfully. "Good afternoon."

Miyami cocked a brow. "Uh-huh, what's put you in a good mood?"

"Maybe he got some from his wife." Johnny joked, then swallowed hard when Shallow glared at him. "Cookies, I would be cheerful if my wife gave me cookies. Cookies are great."

"Johnny you don't have a wife. What are you babbling about?" Shahero wondered in an annoyed tone as she rooted through yet another cabinet.

"Shahero what are you doing?"

"Looking for your volcano?"

"What volcano?"

"The one Kevin said he made, which erupted and everything."

"The one for Pompeii?"

"Yeah, where is it?"

"And you believed him?"

"Joey said he saw it too and Kirby wants to know what it looks like and I said I'd find out for her. He said it was back here somewhere."

Mr. Shallow shook his head. "Search for it later. We have class now, uh, where's Amber and Ian?"

The class shrugged.

"Maybe they're off somewhere together." Kai muttered.

"Yuk, I hope you didn't mean it the way it sounded." Miyami exclaimed in disgust, her hand going to her mouth in case she upchucked at the thought.

Shahero dusted off her skirt and pants which she wore underneath. "Yeah, they hate each other."

"There's a fine line between hate and love." Kai pointed out reasonably.

"Not between them." Johnny defended his friend.

"That is true Kai, but I don't think Amber and Ian truly hate each other."

"See, Oliver agrees with me."

"No, no. That's not what I meant. I do agree there's a fine line and that hate or what people believe is hate can often change between certain characters. I mean it's such a passionate emotion, but Amber and Ian have a sibling rivalry of sorts. They're always competing to out do each other in various things, Ice Hockey, pranks, even detentions. So that's where your theory is flawed."

"Well, now that, that philosophy class is over, I believe we have a history class to get on with. I think the last essay you handed up on Monday was the Stalin one, right?"

"Yuppies."

"Thank you Shahero. Now, ah Amber isn't here yet, so I'll leave her one to later."

"Read it out, we could all do with a laugh." Johnny snickered.

"Oh the movie night tonight is cancelled because of the JV match, so it'll be on tomorrow night. Ok?" Miyami stated reading from a note she'd received from her mobile. "Um who's getting the movie for tonight?"

"Miyami class has started."

"I'm getting it." Kai stated ignoring Shallow's comment.

"What did you get?"

"Johnny, class started."

"Yeah, but Ams and Captain Big-nose aren't here yet."

"Hey, that's my nickname Flame-brain."

"Sorry Sen, anyway what film did you get Kai?"

"I hope it's not a horror, cos we had one last week."

Kai shook his head. "That was crap anyway. I haven't got one yet, but I'll get it up town later. Any ideas?"

"Something with culture." Oliver suggested.

"Culture Smulture, big fights, death scenes, car chases and explosions." Shahero voiced her opinion over Roberts mumbled one.

Johnny grinned. "Ah the perfect woman, when can we elope and get married?"

"CLASS!"

The group jumped guiltily. Miyami smiled apologetically. "Sorry, you were telling us about our assignments."

"Yes I was. Now Miyami, yours was very-" Shallow broke off as the door opened and Amber limped in. "Dear lord Amber, what happened? Are you ok? You're limping."

Kai looked up alarmed. Damn, she better not have damaged her leg. They had a match coming up soon and his father would kill her if she was injured.

"Don't worry. I'm fine. And quit thinking of my replacement Hiwatari." she snapped when she caught him studying her with unfathomable eyes. She didn't like the look, made her want to squirm.

"I wasn't." he growled.

"Amber what happened to your shoe?" Shahero wondered out loud staring at the one foot that was minus a shoe.

Her ochre eyed friend scowled and lifted her leg so that everyone could see that she only had a sock on which was why she looked as though she was limping. "Ian stole it!"

The comment was met with snickers from her friends. Except for Kai who couldn't help the way his gaze ran along the slender lines of the leg she'd raised. She was wearing a skirt, a first for her since she preferred her pants. The white knee socks she wore complimented the smooth golden skin -though if she'd roll them down he'd get a better look at those legs, he thought. Then he quickly winced, what the hell was he thinking, this was the Imp. He shouldn't be looking at her in that way, and he certainly shouldn't be admiring those legs, which weren't better than Mariam's he assured himself.

"Why did Ian steal your shoe?" Shallow asked patiently, easing his hip onto the corner of his desk and regarding the petite girl in front of him who was looking decidedly pissed off.

"Because he wanted revenge for the Gnome incident."

"That was weeks ago."

"I _know_ that. But good revenge takes time to execute, 'cept I think this was because I tried to kick him in good faith and everything and he grabbed my leg and pulled my shoe off before running down the hall and I lost him."

"Was that why you were late?"

"Not exactly." she muttered walking past him around round behind Kai to take a seat beside Miyami. "Someone spilled water outside the third floor bathroom, at least I hope it was water. Anyway I stood in it, lost my footing and fell on my ass which soaked the back of my pants and I had to go change and my other pants are getting washed as we speak so I'm stuck wearing a bloody skirt."

"Why didn't you get another pair of shoes?" Miyami wondered.

"Because I plan to get my sneaker back. Besides my sneakers are lucky, and I'm already wearing the goddamn skirt, I'm not wearing the black shoes to go with it. Not a chance in hell, I wear my sneakers or nothing." she folded her arms and pouted. "So what were you talking about?"

Shallow shook his head. This class just got weirder and weirder. "Essays. Now they were extremely good, you all used the quote by Gorbachev which I was pleased to see. Johnny can you quote it for me?"

"Uh... something about your man's guilt being enormous and undeniable."

"Unforgivable." Shallow sighed. "The guilt of Stalin is enormous and unforgivable."

"Kind of like his ego, huh?" Amber stated after a thought. "He had a big ego and he never stood by his convictions yet he'd kill people for doing just that."

"Yeah he killed like 90% of his generals, which meant his army severely lacking the experience needed to win a war all because he was afraid of their power. The guy was a complete dick." Shahero agreed.

"And back to the ego thing, he had a town named after himself. Talk about an ego trip." Johnny added. "I think I'd like a town named after me."

"You saying there's no town in Scotland named McGregors fort or something?"

"Probably something like that, but I mean something like Johnnyville."

"You could call it E-Ville." Shahero chuckled, then snickered. "Hey there's a picture on page 42 with a woman with a unicorn's horn and it says her husband was murdered by a pickaxe to the head. Hehe, she probably head butted him and stuck her horn into the back of his head."

"Let me see." Johnny snatched the book from her and made her scowl as Shallow looked at it over his shoulder.

"That's a shard of light from the window they're standing in front of. It's where the curtains have parted so that pointy slit is light spearing through." he told them patiently as Amber and Miyami snickered at their friend.

"Oh I thought I'd solved his murder."

"Nice try." Amber laughed. "You're just trying to copy how I solved Rasputins death."

"Amber you're in the wrong period."

"Right country though."

"How did you solve Rasputins' death?" Kai suddenly wondered watching the bright eyed girl.

"She says the ice slowed down the blood flow so the man would die of drowning instead of the gun shot wounds when he fell into the lake." Robert answered quietly.

"But that doesn't solve how he survived being poisoned." Kai pointed out as Shallow sat down at the table and watched as they debated.

"Well," Amber started calmly. They were debating history and she felt safe in that area so she could treat him like a civilized human being. "It could have been a slow acting poison. Rasputin may even have had people on the inside working for him so the poison may not have even made it to the food. Or with the type of man he is, he may even expect to be poisoned so he might have actually built up some immunity to the poison."

Kai rose a brow. It made very logical sense from someone who was usually so neurotic. "Makes sense."

"I can be logical at times."

"Yeah she doesn't believe in aliens." Shahero muttered with a shake of her head. "Her knowledge is so limited."

Amber gaped then half groaned, half growled in frustration. "We're not going through this again!"

"No indeed we are not. Stalin, the years 1927-1953. Write down everything you know about it while I pass out the essays. Everything I think will be written on the back." Shallow growled passing out the essays and nodding at Ian who'd just entered with a grin. "Sit down Ian."

"Um, sure." Ian shrugged, tossed a malicious grin at Amber then took a seat beside Robert across from Kai.

Amber watched him all the time tapping her one shoe against the leg of her chair. She needed her sneaker back, but how to get it? Hmm, this would take some thinking.

-x-

"If you mess with Kirby's spot you're going to piss her off." Mikel told Hitoshi as they sat in an empty classroom. The sophomores had the period off and so Hitoshi had ordered his captain to meet him in room 201 on the second floor. It was the only empty classroom available.

Hitoshi flicked a blue bang out of his eyes and made a mental note that his hair needed a trim. Usually he forgot and would do a half assed job of it himself, but this time he'd get it done by someone who'd be able to cut straight. He had an image to keep up, he was no longer a college student, or a struggling hockey player, but a member of faculty in Preston Academy which meant something, he was sure.

"If it puts her in a better position for her to play better then she won't be."

"She thinks you don't like females being in a position like captain or vice-captain."

"I can guess where she got that stupid idea."

"Shahero?"

"Bingo. I made a couple of comments to her about her status in the team to piss her off when we were younger, seems they stayed with her." which meant she thought of him.

"Hmm, you'll have to watch yourself. Making a enemy out of Shahero isn't a good thing."

"I'm not worried about Kaeto. I'm more worried about this match tonight."

"I'm just giving you some advice. I once was idiotic enough to make a lame ass comment to her and she had me limping for a while."

Hitoshi swallowed a chuckle. "Why's that?"

"Bitch put itching powder in my pants." Remembering it made the blond captain wince and the memory had him wanting to rub at his crotch, but he held back.

This time the older man didn't quite manage to swallow the chuckle. "Did she now?"

"Yeah. Bet Benson was in on it too."

"No doubt, she has a thing for itching powder and men's crotches. Kept threatening to skin a couple of guys dicks and use itching powder or sometimes she'd vary it with cayenne powder or chili peppers."

Mikel winced again. "Christ, I hope to hell she doesn't pass that to the peanut. That wouldn't be fun."

"What was the lame ass comment you made to her?"

"Who?"

"Kaeto." The bluenette scowled at his captains' short memory span.

"Oh, um... I can't actually remember. Whatever it was pissed her off though. But at a guess it would have to be something gender related due to my punishment."

Hitoshi snickered. Sometimes Kaeto could come up with some good paybacks. One thing that could be said for sure was that the girl gave as good as she got. That had always been his thought of her. She always gave him as good as he gave her, made it fun to annoy her. He'd see her in the corridor and the urge to bug her would be overwhelming, just to see what she'd say or what she'd think of next. Just to see how those cynical blue eyes would narrow or brighten in malicious glee, or how that mouth would... he trailed off as he veered into dangerous territory. He needed to find some female company, he thought idly. Blond and stacked, a complete contradiction to Kaeto. That was what he wanted, everything that Kaeto wasn't.

"So what is our opposition like?" Mikel wondered. "I don't think I can remember playing the Tornadoes, I keep mixing them up with the Blizzards and Hurricanes."

"Orange uniforms."

"Oh them, they aren't that great."

"Nope bottom of the league, you'll breeze past them. Just don't be cocky and keep up the defense. Lose against them and you'll be humiliated."

"Yeah, gee thanks coach. So uplifting."

"That's what I'm there for. Now I'm going to put this up, you can go hang with your friends for the rest of the period. Just don't get any detention."

"Got it. Um, coach?"

"Yeah?"

"You might want to tell Kirb's why you changed her position before you post that. Otherwise she'll be in a bitch of a mood."

"Would that bother you?"

"Well..." Mikel trailed off and ran a hand through his pale white blond hair.

"Is there something going on between the two of you that I should know about?" Hitoshi asked cautiously as he rose from his chair watching the young man who was looking at the floor in discomfort.

"Nothing that you're hinting at."

"But you'd want that?"

Mikel looked up sharply and met Hitoshi's inquiring gaze with his heated blue one. "Why wouldn't I? Haven't you seen her? She's smart and funny and caring. She likes hockey and she's easy to be around. There aren't that many girls in this school or in this world."

"You never mentioned her looks." Hitoshi pointed out, leaning against the desk and folding the page he held.

"Did I really need to? She's gorgeous and doesn't even see it. But she's so innocent, and half the time I don't know where I stand with her. She thinks we're rivals."

"And you don't think that?"

"We're not. If anything, we're equals."

"Man do you have it bad."

Mikel sighed with a half shrug. "Don't I know it. I was struck dumb, deaf and blind to every other girl after I met her. Now I don't know what to do about it. And then there's Daichi to consider."

"What about him?"

"Well as the cousin closest to her age and my best friend, he may have issues with it. And Joseph, you see how he looks at her."

"She doesn't notice him though, does she?"

"Not yet. She use to like Tala, what if she only likes me because of my relation to him?"

"Well then she's not worth it."

"Hmm, I guess. Yeah I suppose your right."

"Of course." Hitoshi said with a shrug as though that should have been common knowledge.

"Well, thanks for listening Coach. I should probably go."

"OK, I'll see you later. And I'll talk to Kirby about the position thing, ok?"

"Yeah thanks." Mikel smiled slightly before grabbing his bag and slinging it over his shoulder and heading out the door.

As soon as he was gone, Hitoshi let out a long breath. Well that went well. He'd never given advice on relationships to anyone, not even Tyson. So he'd just let Mikel talk it out and then just said what his mother would usually say to him or his brother. Then he made a decision that after talking to Kirby Preston-Lee, he'd talk to Tyson. It had been a while since they'd hung out and even though Tyson was his complete opposite, he was still his brother. It made sense to at least get some of that brotherly bond back. Besides he missed his brother a lot. So making up his mind, he headed out of the room in search of Kirby Preston-Lee.

-x-

Amber stepped out of room 305 and stretched languidly. Her body felt as though it had been pressed into a box that was about half the size of her. And her foot was cold since the lino didn't store warmth but absorbed it. She needed her sneaker back. If she'd had her sneaker, she wouldn't be wearing this goddamn skirt and she wouldn't have to worry about how she was sitting so that guys wouldn't see up it. Damn Ian to hell, she thought with a scowl as she leaned back against the wall and folded her arms, to wait for him and her friends who were still inside.

Feeling a weird sensation on the back of her legs, she turned round and raised a brow as she waited for Kai's eyes to rise and meet her gaze.

"Problem Benson?" he wondered with a slight smirk.

Had he just been looking at her legs?! She felt her cheeks flush in idignation. That was exactly why she'd didn't like wearing skirts. It made her feel uncomfortable and made guys look at her differently. Not that she really had to worry about the guys on her team because they just saw her as a little sister, but Hiwatari couldn't see her like that. God knows what he saw when he looked at her and that thought made her decidedly uneasy.

"No, none."

Kai lifted a brow. He's been expecting some sarcastic retort or a smug comment about him being caught admiring her legs -subconsciously of course which he couldn't control, if he could he'd only look at Mariam's- but yet again she'd surprised him by becoming overly hostile. It had been something he hadn't been expecting. Almost as though she wasn't use to guys looking at her, and he'd have liked to say he understood that, but being male well he couldn't. She did have a nice pair of legs, all slim and bronzed and longer than he'd thought possible for her height. As a male he couldn't deny they were great legs; then again she constantly covered them by wearing pants and jeans at every opportunity. So maybe she wasn't use to guys looking at her. He shook his head, why should he care?! Yet all the same it intrigued him.

"What class do we have now?" he asked remembering what he'd agreed to with Mariam.

She blinked owlishly at him, then her face suddenly sprung to life making his pulse hitch, as though she'd been lost in her thoughts and her soul had only just returned. "Meh, dunno. Um, English I think."

She groaned and her whole figure slumped. He mirrored her expression. Mrs. King was a very strict woman who was known through out the school as the fire breathing dragon. Though he didn't quite know how she got her rep, but when people entered her class, they sat down, got out their books and he was immediately transported back to Clonmel. "Great."

Amber looked up at him from under her lashes. Why on earth was he still standing there? Shouldn't he be heading off to class? She wished he'd hurry up and go, him standing there staring into space was making her uneasy. As was the scent of him which overwhelmed her senses. It was something woody and musky with a sweetness hidden underneath. It wouldn't leave her alone.

He wasn't wearing the uniform as stiffly as he had when he first came. The tie was long gone, the top two buttons were unbuttoned; the shirt sleeves were rolled up. His shirt was untucked and there was a button missing from the bottom so when he sat in a certain position, the cotton would gape and reveal a tempting glimpse of smooth beige skin and dark hair from the navel down.

Not that she'd ever looked... well once but only because Mariam had pointed it out and it had been reflex more than anything else. And he no longer wore the flat black shoes the school thought the male students should wear, but a pair of worn white sneakers with blue and red stripes which peeked out from under the black slacks which were too long in the leg. Though most of the guys got a leg size too big so that they didn't show off those interesting socks Amber caught glimpses off from the younger boys, or white socks. White socks were hideous with black trousers, in fact white socks in her opinion on guys, were tacky though she wasn't a fashion guru.

Sighing she glanced back into the room. Johnny and Robert had gone. Oliver was scribbling someone's notes. Miyami was helping Shahero look for the volcano.

"Hurry up Ian." she muttered.

"He's talking to Shallow." Kai replied wearily.

"No, he's avoiding me. I need my shoe." She added on a whine, looking down at her toes which she wiggled experimentally. They were cold from the lino floors, that never seemed to heat so they cept the corridors perpetually cold. Unlike the class rooms which had worn thread bare carpets that kept in some heat though the first floor had newer carpets and better heating.

"Hmph." came the response from her reluctant companion who had based himself on the opposite side of the corridor and was pressing buttons on his MP3 player, something she hadn't got yet and it made her yearn for her Discman. She could listen to that instead of sit in silence and she wouldn't be expected to play nice.

Finally she asked the question that was plaguing her. "Why aren't you heading to class?"

"I'm waiting for Oliver and I said I'd meet Mariam."

"Oh she has her class on this floor right now." Amber remembered. Usually the girls would all head to the lounge area, get a coffee from the small canteen on the second floor and hang out for fifteen minutes before heading to class. Another thing she'd have to get use to missing from now on since Mariam now had a sugar daddy. Thinking of Kai that way made her want to snicker but she admiringly kept it to herself.

Another figure approached and Amber didn't need to look, the flash of vibrant red from the corner of her eye told her who it was. Her face closed down.

"Hey Kai, Mercedes."

God, didn't he know she hated that nickname? She could deal with Minx, Runt, Plague, Imp and Ember if she had to, Benz wasn't too bad, Benny was far too personal and meant too much to her but Mercedes made her feel like a bottle blond ditz. And that thought had a unpleasant shiver rolling through her. Closing her eyes she turned her face away from him, an obvious dismissal.

"Hey man, you just come from physics?"

"Yeah heading to English now, you coming?"

"Can't." Kai answered apologetically. "Gotta wait for Mariam."

Tala flashed a grin and winked at Amber as she glanced at him, knowing she was thinking along the same lines. A reluctant smile tugged at her lips but she was saved as Ian walked out the door cautiously. Spotting Amber, he didn't quite muffle the embarrassing squeak that would forever haunt him. He knew she'd noticed it, and the quick flare of panic as a vicious smile passed over her lips and the vindictive glint darkened her eyes.

"Hey Ian." she drawled in a spine chilling tone because it sounded so damn pleasant.

"Hi. Um, shouldn't you be heading to class, don't wanna be late for the Dragon."

"Well it doesn't start for another ten minutes, I got plenty of time."

He almost asked 'for what?' but figured he really didn't want to know. The other two boys wouldn't be much help, they weren't the type to get involved and in the pat Tala had always either stood back while the Irish wench went to work or he'd help her out.

"I don't have it." he blurted out in a rush.

"Your nose is growing Pinocchio." she stepped back, a very small step, but a step all the same to prove her point as though she was worried his nose would poke out her eye.

"I really don't have your shoe, Benson."

"Yeah and you don't wear ladies underwear, all lies." she stretched lazily as a cat, completely at ease and settling into their age old dance.

Ian blinked confused with this reference. A quick look at the other too boys told them they weren't following either, he was relieved to see it, but Tala was waiting with amusement and Kai really couldn't care less as he was scanning the hall for something or someone. "Huh?"

Shahero snickered from behind him. "You're Pinocchio."

"Pinocchio wears ladies underwear which looking at you, doesn't surprise me." Miyami explained and then ran her gaze up and down the Russian midget. "Which do you prefer, little lacy ones, or silk. You'd look good in a red silk thong."

"OH sweet jay-sus don't put that in my head when I'm heading to Mrs. King."

"It's not like she said Mrs. King in a red silk thong." Tala pointed out and had Amber's eyes going wide with revulsion.

Shahero cringed. "You're screwed up Valkov."

"OK we're not having this conversation, Miyami no more mention of underwear, lacy or silk, nothing." Miyami made an exasperated sound and mumbled something about her not being the one who brought it up but Amber only shot her a look, before turning back to Ian. "My shoe please."

"I told you, I don't have it."

Her brow furrowed in confusion. "Then who does?"

This question prompted a slow smile to spread over Ian's face and dread to work it's way slowly up Amber's spine with icy fingers.

"Who, Ian?"

Ian's mouth twisted in sadistic glee. "Johnny."

One name and it made the dread settle in her stomach to be covered with the hot oil of annoyance which licked at the icy dread. "Seriously?"

"Yup." Ian couldn't have been more delighted with her response as she chewed her lip fretfully and glanced down at her sock clad foot before scowling.

"Goddammit!"

The word echoed down the hall and had her two friends glancing over their shoulders checking for any lurking teachers or clergy men.

"Um, what's up?" Mariam asked as she over heard the curse. She sidled up and snuggled close to Kai as he hooked an arm possessively around her.

"Johnny has her shoe." Miyami explained.

"Why?"

Amber gaped at her, then rolled her eyes. "Because I thought it would be nice for Johnny to take it for a walk." she deadpanned. "Dammit and he's not in my English class anymore."

"He's in mine." Shahero stated watching her friend nibble on her pinkie nail. "I'll get it back for you."

"Thanks." The Irish girl slumped, then snatching Mariam's text book, she brought it crashing down onto Ian's head. She handed it back and stomped off down the corridor -as well as she could without one shoe-, Ian's wail of pain sounding like the hallelujah chorus to her.

Shahero snickered at the midget. "I hope that gave you a headache, I really do." then sighing she turned to Miyami and Mariam. "I better jet, gotta go wrestle Johnny for the shoe. Hey can I borrow that text book Mariam?"

"NO way, on Johnnys' hair it'll probably come of worse."

"Hey!" Miyami snapped, then flushed as her friends stared at her. "His hair's cool, that's all."

"Sure." Shahero muttered then walked down the corridor in the opposite direction.

Miyami watched her leave and sighed. Shahero still blamed her for breaking up with Johnny... Well it was something she'd deal with. "Hey Oliver, you coming?"

"Oui, wait a moment." the French boy called back then he hurried out of the classroom and handed the notes to Kai, thanking him for them.

Tala watched Miyami disappear down a flight of stairs then turned to Kai, as Ian grumbled; shot a dark look in the direction Amber had gone and left. "Well I'm gonna go. See you later Kai, Mariam."

"See ya man."

"Bye Tala."

-x-

Where the hell was she? Tala wondered this one thought as he wove in and out of the tables in the dinner hall. He was supposed to be tutoring Amber now, and then he was hoping he could persuade her to sit near him when the JV team played later. He was itching to see how well Mikel had improved. Mikel had always been his closest cousin, since the other ones were either annoying or showed an extremely un-cousin like interest in him. He was beginning to miss Amber, it was an ache he couldn't quite fill. It had never been that bad in Clonmel, then again he hadn't been able to see her every day and not be able to have a normal conversation with her there. Besides watching McGregor and even Ian have a better relationship with her than him was... it was wrong. She'd been his best friend, if it wasn't for him then they wouldn't have known her. Dammit, and she wasn't being very fair to him. Unlike Ruin.

But then again Ruin was so much easier to deal with, she wasn't complicated. Well not as a friend anyway, but as a damn woman she was full of complications. However, he hadn't actually scared Ruin or threatened her the same way as he had Amber. God, he still couldn't get over doing that. He didn't actually remember what came over him. He'd just seen her going in leaps and bounds away from him. The gap had seemed so huge and unable to re-forge. He'd witnessed how she'd treated Kai, seen how she'd been so talkative with her friends, laughing and joking and then when he'd arrived she'd clammed up.

Amber had every right to be wary of him. Something had been building inside him, something raged under his skin, had infected him in Clonmel and festered until it had broke through the surface and he'd snapped. Like an elastic band pulled till it was taught and the ends and lashed at the nearest person. Unfortunately that had been Amber. He should have known he was waiting to break, he had known, he acknowledged. Now he had to find a way to control it or find an outlet for the rage that would bubble up. Maybe Ruin was the flip switch. He'd always been able to pour everything out to her without feeling like a sap and she'd listen and she'd understand and give them back to him in a concise way so that everything brewing inside finally made sense. Ruin had been his salvation. When she hadn't been in Clonmel, he hadn't had anyone. Kai was a great friend, but he wasn't Ruin. No one was.

And he'd been taking her advice on how to handle Amber. He was wearing her down. He gave her space, didn't confront her and offered her friendly greetings in the corridor if they passed each other. Sure she didn't reply but she was getting use to him again. And that was the key, he would file and chip at it until the key fit in the lock and turned smoothly. If he went to fast, the lock would catch and the alarm would be raised. He couldn't have that happen.

But Ruin didn't give any advice on how she should be handled. She... she was under his skin and he couldn't get her out. And he'd come to realize that no matter what, he didn't want her removed. He'd work her round to his way of thinking, he was Tala Valkov and he got what he wanted. And what he wanted was Ruin Mulryan. It wouldn't be long until he had her.

The Dining Hall was still a hub bub of activity even though dinner was over. In the corner Kai and Mariam sat talking quietly while every so often Mariam would giggle at something Kai said. Kirby was looking pale, so pale her garnet eyes glittered like jewels set in alabaster. Mikel was trying to urge her to eat but she was defiantly refusing. The big match wasn't worrying Tyson who kept reaching for Kirby's plate only to have a sympathetic Salima cuff him.

He spotted Johnny delivering an anecdote to a doubled over Kane and a disapproving yet amused Ruin. Smirking he approached as Johnny finished his tale with a shrug.

"You had to be there, Kane." he declared; leaning back and folding his arms casually.

Kane snickered. "How pissed was she?"

"Scale of one to ten? Twenty four." Johnny stated with a small smirk. "And she's still pissed about it."

"What are you guys talking about?" Tala asked as he drew up a chair.

Johnny and Kane exchanged glances but didn't say anything. It was Ruin that answered. "They were just telling me how Amber lost her shoe."

"Look she shouldn't have tried to kick Ian. He was just lucky he only took her shoe, she could have ended up on her ass again." Kane snickered.

Johnny grinned. "Yeah that taught her. She didn't raise her leg to Kane again for a while."

"I didn't see you grinning when she put that salt in your tea. In fact you looked pretty scared." Ruin responded smugly.

"Wouldn't you be if you sprayed tea all over the Dragon? I really thought I was done for."

"You would have been if Amber hadn't owned up to the part she played." Ruin pointed out.

"I wouldn't use the term owned up." Kane muttered as he drew his finger through a pool of white salt he'd poured onto the oak table. "That implies that she was to blame. She made it sound like it was all an accident."

"Yeah but she saved your hide, man." Johnny stated sipping the mug of tea that sat untouched in front of him.

The conversation fiercely reminded Tala what he'd missed out on while he was at Clonmel. Shite that school was like a military hell hole.

"So what do you want, Valkov?"

He blinked dazed. "Oh right-"

"He's here looking for the runt. He's her tutor." Ruin informed them.

Johnny winced. "Oh Sae's gonna love this." He wasn't too bad, he had Ozuma as his science tutor. Kane had Rei for a tutor but he'd swapped with Aspin so Rei was tutoring someone else. Personally he'd wanted Miyami for a tutor but part of him wondered if she'd made a request so that she wouldn't have to deal with him. That hurt.

Ruin just shrugged. She didn't care much, she had Kai for her language tutor. It was only half an hour each week because she was a c student in French, so she only needed a little help to get to a B. "It'll be good for her. Last time I saw her was- oh there she is."

Tala turned round to see Amber walk into the hall with Bryan and Miyami who immediately caught Johnny's attention. His silver Goddess, he thought, then winced for the sheer gayness of it.

"I better go get her."

Ruin nodded. "You should."

He sighed and pushed out of the chair. He wanted the closeness back. Dammit, he needed it. But saying nothing he wandered over to Amber's table.

"Benny."

Conversation at the table stopped and everyone stared up at him. Bryan's icy gaze looked from his cousin to the second male in her life who'd broke her heart. And he was damned if he'd let that happen again.

"Valkov."

"Come on."

"Come on where?"

"You have tutoring."

"Now?" she groaned as she sipped at Miyami's soda.

"No later."

"OK then."

Tala inwardly groaned. "Yes now."

"But you said-"

"Benz I don't have all night." This was one of those times when her annoying traits annoyed him, this was one of those times where Ruin would intervene and they'd be back to normal. Then again she was only being this annoying because of their relationship now.

"Why? Are you planning on leaving again?" she quipped wrinkling her nose as bubbles jumped up it and burst to tickle her nose.

Tala sighed. "No I'm not. Not until I'm completely finished with high school so get use to me being around Benz. Now let's go."

"I can't."

"Why not?"

"I have to go somewhere." the thought of being with Tala alone made a cold sweat break out along her back.

"Where?" he demanded resigned.

"Um," she glanced for a good excuse but come up with nothing. "Well, ah, I have to go, um, under the table!" and before anyone could stop her, she slid off the chair and crawled under the oak table.

Tala gaped at her empty seat, not amused, not bemused just exasperated but he could feel a bubble of laughter rising. He swallowed it ruthlessly.

-x-

At the other end of the hall Kai sat with Mariam nestled on his lap. She was pouring over a magazine. He was lost in his thoughts. His Dad had seemed in good humor for some reason and during practice his gaze flicked to Amber and a smile would play on his lips. It worried Kai. Nicolai usually didn't find himself in a good mood so something akin to a miracle must have happened. But his father wouldn't tell him.

All that his father would tell him was that he was going home tonight to see his wife. Jean Hiwatari with her soft eyes and warm smile. Kai missed her. Sure he'd been in boarding school for all his high school life but at least at Clonmel he could see her more often. But now she lived a good hour and a half away which wasn't very far but he just never seemed to find the time. Maybe that was a good thing. There was so much going on here that he seemed to be always busy. So unlike Clonmel which was the epitome of boring. He hoped Brooklyn was enjoying himself. He smirked maliciously. The stupid ass would get all he deserved. For the first time since he arrived Kai realized that maybe being at Preston wouldn't be so bad. He was a long way off from being a Tiger but he was at home. He'd never thought of a school as a home but this school was nothing like his other school. The people may be chilly or pleasant but he wasn't exactly friendly himself and they were thawing.

Mariam shifted in order to get comfortable and turned a glossy page. "Oh, ok. When's your birthday?"

"I don't need to hear my horoscope."

Mariam chuckled at his dry bored tone. "Indulge me."

"Fine. August 24th."

"Oh so you're a virgo."

"Great so that means I'm a virgin."

Again she laughed. "That's how Amber reacted when I told her she was a pisces. She was like, great I'm a fish! But it doesn't mean your a virgin but a perfectionist."

"Yeah that makes sense."

"Hmm, when's Tala's?"

"November 17th, I think."

"So that would make him a...hmm...a Scorpio which is great because Ruin's a Taurus, they're so compatible."

"Uh-huh."

"Hmm...oh we're not compatible then because I'm a Taurus too."

"Those things are load of shit."

"Not all the time."

"Ok then so who would I be compatible?"

"Let me see..." she scanned the page then giggled. "Oh that would be Pisces."

"Benson? Ha! I rest my case."

Mariam laughed and kissed him lightly. As he went to deepen it there was a yelp and Mariam jerked away making Kai curse the yelper.

"What the-?" Mariam murmured as she spotted Amber trying to crawl out of Tala's reach but he had her sock clad foot so every time she tried to escape she failed miserably.

"I don't want to know." Kai sighed warily.

"She's scared of him." Mariam murmured more to herself than anyone else.

"Why? He's basically harmless."

"No she's scared for her heart." She explained as his hand smoothed over her hair. "Tala broke her heart. She's scared that if she's alone or around him, she'll learn to love him again. If he breaks her heart again, I don't think she'll survive it."

Well that was deep and odd. Love was a word he'd never associated with platonic relationships. Or broken hearts for that matter. Could a friendship mean that much to her?

"Did she tell you that?"

"No Kirby over heard her telling Miyami. It's so sad. She's seventeen and hasn't had a boyfriend because she's too scared."

"More like she's a wimp."

"No." Mariam sighed; her heart bleeding for friend who was now huffing because Bryan was giving her a telling off. "She's had her heart broken twice."

"Twice?" Tala and who was the other if she'd never had a boyfriend.

"Her Father."

Kai blinked surprised. Amber had told him she missed her parents. What did Mariam mean? The Imp was now making faces at Tala's back to make her friends laugh as she followed him out of the hall. "What did he do?"

"I don't know. Nothing drastic, just little things. He divorced her mother and abandoned her. For the most part he tries to be there but Kirby says he acts more like a frivolous older brother than a father."

"Oh." He was betting this was another show of Amber's pettiness. She seemed full of it. Like a spoilt brat.

"It's sad. She's so pretty yet she never lets any guys get close."

"What about her cousins and the guys on the other guys see her only as a friend or little sister. They can't see her anything else. She'd feel immensely betrayal if they did."

He frowned. It seemed Benson was full of little complications. He now understood why Ember had seemed so upset when she caught him harmlessly looking at her legs. She was unsure of him and where he fitted into her ideas of the male species.

Now this would have to be dealt with or it would harm the whole team dynamic. He'd have to talk to his father. But not yet, he was too comfortable.

-x-

"Come on Benz, you know this." Tala sighed, coming to stand in front of her. The library was pretty much a no go zone on Friday nights. The only people that frequented it tonight were Hillary who was completely going off her rocker because Tyson and Joseph had started a football game with a book outlining the rules of football. Salima who worked there part time because she happened to like books was leisurely reading, looking up every so often to watch Hillary scold students for making noise. He'd once been banned from the library; actually he'd been banned a couple of times but one time stuck out in his mind vividly. He'd been surfing the net, looking for stuff on the white house and ended up pulling up a porn page much to Mrs. King's disgust. He'd been banned for a total of two months. Of course there were other times. Amber and him regularly got thrown out by the head librarians only for someone to open a window and they'd climb in again. Shahero once got a total of ten warnings before she decided to steal a library book and run around the school wielding it like the Olympic torch. For the life of him he couldn't quite remember why she'd done it. Probably for a dare. Miyami and Johnny were once locked in the back store room for a total of ten minutes, and when the door was unlocked again, Johnny had raced out followed by Miyami who'd be brandishing a brush as a weapon.

Amber scowled at him and tickled her chin with her novelty pen which was thick plastic and blue with a shock of soft blue nylon hair decorating the top. Tala had no clue how she could write with it, then again she wasn't doing much writing. She tucked a stray strand of ebony hair behind her ear.

"Hey when did you change your hair?"

This time she frowned at him, and looked up at him with questioning ochre eyes. "How have I changed it? It's still on top of my head and it still reaches down my back."

He sighed rolling his eyes. "You lost the streaks, I liked them. It livened up the black."

"I grew them out." Mainly because she knew he liked her hair that way. "Then Miyami coaxed me into letting Alec tip the ends in gold to give me an egyptian look when I stayed at hers last summer."

"Why'd you grow them out?"

"I grew bored of them, they made my hair dry up. Besides the tips require no maintenance and besides if I don't like them, I chop them off." she made her little novelty pen man bob his head in agreement.

"Hmm, I guess so." he trailed off quietly. He was so at a loss on what he was suppose to say to her. She was so... distant. Distant, he shook his head, Amber had never been distant. She was usually so warm and giving with a nasty temperment at times but she was never distant. He had always been able to read her emotions, they'd always been in sync with each other, it was just that right now, he couldn't read her.

Amber studied his expression, which was wistful and lost. He was looking more like her old friend, and even in school he was becoming more like the boy she'd been so completely and utterly in love with in a totally platonic way. She'd adored both him and Bryan. They'd been the most important men in her life because they'd always been there for her. They seemed to know when she needed them and they got there for her. Like the time that she'd gotten lost in the woods when she and another local boy, Foxy had gone searching for... butterflies? A bird? Oh something like that, anyway she'd gotten lost, It had been Tala and Bryan who'd come and found her. Not her father, not her mother or her uncle Seth, but Tala and Bryan who'd hadn't been much older than her. They'd known before anyone else that she was lost and scared and they'd gotten there in time to stop her from catching pneumonia. Those times made her want to cry, they were so... She missed them. She missed her Tala. So much it hurt like a fist to an already bruised heart.

"Are you serious about Ruin?" she suddenly asked.

Tala blinked at her then shrugged. "I guess so. I've never really been serious about girls before."

"Ruin isn't any girl." Amber bit out.

"I know that Benz, what do you take me for? Christ how much do you hate me?" he wondered.

She wouldn't meet his gaze. "Enough that I won't let your hurt any of my friends."

"Or you."

"Or me." she affirmed.

"I'm not going to hurt you Benny. I never had any intention of hurting you. I didn't leave to hurt you."

"I don't care about that."

"I'm sorry I hurt you." he said quietly, sitting down opposite her and reaching out to place his hand over hers. His hand was pure white compared to the tanned bronze of hers. Her hand froze under his, but she didn't remove it.

"I don't want or need your apology." she snapped.

But you do, he thought silently. She needed it as much as he needed to have her back. "No but you deserve it. So I am sorry. I handled the situation-"

"I don't want to hear about it, I really don't."

"Amber, I just... I hate this." he stated. "I really hate this fact that we pass each other in the corridor and can barely strike up a civilized conversation. I miss you."

She surveyed her soul mate with a heavy heart. "I miss you too." his face brightened, the turquoise eyes turning to the azure blue of a fresh summer sky and his expression softened. "But. I think we should start from the beginning. No mention of the past, no childhood memories, nothing like that. We'll start off as though we've just met alright?"

"So does that mean I have to forget your name?"

She glowered but a smile twitched her lips. "No, besides who could ever forget my name? Just know this. I'm watching you, and if you put a step wrong. You don't get another chance. This is your last chance Tala, make sure you don't fuck up." with that she gathered up her books. "Now I'm heading off to the game, see ya around."

"Wanna meet up tomorrow?"

"Baby steps Tala, baby steps." she said as she walked off and when Hillary said something to her about the fact that she wasn't wearing any shoes, Amber replied with the obvious response of her middle finger which made Tala laugh.

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Well there ya go. Was it good, bad, average? Let me know and review. 

Coors: It's ok, you got round to it eventually. Lol, Miyami's not a bitch, juries out on Amber. Bryan is a god, I love him!! I may even do a fic on him. Yeah the asking Kai out part was just a very Amber thing to do, she wouldn't get embarrassed but she'd damn well embarrass Mariam. Ian deserves to have a gnome phobia, lol. I feel sorry for the poor guy... then again maybe not. Um, the action between Amber and Kai is a long way off. They will be spending time not noticing each other which will be a full time job. Nah Arcada's still brainwashed. She still likes him for some reason. I have mentioned Maye's revenge plot in chapter nine but there will be more revenege plot in chapter ten.

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T.K-Kon: Yeah Bryan should really kick Ians' ass. I would make him, but I don't condone violence. whistles Ian's a pest and Bryan is severely ignored in this story which is annoying me so much. I just never remember to make time for him in the story because so much is going on. Oh well I'll keep writing.

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Luvz Fluffy-sama: Well Love/Hate's last chapter will take a while to co-ordinate since the wedding has to be written with another writer. So we're working on it. I've got 21 pages written but I need more. Um... I don't describe things very well, that's more Tari's style than mine. But thanks.

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Krixel: Kai and Mariam... goddammit I don't know how to feel about those two. I like Mariam, I love Kai, Amber's a pain in the ass but I adore her... so complicated. Ruin and Tala are so great, I'll never grow bored of the complexities of these two though it's hard to get in Ruin's frame of mind. Amber's is...disturbed. Ozuma and Sonia, they're so cute and need more time in stories. In the next chapter they're non existant but chapter ten we have a more interesting turn for those two. The team has begun to accept Kai and Amber's adjusting to him and coach Hiwatari. The mess... there will be more film nights, they're fun. Mariam can be very catty if she gets riled up but Amber can hold her own and she will if things turn nasty between those two. Ian...lol... hehe, yeah I like getting revenge on Ian, he and Amber have a very interesting relationship. Not quite friends, not quite enemies.

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grand admiral cheli: Interesting name. I know who he'll end up with, it's just getting there that counts, right? If it doesn't happen right, the readers won't care, so I hope I get it right. I really do.

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Midnight Insanity: Well, it was that funny huh? Maybe you should tie yourself to the chair next time, I don't want you getting injured.

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Wiccan-mystic-Katz: Hey Kat, long time no chat. Amber will drool over Kai a lot, she's got eyes. Mariam has claws and Amber has a nail file, so Mariam better watch her own step. I'm gonna miss your stuff. Oh and about what I wrote to that bitch, I hope you didn't mind me butting in. I just couldn't stand by and read what that bitch said about your story. CSR seems perfectly fine to me and you have the writers permission to use their characters so I don't know what she's on but she should cut down on it. It's obviously fried her brain.

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Alixure: Oh thank you. I never considered myself a comedy writer but when you have so many oddballs in one story weird things just kind of happen. As for Amber, yeah she has so many faces, you don't know which one you'll get next. Will she be angry, pissed or will she just laugh it off. Which is part of her appeal I think.

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Twerp: Ah here's a familiar name. How's you? Cna you imagine Ian waking up to rows and rows of Gnomes? I have a dwarf army in the shop I work in complete with axes and one guy has a beer barrel, lol. They'd be cool. Amber and Ian really go to war in the next couple of chapters and it's all based on various little pranks that I've been involved in or a victim of. I love them. I can't wait til the detention in chapter ten, snickers it'll be fun.

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Dragon-eyes22: Hi Emma. waves Well that's what my stories are there for, to lighten things up. Since my too main characters find amusement in the weirdest things, they're will be a lot of lightheartedness. I wrote chapter six on Sunday, all in one day which means the whole thing should flow very well together. Yeah through the prank I was snickering. Yeah her waking Bryan up was sweet. It was supposed to be for Tala, but it suited that moment. Hehe, asking Kai out, yeah that was fun. It was more to humiliate Mariam because she made her go into that dorm. Yeah Ozuma basically was taking a leaf out of Kai's book I think, but that's not the way to go and I think he realises that so he's going to move slowly and carefully in order not to scare her off. I have most of chapter four written so I should have it out soon. It's just complicated. I haven't read Tithe, I should though. Must get round to that. I've been too busy reading '...In death' by JD Robb.

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KaieshaKai: Gnomes aren't creepy, and Ian could seriously be one which is why I think he's scared of them. Clowns are scary, god they freak me out and ventriloquist dummies and Mime artists. Damn creepy.

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Dark Destiny2: Suppity Court. Yay!! Welcome to the Brooklyn is an ass club, with me and Coors being presidents and every body else being haters of Brooklyn. Jesus, one look of Kai's eyes and I was lost. Those eyes are hypnotic as are Hitoshi's and Tysons' new eyes, I think they boosted him up on my scale. The eyes made him a more grown up character and he even wore trousers. I can't go on vacation since I'm always working. Nah Kai just basically jumped in their to infuriate Amber I think, then again not. He just said what he thought. He has to be good with giving advice to be a fair captain and he is one, it's just the Sharks never actually gave him a chance to be one. I actually do give a lot of advice to my friends which is something that Amber doesn't really do much of, yet. It's more Ruin who listens. Because Kai's quiet he does listen well, but true enough he doesn't seem to care much. But I'm making him at least take an interest because I can. Yeah the Ian worked for me. Must get one for this chapter.

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Smiley-Joe: Yeah horror films drive me insane... I do what Amber does or I sit and wish the idiot would hurry up and kill them all so it can be over. I have the most over active imagination because I scare myself stupid when I'm in the shop on my own. I hate horror films because I don't sit back and just wait for the murder, I think ahead on all the ways it could happen, who it could be, where the murder is coming from and since I'm anticipating it, my hearts already racing and I'm already nervous so when something hitches in the tempo of the film then I jolt. Amber does nothing but interrupt Kai and Mariam, and she never means to. I don't like Kai and Mariam so much, but I can't actually pair Amber and Kai up, at all... I have vague ideas for it. It just won't start until chapter eleven. Sonia and Ozuma... I love them two. I've taken them under my wing. Sae's not doing anything with them. I'll get them sorted somehow. Yeah Ovals and corners, do you ever notice in hockey matches that someone gets stuck in a corner... how can there be corners?? It's wrong! Miyami did take Johnny's hand but it was only because she was at the end of the chain. Kai as a relationship councellor...Snickers he does dole out advise though in the show, it's cold and it's monotoned but it's advice. Meh, I guess Gnomes are creepy but well I don't have any and I wanted to annoy the shit out of Ian. Made sense to me, he looks like one anyways. The Film nights are wicked cool to have. Well Tala and Amber have talked, you happy? Kane and Aspin are cool and I figured I'd give them some time together. Yeah people waking you up annoys the hell out of me. So I don't leave my bed until I'm ready. You're reviews never bore me. I like long reviews and I like responding to them and long reviews help me remember who actually reads my stories and helps me get to know my reviewers. Oh and Amber's comment about her mouth and brain, it's just like her to say that.

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Leina: Tatoos are... christ I'd love to see Kai with a tatoo on his shoulder... drools Yeah I can understand that. I end up talking to people I don't like over weird things too. But never Betty, I don't think I ever had a conversation with him and I don't want to!

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Miss Wright: Oh thanks. There was Amber and Kai in this. Too much I think. I'll sort out Johnny and Miyami. I have to, they belong together and Tari's really scary. If I don't, I don't think I'll live.

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ChibiKai02: Wow was that rage? Bastard=Boris by any chance? Hmm, you're not going to like chapter nine if that's who you were referring to. Yeah you're the only one who saw the innuendos, and you'll continue to be so. Snickers Oh well, I hope you enjoyed Yoshi.

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Ayuka-chan: Yes this fic is amber/Kai centric but it's not totally, he happens to like Mariam at the moment. Mariam will be fine. Don't worry about that. Garland is in chapter nine as the new Vice Captain to the Sharks. As for Mariam's pairing, not sure on that. I have a vague idea that I'm running with. Miyami probably will get back with Johnny since Tari will have my head if they don't. How wouldn't I get Shahero and Hitoshi together?? He's only a couple of years older than her so they have a history. Amber gave Kai a clove Rock which is a clove flavoured humbug type sweet. White on the outside and red on the inside and they get stick easily and have a tendency to stick to themselves but they're gorgeous and addictive. As for your OC, I kind of have a lot of them at the moment, but give me a brief synopsis of your OC and maybe I can put he/she in Kirby's year as a player on the JV team or whatever. But they can't have a very big part since I have enough OC's to work with and all of the main guys have pairings.


	9. Boris, Brooklyn and Garland, oh my!

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Disclaimer: I don't own Beyblade. I only own Amber Marie Benson, Nicolai and Jean Hiwatari and Ruin Mulryan. Miyami Kinomiya belongs to Unlucky-star, or Tari. (Thanks for the picture of Amber, it totally rocks!! ) Shahero Kaeto and the Kaeto family belong to Coors and her hockey stick. Arista Belyaev is the inspired creation of ArcadaAvalon she who does disappearing acts. Aspin Grant has Animerle's name stamped on her butt. Sonia Martini is Spitfiresae's. Kirby Preston-Lee is owned by KindredInsanity. Zareth Forest came courtesy of Zimo.

Chapter nine: Boris, Brooklyn and Garland, oh my!

"We're going to have a baby, we're going to have a baby!"

Kai looked up from his seat on the bleacher closest to the door at the two girls singing and dance round and round in a circle. Beside him Spencer was also watching them, as were Tala, Ruin, Michael, Aspin and Kane. In fact most of the entire gym were watching them.

"Is that even anatomically possible?" Kane suddenly asked.

Ruin shook her head as she tied her shoe laces. "Nope."

"Uh-huh. Maybe someone should tell them that before they get their hopes up."

Aspin snorted out a laugh. "I don't think they're going to have a baby."

"Go over and ask them what's going on." Kane ordered as he rested his chin on his fists.

"No." his girlfriend replied as she leaned back on her elbows. "Ask them your self if you're so eager to know."

"Oi, Benny, what's going on?" Tala shouted over the din of the gym. The petite Irish girl looked up and smiled brilliantly at him before breaking off her grip with Shahero and approaching them while Shahero went off in the opposite direction. She hopped deftly up the bleachers before coming to a stop in front of Tala.

Recently the relationship between the two of them had become less strained, Kai had noticed. They sat beside each other in some classes, talked when they met each other in the corridor and even messed about. But as far as Kai could observe, Benson was keeping herself a little distant from Tala, but at least they weren't sniping at each other every five minutes which meant tonights game would go off without too much trouble. Just as long as he and the volatile little minx were kept away from each other, it wouldn't be too bad. They needed a draw tonight but that wouldn't be too hard since the Indians weren't one of the most talented teams in their little league. In fact they were pretty mediocre. But since they'd lost their last game, they needed this win because The Sharks had won their last game against the Warriors without much trouble.

Amber was basically bouncing on the balls of her feet and clapping. "Guess what?"

"You're having a baby with Shahero, we heard." Aspin snickered at Amber's expression.

She stuck out her tongue at the lavender haired girl and turned back to Tala. "I'm not having a baby, can you imagine I wouldn't be able to stay upright."

Tala chuckled. "So who's having a baby?"

"My mom's having a baby." then it suddenly sunk in. "Oh god, my mom's having a baby."

"Ok Benz, sit down. Take a deep breath."

"I'm gonna have a little baby brother or sister. Oh wow." She placed a hand to her mouth while her eyes took on a faraway glaze.

"With who?" Tala finally asked. He had missed so much of his best friends life that he was lost.

"Oh, right you don't know." she chuckled. "My mom and Shahero's Dad got together a while ago, can't really remember how. I guess through Shahero being at my house a couple of times and vice versa, our parents met and they got together and they've been living together for the past while. I guess they're like company for each other while Shahero and I are school."

"Oh yeah." Ruin muttered dryly. "Their lives aren't worth living when you two aren't with them."

Amber's response was her middle finger. "Anyway, they're having a baby. We got a letter today and wow. I don't want a sister though, I'm gonna make sure we don't have one."

"Oh and how are you gonna do that?" Tala wondered.

"With her witchy powers of course." Kane muttered then rolled his eyes and walked off when Amber glared at him.

"Piss off. Aspin get your boyfriend back into his kennel... actually that's an insult to all dogs."

Aspin just rolled her eyes. "Ami give it a rest, but it's nice to see you happy for a change."

"I'm always happy, don't even try it Tala." she muttered without even looking at Tala who'd looked as though he'd been about to make a face behind her back. Aspin and Ruin laughed at Tala's dejected expression.

She turned back and grinned. "Man I'm gonna have a kid brother or sister. I've never had siblings, I've never had to deal with babies before either. It's ok for Shahero she's has nieces and a nephew but when my cousins were babies, so was I. The only baby I know is Julia's kid Justin-" at Tala's surprised look she nodded. "Julia was a teenage mother, Anne nearly had a heart attack, wanted to know about the father but Jules wouldn't say and she went to live with Nana, so I don't even know Justin that well."

Tala sat silently while the others had wandered off to give them some time alone, well everyone except Kai who was lost in his own little world. "I can't believe Julia had a kid, I mean she was what only around three years older than us?"

"Yeah Alyssa's our age and Jules is three years older than that." Amber explained referring to her cousins, Kirby's older sisters. They'd both gone to the local school near where Kirby lived, but Kirby had wanted to go to the same school as Amber, Daichi, Bryan and Ozuma. She'd always been closer to her cousins than her sisters.

"Jeez a kid, I can't get over that."

"Me neither. I mean she was always so responsible, they all are. Kirby's a bit boyish but then again she takes after me, Alyssa was always quiet and got good grades but she's got her head screwed on tight and Julia thinks that as she's the eldest she has to look out for them, so she wouldn't do something careless because she's their role model."

"I guess it's just something that happened. Man little Kirb's got a nephew."

"Which is more than I have. I don't... me and babies... I don't know. It's just something that's going to take a while to get use to."

"How far along is she?"

"Um... a couple of months. They wanted to get through the first trimester before they told me and Shahero." she told him tugging on her thin grey t-shirt she wore for gym which sported the words 'Speedy the turtle' in green and grey sparkly writing. "Mom's not young though, what if she's not able to have a baby. Who'll look after me if something happens to her?"

"Your mom will be fine. Lots of women older than your mom have babies."

Yeah, Amber thought, but her mother had trouble when she went into labour with her. "Maybe. I just don't want to lose her."

"You won't. Besides Nana Benson would look after you as would Seth and even your father."

"I don't want to live with my father. I don't want to move to Ireland and Seth has his own life, he doesn't need to look after me. Besides I'm old enough to look after myself and Bryan will always be there." Until he leaves.

"I'm sure Shahero's dad would keep an eye on you. And didn't you tell me you have god parents?"

"Possibly, it's the one Catholic thing my mom kept to before she changed religion. But Wiccan's don't have godparents and I don't remember much about them anyway, except for my godmother but I haven't seen her in ages. She was really nice though. But I like where I live and where I go to school. Living with Godparents would fuck that up."

Tala nodded, running a hand over her hair -a comforting gesture that he knew relaxed her. "If things come to that Benz, you know you can stay with me, my mom still adores you."

Amber smiled softly. "Yeah I saw her over the summer hols, she's looking good."

"Yeah, she's missing Casey though."

She shook her head. "Oh no, she's not adopting me again. Nuh-uh."

Tala snickered and pushed a hand through his hair. "You'll make a good older sister Benny, you've been my little sister for a pretty long time."

Amber smiled weakly feeling a pang around her heart which was dulling the more time she was around him. If she had been like a younger sister to him why had he abandoned her? She shook her head, gathering her hair up into a pony tail as she noticed Coach Hiwatari walk into the gym, a clip board under one arm and a pen in the other.

"What do you think we'll be doing for this class?" she wondered idly.

"Dodge ball." Kai answered in a monotone.

"Oh great." Amber muttered.

"It'll help us in the match tonight." Tala told her. "We use to play it a lot in Clonmel."

"Yeah with Carlos's ass as the target." Kai snickered.

She smiled but the look didn't quite meet her ochre eyes. "Uh, I think Michael's calling for me." she declared as she noticed the American jock waving at her. "I'll see you later T. Oh you heading into town later?"

"Yeah, you?"

"Yeah. I'll see you then." she got to her feet and wiped down her baggy pants before she jogged down the bleachers to the pine floor. The walls of the gym didn't have windows, just skylights along the roof. The walls were cold and clammy with the lemon paint flaking off it. Ladders were placed strategically along those flaky walls while thick blue mats were leaned against them and ropes hung from the roof rafters. Coach Hiwatari had disappeared into the alcove where the gymnastic equipment, the weights and the balls were stored.

"You and Benson seem to be getting along." Kai commented quietly.

Tala watched her and nodded. "Yeah she's trying. But it's not like before. She doesn't come to me of her own free will, she doesn't like hearing about Clonmel and she really doesn't like coming over to me when you're around. What's the deal with you two?"

Kai shrugged. "She doesn't like me. I don't really care about her, so we just keep out of each others way."

"That doesn't sound like Benz, she usually has a reason to dislike people, even if it's a phony one she just made up on the spur of the moment. But I can't necessarily breach it with her because she doesn't completely trust me."

"Doesn't particularly bother me. As long as she plays her best tonight that's all I care about."

Tala made an intrigued face. "You're not at all interested in what she thinks of you? Or how it influences the others?"

Kai shook his head. On the gym floor a group of girls were sitting and watching them. A blonde and a red head. He recognised them vaguely from some of his classes, they were general slutty poser types that he tended to avoid since they were either very clingy or had a tendency to stray. He didn't like women who strayed especially because he didn't stray while he was with a girl. His eyes may wander but he never acted on those wanderings. "Look if the team wants to be sheep then let them. I don't care. But for the most part each of them seems to make up their own minds. None of them are overly hostile to me, cept for your Imp and quite frankly she doesn't matter in my little world."

Tala smirked and wondered if Kai knew that what he'd just said was an innately Amber phrase. He got to his feet and his gaze wandered to where Ruin was standing rolling her eyes at something Ian had just announced while Kane laughed. Amber was standing -no that wasn't the right word because standing implied that she was still, she wasn't she was almost skipping on the spot- beside Michael and Johnny as they talked and she was studying the back of a CD cover. Shahero was talking to Miyami who wasn't listening but instead watching Johnny while Arista and Ozuma were talking about Sonia as she did up the laces on her shoe. Aspin was keeping an eye on Kane as she and Spencer talked about something or other and Bryan just shrugged when they asked him a question. This was their team, Tala thought, his family. All of them and he was going to win them all over. He'd made the first step with Benny, she was the most difficult, he knew. The rest would come naturally. Then again, he thought, the first step had been Ruin and he wasn't quite finished with her yet.

The whistle blew shrilly and the seniors gathered around Nicolai. Kai and Tala got to their feet and leisurely strolled down the steps to the congregate with the others.

-x-

Preston was a relatively quiet town for all the times that Kai had frequented it. The school was situated ten minutes on the outskirts of the town. There was a couple of grocery stores, a supermarket, a couple of clothes stores, a clothing department store, a music store, bakery, two restaurants, a book store and a library. He hadn't been in all of the shops yet but it wouldn't take long. Compared to Rexford which was the town closest to Clonmel. Rexford was more city sized filled with everything and took ages to explore what with all the various streets that led off the made one. Preston only had one main street but the main street was longer.

Mariam was chatting happily about something which completely and utterly passed him by or hadn't caught his attention so instead he was just watching life in the town pass by. Many of the student population were wandering in and out of shop doorways, loitering outside the cafe's or sitting on the balcony of the cafe or on the walls along the parking lot. They could be spotted a mile off due to the uniforms and the colours.

A toddler passed them bawling loudly as ice cream dripped down his hand as his frantic mother tried desperately to seek out a tissue to clean him up with. Kai reached into his pocket and fingered the tissue packet that was put in there by his mother who insisted him carrying a pack round in case of dire emergencies of sudden colds. Kai figured it was a typical mother thing. With a small sigh, he fiddled about in his pocket and plucked out a sheet before handing it to the mother who smiled at him gratefully.

Mariam watched him and then turned her face to him as they continued down the street. "That was really nice."

He grunted and shrugged. "I had one seemed a shame to not give her it. Besides noise pollution is increasing, why add to it."

"Don't be flippant. You and her have that in common."

"What?" he jerked his gaze to her as she mumbled under her breath.

"You and Amber have this habit of being flippant after doing something incredibly kind. Why won't you accept praise?"

"I accept praise, and I don't care to be compared to her." he growled.

Mariam shook her head. This was just insane. These two were content to just despise each other, why should she even bother. It would take a miracle for them to ever see eye to eye. "Fine. So where do you want to go?"

"The music centre, I have a few CD's I want."

He caught her subtle cringe. Mariam's taste in music didn't run to new metal, rock or grunge rock. Hers was mainly ballads by people such as Bryan Adams, well his new stuff not the good stuff, boybands of various genres as long as they had a cute front man Mariam didn't seem to mind what they sang about. That was one thing they couldn't agree or compromise on. But he could live with it. He was adapt at tuning annoying sounds out.

They walked past the newsagents and waved to the woman behind the counter who called out Mariam's name. Past the old dance hall, the jewellers where Mariam stopped to window shop for ten minutes, then arrived at the music shop. Unfortunately the music today which was blasting out ranged to country and western. Kai scowled, that was something he really had trouble listening to. Yodelling cowboys who lamented their cows and horses. As the song slowed to an end and faded, another song could be heard faintly. Tapping drum sticks, crashing electric chords and over it a strong female voice belting out the catchy chorus. Intrigued Kai followed the sound to next door. A small gift store with a taste for the strange and weird judging by the window display. There was a skull with red glowing eyes, a biker grim reaper on a skeleton of a Harley, a grim reaper on a horse, two cannabis leaf shaped candles, a sim card reader, a stag party kit and hen party kit, a drum kit clock, a lie detector and other gadgets and up on the shelf was a collection of Samurai Swords, black with bronze dragon heads on the hilts.

__

"Like violence, you have me, forever and after. Like violence you kill me, forever and after."

"I'm going in here for a while." he announced distractedly as his gaze travelled lustily over the swords.

Mariam sighed recognising the glint in his eyes as the ones she saw in Shahero and Amber's eyes every time they passed. "Sure, I'll come with." but he'd already entered.

__

"Like violence, you have me, forever and after. Like violence you kill me, forever and after. Like violence, you have me, forever and after. Like violence you kill me, forever and after."

Why should it surprise him that someone who was usually so vocal would have a great pair of lungs? There stood Amber on the shop counter tapping her foot to the music, and bobbing her head while she wrestled a giant white tiger onto a glass shelf above the spot where the cashier would sit.

Mariam shook her head as she entered and crossed to the music, turning it down she looked back to her friend. "Amber how do you hear the customers come in when the music's up so loud?"

Amber didn't remove her gaze from the Tiger which was now resting against her head in order to not fall down. "Usually I'd see them, besides I don't work here."

"Could've fooled me." her blue haired friend shot back as she wandered round the shoe box of a store.

"Oh, Zareth's outside round the back having a fag." she declared then snickered. "Oh that came out so wrong. I meant he's having a smoke."

"I know what you meant. Shouldn't he wait till his shift is over?"

"Oh believe me I was glad to help. Miyami's going shopping."

That phrase spoke volumes. "Oh."

"Yup. Dammit!" She cursed as she tried to disentangle the Tigers paw from her crimson shirt which was already too long for her.

"Amber be careful." Mariam warned as her friend wobbled dangerously while Kai was absorbed by the swords and knives.

"Be careful those blades are sharp." Amber informed him automatically but still didn't look at him.

"No shit Sherlock." he gave her own phrase right back to her which had her shrugging a shoulder.

"Well if you bleed all over the place I ain't cleaning it up and the phone is for _emergencies_ only." she retorted easily.

Mariam looked between them then raised her eyes to the squared white plaster ceiling. There were spot lights scattered sparsely over it to give a sweep of light to the various corners of the shop to keep the gloom away. More music was coming out of the CD player in the corner above a shelf holding an Indian Canoe ornament complete with hand painted Indians'. Amber had once told her that the canoe was made out of animal skin which Mariam found decidedly gross but Amber spoke of it with a real fondness. Her other love in the store was currently what Kai was holding. A spiral hilt dagger. When asked what Amber would use it for if she ever bought it, she'd replied that it would be her ceremonial dagger or Athame. The Chinese girl supposed that this place was pretty good for a wiccan like Amber and quiet broody Zareth.

She smiled in greeting when the latter strode in. Her gaze swept over him appreciating the view. Zareth Forest once described by Russia Kennedy as sex-on-legs, to which Mariam completely agreed. He had thick black hair, wolfish blue eyes slightly glazed from the joint he'd just smoked. His lanky frame was incased in denim jeans and a black shirt. The guy was very gorgeous eye candy. But he didn't talk much. He was very private and the only person Mariam could remember him opening to was Russia, another Octopussy and his best friend the continuously doped Hanson Slade, better known as Hans.

Suddenly there was a yelp and Mariam looked round to see Amber wobbling dangerously over the side of the shelf again, unfortunately to regain her footing she stepped back miscalculating the width of the ledge she'd been standing on. For a heart stopping moment she hovered terrifyingly, then two hands caught her waist and steadied her.

"Dammit Benson be careful in future."

Amber snarled at Kai then turned to her saviour. "Thanks Zareth."

Zareth shrugged and nodded at the Tiger, it looked good on the shelf. "Nice work."

Amber dusted off her black jeans and nodded. "Yeah I thought so." then spinning carelessly, she leapt nimbly to the floor and dusting off her hands she admired her handiwork. "Yeah it's good. So how much do I owe you?"

Zareth turned to the cash register. "6 dwarves at three dollars each, 18$."

"I get discount."

"You're no longer a member of staff."

"Consider it pay for doing your work while you skived off."

"Fine." he tapped the small keys with his long tapered fingers. "14.40."

"Take off the forty and you have a deal."

He rolled his eyes and gave a subtle nod before placing out his hand. She dug into her pocket and handed over a crisp twenty. As Zareth counted out her change, she took a sneak peek at her miniature dwarf army. Oh yeah Ian was going to love this. They looked like gnomes, only with axes and a hell of a lot of fake hair. They were cool and possibly fragile, but it would be worth it.

"What do you want with dwarves?"

Amber simply grinned at Mariam who sighed heavily. "Wait till Ian finds out about your clowns."

The Irish girl shot a look at Kai and then glowered at Mariam while accepting her change. "Thanks Zareth. I'll see you guys around."

Mariam watched her friend leave and shook her head as she crossed over to Kai who was still gazing glassy eyed at the swords. "So you gonna buy one?"

He blinked at her. "People buy these sort of things?"

She nodded. "Sure they do, Shahero's getting one for her birthday, Ams adores them but won't buy one, I don't think and she's sold a couple. They're pretty popular for young men. Must be a macho thing."

"You calling Kaeto and Benson macho?"

She smirked, just a quirk of her lips. "No they just have very odd taste."

"Hmm." he sighed and straightened, with a quick glance towards the man behind the counter who was staring boredly out the door. He'd seen the look that Mariam had given him and he didn't know how he felt about it. There was no jealousy, just annoyance. Probably because he trusted her, he didn't believe in jealousy.

"So you going to the music centre now?"

Kai nodded. "I guess so. Come on."

-x-

Ruin weaved through the tables of Donovan's, a quiet restaurant with a more up market clientele than the other restaurant that the students usually frequented. Usually Ruin would go there, but Donovan's had a balcony which on a crisp autumn day like today was a nice place to sit and watch the sun set over the town. Besides it made good coffee and incredible pizzas. She took a sip of her cappuccino and stepped out onto the balcony. The balcony was a semi circular shape with potted plants decorating the corners and green gothic railings. She'd prefer the railings in black but she supposed they went with the upmarket decor. Very little students actually came here to Donovan's, they all felt it was too posh and the woman who worked the phone and orders was forever hovering around them and shooing them on as soon as they had finished their meals so they couldn't relax and eat. This of course never bothered Ruin and if she was feeling particularly bitchy, she'd come here get a cappuccino and just sit there with that one mug for as long as she felt like it. The bitchy old hag didn't like Ruin, and the feeling was mutual. They seemed to just set out to annoy each other. The bitchy old hag often would ignore Ruin when she tried to order and it would just escalate from there.

Ruin smirked as she caught sight of the older woman hovering round a couple who were now just talking over their coffee, two plates sat to the side covered in crumbs, remnants of their earlier meal. Ruin ignored the woman and made her way to a quiet table near the corner which looked out over the parking lot so she could keep an eye out for any of her friends.

They had a big match tonight and for some reason Hiwatari snr. had decided to let them go out with out any practice. Not that she was complaining but the team had lost some of its dynamic and that would affect their playing. There were too many egos on their team as it was, adding Hiwatari jr. to the mix as well as Valkov was just asking for trouble. Especially when Junior was captain and Ozuma was vice captain. Most of the team was getting use to Kai being around, but would they accept him as captain tonight in their first game with him? She didn't know. Amber sure as hell wouldn't, but what about Shahero? She couldn't afford to make any mistakes tonight otherwise she'd be banned again and one more strike and she'd be riding the pine pony indefinitely. Hiwatari snr. might not even give her, her three strikes. He might just decide that if she fucked up tonight, then that was it. Ruin hoped not. Kaeto was a valuable player who could take control of the team if she was the most senior player out on the ice. And if Shahero lost her position then Amber would raise all hell and so far Hiwatari wasn't in her good books, though Ruin sensed a difference in his attitude towards the Irish minx, he was always keeping an eye on her and that made Ruin uneasy.

Though Amber wouldn't see it, Ruin could see how other guys looked at her. Maybe not at this school but in the town certainly and also in Amber's home town Bakuten. She was exotic looking compared to the usual blonds that inhabited this continent Ruin thought. Her accent when she was riled was also intriguing. And the fact that Amber just oozed innocence beneath all that false bravado made her attractive to creepy old men and creepy young guys too, Ruin remembered.

She'd just keep an eye out for Amber, it wouldn't hurt to watch out for her Rath.

She looked up as Hitoshi came and dropped into the seat beside her. "Hey."

"Hi Ruin." he greeted sinking his teeth into a club sandwich.

"What are you doing hanging out with us students?"

"Nothing, just got bored in the school. And Maye won't leave me alone."

Ruin chuckled having heard all about his plight with Ms. Maye. Carol Maye would have only been a couple of years ahead of Hitoshi though she acted a lot older. The students who just heard about her without seeing her, always had quite a shock when they caught sight of the young woman with quiet pale green eyes and long mousy brown hair which she wore in a pony tail. She might have been sexy to some of the naive young male students with infatuations with female teachers but she was just a bitch. She was so stuck up because of her excellent grades which she worked amazingly hard for, so she despised people such as Shahero Kaeto, Miyami Kinomiya and Aspin Grant who showed great intelligence but didn't use it, or did well in class without having to study hard. Recently, Maye had taken a less than professional interest in the new JV coach. And she wasn't subtle about it. There were rumours flying round the school and Hitoshi wasn't happy about it, whether that had anything to do with his interest in Shahero or not, remained to be seen.

"That woman needs to get laid."

"Not by me, there's not a snowballs chance in hell of that happening."

Ruin laughed. "Someone should get her a vibrator..." she trailed off and made a mental note to talk to Shahero.

"Oh yeah. But I got away for a while since a virus has hit all the computers and she's got to deal with that for a while." he frowned when Ruin choked back a laugh. "What?"

"You should thank Shahero then."

"Why?"

"It's her programme that's caused the virus and it isn't a virus not really. She went up there for ages this morning, her, Arista and Shahero while Aspin and Amber caused a diversion by pretending to have a bitch fight over Kane." at Hitoshi's disbelieving look she shrugged one shoulder. "Don't ask me, they came up with the idea. But the virus is cool. She should let it play out itself but she's going to keep telling the computer to either not open the virus, close it, heal it or whatever and that's going to fuck up the computer so she'll have to reboot."

"And what should she do?"

"You planning to go back to tell her?"

"Well there's an idea. 'Hey Maye, I'll fix your computers if you leave me the fuck alone.' Yeah I like that idea." he smirked then shook his head. "Nah this could take up her time for a while, so I'm grateful to Kaeto, though I'll saw off my tongue before I say that to her."

"There's a count down on the screen, small and hidden in the corner of the window. Maye's going to be so obsessed with fixing it, she won't notice it. But if you let it count down to zero the comp will return to normal. Took me a while to figure that out when Shahero sent it to me. It's pretty cool."

Hitoshi nodded but couldn't quite keep the smirk from his lips. He wondered if Kaeto was at the moment outside the computer lab taking photos. It would be so innately her to do so, he thought with a certain fondness. He shook his head. He was supposed to be ignoring her, but the more he was away from her the more people kept bringing her up, he couldn't escape. She was forever haunting him. He'd catch glimpses of her in the corridor talking to that McGregor kid, see her in practice when he went to talk to Nicolai, hear something about her in the staff lounge or around the corridor. He couldn't escape her.

"So why are you out here on your own?"

Ruin didn't look at him, she simply stirred her coffee until the foam began to merge with the liquid. "No reason, I just wanted to get away for a while. Robert had to go to the bank to get some money so he'll come along later and Michael and Enrique who were going to join me suddenly found two pretty girls -one of them being Michael's girlfriend- so they made their excuses and ditched me." she didn't sound particularly bitter, more amused by their antics, which Hitoshi supposed, she was.

"What about Valkov? I usually see the two of you together these days."

"Hmm, I don't know where he is, he might come find me later. I really don't know."

"Are you two together?"

Again she shrugged. "How the hell should I know? Look Hitoshi, I won't question your interest in Kaeto if you leave me alone about Valkov."

"Fine. You going to finish that coffee?"

Rolling her eyes she pushed the mug over to him. He took it and lifted it to his mouth while she observed the goings on of the town beneath them. A group of girls were following a cute guy down the street all the while giggling to themselves over him. Kirby and Kevin had bought themselves lucky bags and were now swapping their trinkets over, while Mikel and Daichi were talking to Ozuma about something on the other side of the street. They all were so familiar with themselves. She wondered if Daichi or Ozuma noticed how Mikel adopted their way of standing? A stance she noticed that Bryan and Amber also had, of sticking their hands in their back pockets, their thumbs hooked over the material and their right leg a step a head of the other. It was a confrontational stance, Ruin supposed, but something all the Benson men seemed to acquire at some stage, though she noticed Tala, and Johnny and Kane picked it up too but mainly because they spent a lot of time with the Benson's. Of course that didn't seem to explain why Kai stood like that too, she noticed it when she saw him standing with Tala... oh then that would explain it, he picked it up from his roommate. She idly wondered if Amber noticed how the two of them often stood in a similar stance when they were sizing each other up in a fight, it was amusing to say the least.

Of course Kai usually preferred a more casual stance that misled people into thinking he was at ease, not ready to brawl with anyone. Where as Tala usually stood with his feet apart, hip shot and his arms folded as though daring someone to take him on. The Benson's way was similar to both, it was confrontational but the hands behind their backs gave the impression that they were friendly and open. She wondered if it was an Irish thing.

As far back as Ruin could remember, she'd observed people. She observed other families so she could understand their dynamics and how their families completely and utterly didn't resemble hers. Having lived with the Benson's and become a member of that family, meant she observed that family more than others and it was a good family to watch she supposed. They were very close, and they all stood for each other even though not all of them got along. There was friction between Ciara and her son Bryan, between Ciara and Nana Molly. There was also friction between Amber and her father James, though Amber's relationship to her uncle Seth was very close as was her relationship with her mother. They were more like sisters at times than mother and daughter since Treasa just looked like a more curvier version of her daughter. They both had been given the gift of looking younger than they were, though Amber called it a curse because she felt as though she was a fifteen year old trapped in a thirteen year old's body.

Ruin had always wanted a family like that, but she'd never gotten one. Her father and mother were social butterflies. They wanted people to know that they had money and status. Her mother was a stuck up cow who only cared about herself and wanted everyone to love her while her father was pussy whipped catering to her mother's every need. Ruin was a failure to them. She wasn't bright eyed and a girly girl obsessed with fashion and her place on the social ladder. Her parents saw her as a disappointment, she saw them as weak. She was independent of them, of everyone and she didn't like to need anyone. She never wanted to need anyone, so she wouldn't. Her mother always wanted her to love her, Ruin just wanted her mother to leave her alone, grow a back bone and stop caring about what everyone else thought. So the mother and daughter bond had never been forged between the two women because Linda had always been so concerned with needing everyone to love her, she'd never given her child the love she needed returned. So Ruin had grown up despising her parents and the society she lived in. She'd rebelled and eventually got thrown into boarding school. Best thing Demond and Linda had ever done for her, Ruin decided. She'd found real friends and found that life wasn't as shallow and pathetic as she'd been made to believe. She'd also found out that if you pushed people away, they didn't always stay away like her parents did, some like Amber came back like a bloody boomerang and stuck to you like a silk burr.

That made her smile softly, and the change to her face had Tala's heart jolting as he watched her from the doorway to the balcony. Hitoshi was too concerned in pouring a river of sugar into the coffee to notice the wistful smile on the painfully naked face. She still wore the makeup but the expression beneath it was laid bare. It made Tala wonder what exactly had caused her to lay her masks away for the moment. Then Hitoshi spoilt the mood by saying something and she jerked as though she'd been shot and the mask was back in place.

"What?"

"I said he's found you."

Ruin snapped her gaze to the doorway as Tala stepped through, his eyes were intense and completely focused on her. "Hello, what's with you skulking about in the shadows?"

"I'm still training to be a Vampire." he stated in an amused tone. "'Sup Toshi."

Hitoshi looked at him and nodded in greeting. "Haven't seen you around much, man. Thought you'd at least be checking out your cousin on the ice."

"Yeah? How's he doing?"

"If he'd keep his mind off Kirby, then he'd do better. He missed getting that goal in the last match because he'd been too held up over her being smashed into the barrier. He needs to get his head screwed on."

Tala tsked in disgust. "He should know that Kirb's can handle herself. She's been checked tons of times and has it affected her?"

Ruin shook her head. "It's more the fact that Joseph helped her off the ice that pissed him off. Didn't either of you two notice that? You don't give Mikel enough credit, he knows Kirby can handle herself. She's his VC, he trusts her. What he doesn't trust is Joseph."

Tala rose a brow. "Is there any thing about people that you don't know?"

She smirked. "Very little."

"Oh great watch her head expand, I bet she reads our minds or something?" Hitoshi muttered his theory to Tala who chuckled.

"If you men weren't so painfully obvious, then I wouldn't know so much." she pointed out with her spoon.

"Ah so now it's our genders fault." Tala realised. "If only I wasn't a man, then she wouldn't know anything about me."

Hitoshi snickered then his gaze travelled away from him to lock on a solitary figure walking down the streets in his direction.

Ruin dismissed him with a gesture of her hand. If there was one thing, it was that Tala Valkov was very difficult to read. He was never painfully obvious at least not in her eyes. He seemed to seek her out but that was odd because when he did seek her out it was just to talk and nothing more, but on that first day he'd come back, he'd kissed her. Was that just to get her emotions tangled up and confuse her long enough for him to wheedle his way back into her life.

Her thoughts broke off as she watched Ian walk in with a bucket. A bucket? He walked right past them without even looking in their direction and placed the bucket on the railing, holding it there to keep it balanced and to stop it tipping over him. It was full, the water which sloshed over the rim onto the tiles told her that much, but what was he going to... oh shit.

"Ian." she called out in a resigned tone.

The midget Russian turned to her when he heard his name called. "Oh hey Ruin, didn't see ya there."

"Oh I'll bet. What are you doing?"

"Holding a bucket."

"Why?"

"Because." he smirked and it broadened as the victim of this prank suddenly appeared.

Hitoshi turned round and resting his hand on the back of the seat he was sitting on, watched Ian. "Petrovich, what are you doing?"

"Holding a bucket."

"What are you doing with a bucket?" Tala asked.

"Holding it." Ian repeated exasperated. "What is this twenty questions?"

"Why are you holding a bucket?"

"Because."

"Oh this is going nowhere." Hitoshi declared getting to his feet and crossing to the railing. He looked down just as Ian tipped the bucket. The water fell in a sheet straight down onto the pavement and a sharp shriek followed by a loud curse told them that it had hit it's intended target. Hitoshi gaped. "Ok well, you're a dead man. I'd like to say it was a pleasure knowing you, but it really wasn't."

"Who'd he hit?" Ruin wondered curious.

"Kaeto."

"Oh. Well I'll make sure they get a coffin that'll fit in your nose Ian, don't worry." Tala informed the midget while Ruin hummed the death march tune.

-x-

Shahero spat out a mouthful of water and swiped the dripping hair out of her eyes. Huffing and puffing in a self righteous rage, she wiped down her face. Her dark eyes pinned a doubled over Ian who stood above her on the balcony of the restaurant above her, Hitoshi beside him talking to someone over his shoulder.

"OK that's it!" She screamed up to the midget. "This means war!"

"You look good wet, Kaeto." Hitoshi called back, the laughter rang through his voice.

This only made Ian laugh harder. Various students from the school were now watching the scene with trepidation including a wary Miyami who approached with a bag of clothes she'd just spent her money on. She immediately sought Johnny out in the crowd. He stood on the edges unsure whether to talk to Shahero or keep his butt safe.

She weaved through the crowd and sidled up to him. Someone bumped into her and pushed her up against him so their hands brushed sending a flurry of sparks through her arm. He glanced down at her surprised and she smiled slightly.

"So um, what happened to Shahero?"

"Ian dumped a bucket of water over her head."

"Oh dear. I better go-"

"Go where? That area's a no go zone."

"Yeah but if I don't do something, there's a severe chance that Shahero will be done for GBH."

"GBH?" Daichi echoed as he over heard them. Idly his green eyes trailed over Miyami before he quickly averted them when Johnny snarled at him. Jesus McGregor needed to get over himself, he and Miyami were over. There was no reason why he couldn't admire her, it would be rude not to, Daichi decided.

Miyami shot Daichi a look which had him backing off. If the kid thought he was being oblivious or subtle, then he really needed a reality check. It was flattering sure but he was Amber's baby cousin and more so like a little brother or maybe not.

"GBH?" Daichi repeated.

"It's what you'll be suffering in a minute if you don't scram." Johnny snapped his accent becoming thicker with his rising temper.

At Daichi's blank look, Miyami explained. "Grievous Bodily Harm."

"Oh, right. Yeah someone should get Ian out of there." he then sighed as his cousin waltzed up to Shahero and grinned.

-x-

"Nice look Shahero, you look a little wet behind the ears... and every where else."

Shahero glowered at her sister to be -if her father had his way. "Ian threw water over me."

Amber smirked and looked up at Ian, vengeance promised in her now cold and gleaming eyes. "Well why don't we head back to school and I can show you my present to Ian."

Ian grimaced. That didn't sound good and the package under her arm didn't look good. Damn, she was up to something. They were always conspiring against him. And he never did anything to start it, well not anything truly terrible. Couldn't they wage war on someone else? Like Hiwatari?

Shahero grinned. "You're a dead man walking Ian. I promise you I'll get you back."

Amber laughed maliciously, and slung her arm round her sister's shoulders, ignoring Hitoshi as he appeared from the stair well onto the street and the fact that her shirt was becoming damp. Shahero tossed a glare over her shoulder as she caught sight of Hitoshi and the glare became fiercer as she noticed that his gaze wasn't on her face. Stupid male!

"So um, oh hey Mariam." Amber greeted her friend as she and Kai walked past them, catching their curious glances she offered them a wry grin. "Don't ask. So Sen, what exactly did you do to Ian to have him throw water over you?"

Shahero shrugged, her expression one of stone. Everyone was staring at her and even when she glowered at them, they wouldn't look away. Ian would pay! "Well I was in detention, how could I possibly have done anything to him?"

"Shahero!" Amber whined. This wasn't fair, she wanted to know.

Shahero smirked. "Sulk all you want Ami-chan, it won't work on me." Amber puffed out her cheeks and folded her arms and made Shahero laugh. "Fine, fine. I stole his bag and threw it out the window while we were in Geography."

The Irish teen burst out laughing. "Oh man, I wish I saw his face."

Shahero snickered. "Yeah he was pretty pissed. I wonder where he got that bucket from."

"Maybe he had it hidden up his nose." Amber suggested with a slight shrug causing her friend to cackle. "Oh here, look at these."

The Asian girl took the box Amber offered her and opened the lid, raising a brow as six bushy haired dwarves looked back at her. "Um, what are they?"

"Berserkers. But I call them my miniature dwarf army. I'm gonna place them all over Ian's dorm and in the classrooms so that Ian can find them. Hopefully they'll freak him out."

"Damn, you're mean."

"Of course. But I think it'll be funny."

Both girls chuckled as they headed back to the school and to their match.

-x-

****

"Hello and welcome to the second match of the season for the Tigers versus Indians. This should be a very one sided match between the second ranked team and the second from last ranked team, but never underestimate your opponent. The tigers are playing with a full roster, that is the new roster of course which doesn't include Tyson Kinomiya or Max Tate. They've been replaced with ex-Sharks Tala Valkov and Kai Hiwatari who is now holding the place of captain. They're coach has also been replaced by Nicolai Hiwatari and rumour has it that there's been tension in the team with these new adjustments. We'll just see how this plays out tonight. And here come the Tigers, all kitted out and ready to kick some Indian butt."

Nicolai surveyed his team as he walked over the ice to the box while his team circled the ice getting a feel for it and warming up with a few laps. This match was important, if they lost then they'd lose their second place in the league to the Warriors and have no chance of taking on the Sharks and that's what he wanted. He wanted his team to go up against the Sharks, to prove that they were just as good. He was a good coach and he could and would make his team the best. Of course he needed their co-operation which they were denying him so far. They went through practice but they didn't play as a team. It was like an extra gym class to them. They had to band together or this wouldn't work. Valkov and Kai being together on the team wasn't helping the team gel. With Tala here, Kai didn't need to get along with the others and that had been the flaw in Nicolai's plan and his underestimate of the Tigers loyalty to each other hadn't helped. Bringing Hitoshi in had been an inspired idea on his part. Hitoshi knew the team well individually and having him take care of the JV team gave Nicolai more time to concentrate on the Senior team. He just hoped it paid off.

He glanced up and over the crowd frowning as his gaze locked on the hunched figure of Boris Balkof and Brooklyn Adams. This wasn't good. Sure he'd been keeping an eye on the Sharks and their new players and he knew Boris would be keeping a scrupulous eye on his Tigers but he hadn't been expecting a personal visit. Well he'd cross that hurdle when he came to it, but he really didn't need this. It just put extra pressure on him and Kai and Tala.

The team skated in and entered the box or crowded round it. "OK, this game shouldn't be too difficult, but I don't want you underestimating the Indians'. If you go out there overconfident then you're going to make mistakes."

"Coach have a little faith. These guys are almost as bad as the rejects." Ian's tone dripped derisiveness.

"I have faith in you guys."

"Doesn't sound like it." Arista muttered fixing her gloves a little tighter around her wrist.

"Look you know what you have to do. Play your best and you'll do fine. I can't ask for any more than that. If you don't play your best you'll only let yourselves down. Kai."

"Yeah?" Kai asked dragging his gaze from where it rested in the stands searching for Mariam.

"She's sitting behind our nets, third row." Amber told him smartly, quirking her lips when he glowered at her. Then her gaze froze in it's wanderings. She no longer could hear the sound of her coach, but instead could hear the blood rushing to her ears. There was Adams sitting in the stands watching them. Stepping back, she nudged Arista who looked at her inquiringly.

"Whatties?"

"Up there, fourth row."

"One, two three, oh!" Arista followed her directions and her gaze locked with the blue gaze of Brooklyn Adams who was unashamedly wearing a black and grey jacket with the shark logo on the right breast. "Uh-oh." she mumbled as he smirked at her and tilted his head in acknowledgement. "This is not good."

"No shit." Amber replied.

"They know we have Kai now, they didn't before hand."

"Nopers."

"What are you two looking at?" Kane wondered stepping closer to them.

"Suzoru, Benson, Belyaev. Pay attention."

Amber snapped her gaze to Nicolai. "Oh sorry. You were saying something?"

Nicolai shook his head. He lifted a felt C out of his pocket. "Here you go Kai, show me why you earned this."

"Far as I know he hasn't yet." Amber muttered just to keep up her hostility but as usual Kai paid her no heed.

Rei watched Kai pat the Light blue C onto his shirt and sighed. Not so long ago that was his C, not anymore. Scary how things changed so quickly. But Kai had some great leadership qualities, Rei couldn't deny that. And hearing Amber's comment made him feel warm. He knew they were still loyal to him and even if they felt Kai was a better captain they'd keep up the charade for a decent amount of time so his feelings wouldn't be hurt. It was nice, but unnecessary.

"Benson this is not the place or the time. Leave all personal problems off the ice."

"Sure, sure." She muttered then turned to Ian. "Hi!" she greeted brightly.

He glowered at her. "Don't provoke me."

"When have you ever needed provoking to attack me?"

Michael chuckled. "Come on Ams leave him alone. You need to concentrate on the match."

She nodded. "Fine, fine."

"All right team let's do it."

__

'I feel really tempted to say do what' Amber thought then realized it would only get her in more trouble so she kept her mouth firmly shut. Once again her gaze travelled to the stands where Adams sat with some lavender haired man who gave her the heebie jeebies. Another figure strode in, one that she didn't recognise but he was wearing the Sharks jacket. It took a seat beside the scary man and turned to look down at the crowd with penetrating blue eyes. Shuddering she climbed into the box and watched as the team went to take the face off. Arista glided off to her nets and slapped her broad stick against both side bars. Then turning she rested the stick on the cross bar and fixed her helmet before whirling round again getting a feel for the ice as she moved. Tala had moved to the right side of the face off circle, with Kai in the middle and Ozuma on the left. Bryan and Spencer hovered back. They were starting off on the offensive, with Bryan and Spencer using their brute force against the opposition to give Arista time to get a feel for the ice and give the other boys a chance to get some early goals.

Amber had to admit, the strategy wasn't bad. She smirked as she caught sight of Shahero who was sitting further up the bench. Her friend was itching to get on the ice after having been banned for quite a while. And Amber could understand that. Out on the ice was where she wanted to be. You couldn't come to a game and not need to be out there on the ice smashing up against other bodies and taking that puck toward the end zone. It was everything.

****

"The ref is in position to drop the puck."

"But that doesn't mean to say he'll drop it." Amber quipped for the sake of saying something. She felt nervous which was really stupid. She could walk over the Indians easily with her eyes closed but something about tonight felt different. Maybe it was the Sharks up in the stands making her edgy or Hiwatari standing not too far from her watching the guys on the ice. Maybe it was Tala and Kai out on the ice, or maybe it was just because she wasn't on the ice yet and she was itching to go out there, whatever it was it made her uneasy.

****

"The Tigers are starting off with their hard hitters, Kai Hiwatari's taking the face off. Tala Valkov and Ozuma Benson are playing forward with each other for the first time in a long while. Ozuma's more use to double teaming with his cousin than the red head Russian so this game should prove interesting. Our defence is being taken care of by our very own bash brothers, Bryan Malkovich and Spencer Kaminov, two men who aren't afraid to do damage to their opponents. I really wouldn't like to be one of those Indians. And keeping the goals out hopefully will be Arista Belyaev, our recently recovered number one goalie. There was a rumour that she could be riding the pine pony for this season but seems Mariah Tanaka quit the team to concentrate on her cheerleading. The Indians are starting off with Kris Martin, Shane Meehan, Tad Arthur, Keith Tanner, Will Bronté and goalie Keith Cowell."

"Ok I want a good clean game." Kai nodded and gazed calmly into the eyes of his opponent, Martin, who sneered.

As soon as the ref. dropped the puck, Kai slammed up against Martin until Tala gathered the puck and headed down the ice, ducking easily under an enforcer and cast it deftly to Ozuma who cradled it and slap shot it towards the net. The goalie expected it and caught it easily and froze it immediately making Kai sneer. He headed down to the left circle and rolled his eyes at Tala as he approached.

"This game's gonna last forever if that goalie keeps freezing it."

Tala chuckled. "As long as he's the one freezing the puck and not Ris then I'm fine with it."

****

"They're ready to take the face off."

"I wonder does the commentator get bored saying that?"

"Well we get bored taking them." Miyami replied to Shahero's comment.

"It's not that it's boring." Enrique shifted in his seat. "Just annoying when a goalie keeps freezing the puck and we have to stop the game, we could get so much more done if we didn't have to start over again."

Nicolai raised a brow at his teams' musings. The Sharks never did that, then again the Sharks never had a proper conversation, and probably didn't know how to.

Kai passed the puck to Ozuma and hissed when he was slammed up against the barrier. Shaking his head to clear it, his gaze locked on Balkof's. Shit. The word rang through his head, just as Brooklyn drew his thumb over his throat. Well they no longer had the element of surprise when going up against the Sharks. He had secretly hoped that Brooklyn wouldn't use his cop on and spy on the Tigers, but it seemed they were keeping an eye on them. The new boy surprised him though, because Kai couldn't remember that guy ever going to school with him before.

****

"Valkov's got the puck."

Tala passed to Ozuma and smirked as Spencer and Bryan double teamed an unwary Tanner knocking him to the ice. This was what he'd missed. Just being part of a team instead of always playing, always having to get the goals to prove yourself.

"Tala." he looked up as Ozuma called him and easily accepted the puck taking it round the goalies net and passing it quickly to Kai who blasted it towards the net.

****

"Score by the TIGERS!"

The siren sounded and the cheers reverberated round the stadium. Shahero and Miyami were doing a happy dance while Tala and Ozuma patted Kai on the helmet. Kai just felt odd. They didn't celebrate goals in the Sharks. Probably because they scored so many, it wasn't a big deal. Or maybe because none of them were able to overcome personal differences to even congratulate another player for scoring. Even the Imp was pleased with his goal if the way she was making faces at the Indian's was anything to go by.

****

"Goal scored by the Preston Tempest Tigers, number 56 Kai Hiwatari. The ref. is ready to restart the game."

"Change it up!" Nicolai shouted over the din.

Tala and Kai skated in while Shahero and Miyami vaulted over the board and onto the ice, nodding at the guys as they made their way into the box.

"Nice job Kai."

Kai shrugged off his fathers praise and dropped onto the space on the bench which Shahero had previously occupied placing him right next to the Imp who was watching the game, her shoulders tense with her gaze flicking to the stands every so often. Kai followed her gaze and realised she was watching his ex-team mates. The new one was watching her which made something inside Kai clench. This would mean another Bitchy Amber again, he decided. She probably blamed him for them being there. He shook the thoughts aside and sought out Mariam.

****

"Oh taken down."

"Kaeto, watch what you're doing!"

"I was watching." she muttered under her breath as she left a player curled up on the ice, before whisking the puck away and down the ice.

Bryan knocked another Indian out of his way as he followed Shahero down the ice, keeping an eye out for anyone who would try to take her out.

****

"She blasts it! Oh he came up fast."

Amber decided, with a brief glance towards the commentators box, that she'd much rather have Joseph up there than who ever their commentator was. Joe was funny this guy was not. Sighing she turned to Tala. "Yo T-bird?"

Tala tore his gaze from the ice and winced as he caught sight of Ozuma being taken down out of the corner of his eye. He leaned across Kai to hear her. "What?"

"Who's the creepy git beside Adams?"

Tala frowned and looked up into the stands. His fists clenched as his jaw tightened. "Balkof." he spat the name as it was a dirty word making Amber watch him anxiously.

"Who's Balkof?"

"Our ex-coach." Kai filled in. "He looked after the more disciplinary side to our training."

"Oh so he's responsible for the clones, huh." she murmured with a glance up at him. "He's creepy, I don't like him."

Tala reached over and patted her glove hand. "Don't worry Benny, he can't hurt you."

"I know." I'm just wondering if he hurt you, she wondered silently then she winced. "Oh, ow! Shahero really got taken down."

Shahero smashed her gloved fist onto the ice before scrambling to her feet and racing after the player who'd just taken her down with every intention of shoving her hockey stick where the sun don't shine. She ducked under an enforcer and scowled as Spencer took her target off the ice hard enough for the player to see stars. She didn't get to scowl over it for too long as Spencer shot the puck to Miyami who whipped back her stick and sent the puck down the ice over the blue line. Shahero was up and after it within seconds, using her natural speed on the ice to out race the closest opponent to it. She dug it out of the corner, scanned the ice and knocked it to Bryan who slap shot it straight at the goalie. He took the puck to the head.

The Tigers hissed in a breath, each knowing what the goalie was feeling. Bryan's sheer strength was a fearsome weapon, hand him a puck and the enemy would dig his own grave to get away.

Arista chuckled mirthlessly. She hadn't had much to do which meant she was bored stupid, so very bored. And because she was bored, she often found her gaze wandering to a certain person in the stands which annoyed her because she couldn't control her gaze. And that bugged her. She skated idly from one side of the nets to the other, which wasn't really that far and kept an eye on the game. Bryan took down an enforcer, Spencer shoved an Indian out of his way while Miyami side stepped two Indians to pass the puck to Ozuma who blasted the puck at the nets.

"Yes!" she squealed over the sound of the alarm. "Go O.Z.!"

From up on the stands Kirby and Daichi jumped to their feet. "Way to go Zum-Zum."

Daichi grinned at a group of girls sitting not far from them. "That's my brother."

Mikel chuckled as Salima reached up and yanked Daichi back onto his seat. "Get over it Chi, you've been trying to impress those girls since they got here. They're not interested."

"Line change, Giancarlo, Mulryan, Petrovich."

Ozuma, Bryan and Spencer headed in while Enrique, Ruin and Ian headed out to take their places on the ice.

"Nice job Ozuma."

Ozuma grinned as he climbed over his seated teammates and accepted pats on the back. "Yeah thanks coach."

Nicolai nodded grimly and turned to look at Balkof but was distracted as something prodded his arm. Looking down he caught sight of Amber poking him.

"Uh, coach, I think you neglected the fact that the Indians have a _thing_..."

Johnny snickered at Amber, then stiffened. "Shit she's right. That guys huge."

Kai, hearing the alarm in the scots tone, followed their gaze and blinked at the sight of a 6ft something rock. Beside him Bryan snarled and Spencer groaned. "That is not a high schooler." Kai muttered.

"It's not even human." Amber agreed. "Try troll or giant. It's gonna squash Ian and grind Ruin's bones to make bread."

"And swallow Shahero, Miyami and Enrique in one gulp." Michael reached a hand up to tentatively rub his throat.

"That thing should be in Lord of the Rings and it should get killed brutally."

"A nice arrow to the eye, would suit me." Tala added to Amber's comment.

Nicolai snarled. He hadn't seen that coming. They'd waited until he'd brought in the only two players who could have dealt with this boy before sending him out. He had no idea who this kid was, and was reluctant to admit that he'd preached to his team about being over confident when he'd been the one to be over confident. He hadn't checked up on his opponents thinking they were too weak to be any serious worry to his team.

Amber looked at his shell shocked expression. "You _did_ know about him right?"

He couldn't meet his goddaughters gaze. He couldn't bear to see the disappointment in the large tawny eyes. Her lip curled in distaste and she slumped in her seat, folding her arms. But she didn't stay in this position for long before as she caught how the burly opponent had zeroed in on Enrique who had the puck and was going for the nets while Shahero wrestled a Indian away from her and ripped down the ice to flank her Italian team mate while Ruin and Ian were lagging back to keep Arista covered.

****

"Ouch! And that was Gunner Salvadov taking down Enrique Giancarlo!"

Miyami raced to Enrique's fallen form and growled at Gunner who let out a loud bellow of a laugh. Shahero came to her side. "We have to get Enrique back to the box."

Shahero nodded and hooked a hand under his arm and struggled with getting his limp body into an upright position. "Enri, are you ok?"

"Oh yeah, I's just... dandy..." he slurred with a giggle.

Both girls exchanged wary glances. "Oh boy."

In the box they all winced. "The ref.'s not going to call anything." Michael stated.

"It was a fair tackle." Nicolai replied.

"There is one way to out do him." Kai pointed out.

"Yeah stick a stick up his ass. Then again he'd probably enjoy that..." she trailed off as Kai glowered at her as though he knew where her thought process was going and that made her grin but she sobered as Enrique came into the box babbling and Nicolai called for a time out.

"He's slow, if we have fast players out there, there's a chance that he'll get exhausted quicker."

"And get pulled in." Amber finished. "Yeah that makes sense but Shahero and Miyami are our fastest skaters and they're bound to be exhausted themselves. Enrique's down for the count." Kai nodded then quietly gazed at her and she read the thought in his eyes. "OH NO! No, niente, níl, non. Not gonna happen Hiwatari. I'm not gonna let that guy wale on my ass. I like my ass!"

"Oh relax, I won't send you out on your own."

"You won't send me out with you either." she snapped back.

"I'll go." Tala suddenly heard himself volunteer as he looked at the giant swamp monster who grinned at him. "But we'll need back up."

"Me." Ruin declared. "I'm going out there. I have the enforcer skills you need, I'm fast on my skates."

Nicolai nodded. "Good, Benson you ok with that?"

"Sure." she stated, then a fond smile played over her lips. "Yeah, no one I trust more to keep my ass safe, well apart-"

"From me." Bryan finished. "I'll go out there in case you have trouble and I'll look after Ris, she'll need back up if she has to go head to head with one of them."

"OK one more place to fill."

"I guess I need to go out there sometime." Johnny stated as he stood up and shuffled to the door which Miyami opened for him.

"Ok here's the play. That goalie isn't good with fast pucks, which is why your shot puck should be good for a goal." Nicolai directed to Amber who nodded then frowned.

"Yeah I've got it covered."

"Bryan, Ruin, she'll need space to get that shot in. If we're up by three then we should have a clear lead for the second and third periods as long as we don't slack off. So you guys provide her with as much space as she needs to get that puck in the nets. Johnny, Tala cause as much disruption as possible, basically run rings around this guy."

Kane shook his head. "This won't keep this guy out of the game all night."

"We don't need it to work all night, just long enough to get a nice lead."

Arista exchanged a bewildered glance with Kane and shrugged. "Alrighty then, let's do it."

Amber let Bryan out past her, then leaned into Kai. "I knew you hated me but I didn't think it was _that_ much."

"All's fair in ice hockey." he shot back with a grim smile and moved his legs to let her pass.

****

"Ok so here come the Tigers with a line change. Benson, Valkov up front. McGregor taking the face off and Mulryan and Malkovich in defence. This is an interesting line change and doesn't seem to have much sense. McGregor is usually paired up with Kinomiya and Kaeto, not Benson or Valkov and Malkovich is usually paired up with Kaminov but is use to Mulryan. I guess Hiwatari is putting his mark on the team. Already he has their positions changed."

Amber glided to a stop and clutched her stick in a white knuckle grip as she surveyed just how big Gunner actually was. '_OK I take it back_, she thought, _he's a goddamn tower_!' No way was he a teenager. He had to be on hormones, steroids and that thought made her snicker. Tala shot her a look from the other side of the circle but she shook her head in dismissal.

Johnny slammed up against Martin as soon as the puck was dropped and Amber went for it, circling round them and passing it to Tala but it was intercepted by an Indian. Sighing audibly she skated furiously after the puck, ducking and dodging those who tried to stop her. She didn't see the big guy come after her but her friends did.

"Amber look out!" Sonia called out to her but her voice was drowned out.

Tala looked up sensing the change in the atmosphere of the crowd. The Tiger supporters were on their feet all looking up the ice. Turning, feeling a wave of dread contract in the pit of his stomach, he observed Amber chasing down the puck with Gunner about to intercept her. Ruin was on her ass while Bryan wouldn't get to her on time. "Shit!"

Amber scowled as she slid to a stop right in front of the Indian with the puck and her stick whipped out and stole it deftly from him before she headed back to her nets. She sensed movement to her left and her eyes widened as she watched in slow motion, Gunner skate towards her. She could almost see his beady black eyes, his stupid grin and his nostrils flaring. If that slab of meat slammed into her, she'd be so seriously squashed it wouldn't be funny. He'd probably crush her ribs into powder.

"Fuck." she gasped then the air whooshed out of her lungs as she was ploughed into from her left and knocked to the ground. She hit the ground hard enough to jar her bones, but she was still alive and not unconscious. Looking up she caught sight of Gunner pull away from the barrier and a limp Tala crumpled to the ground.

"Tala!" the word sounded through the entire stadium and the spectators watched as the figure on the ground crawled to her fallen comrade the one who'd pushed her out of the way in the nick of time.

The whistle blew somewhere in the back of her mind, but she didn't acknowledge it. She didn't notice the boos from the crowd, or the frantic shouts of her friends. All she was concerned about was getting to Tala. "Yo, T-bird." she whispered as she reached him. He was breathing, that was a good sign but it was shallow and his helmet was askew. His eyes were closed but when she grabbed his hand, they opened and the dazed eyes locked with hers. "Jeez, T, you just scared the holy shit out of me."

"Fuck." he coughed. "That bastard was heavy."

"Served you right for shoving me out of the way. No one likes a hero." she scolded making him look at her, trouble clouding his eyes making her gaze soften. "You really scared me there. Come on; let's get you up. I owe you for this."

"No." he growled. "You don't owe me anything, Benz. You'd have done the same."

"Which is a scary concept since she's tiny." Bryan stated as he crouched beside them.

Amber looked over her shoulder to see Nicolai fighting with the Indian coach and the ref. leading Salvadov over to the penalty box. "Two minutes for un-sportsman like behaviour." she read. "Bull shit. Can you walk T?"

"I don't know."

"Let's see. Brat, grab his arm and sling it over your shoulder."

"I know how to carry a team-mate off the ice, Christ people have done it to me often enough." she muttered, causing Tala to chuckle then cough. "I bet you've bruised your ribs."

"Yeah and if it had been you, you'd have gotten them crushed."

"My thoughts exactly. So what're you, a martyr?" she mock shuddered. "That's a scary thought."

They hobbled over to the box and stared at Nicolai who was now shouting at the other coach for foul play while the other Tigers were trash talking the Indians.

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"This is an outrage. That guy's the size of the Empire State building, he shouldn't be allowed on the ice. Tala Valkov is being assisted off the ice and there's a penalty awarded to Gunner Salvadov for his misconduct against Tala Valkov. By rights I think the guy should be taken off the ice. That was not a normal check, there was intent to harm there. I wonder what the ref. is thinking only giving him two minutes. If Coach Hiwatari doesn't watch himself he's going to be taken off the ice."

"Well, well this is a disgrace to hockey." Boris suddenly declared to an amused Brooklyn and Garland. "What do you think boys?"

"They're not worth our time." Garland stated and though Brooklyn nodded, his thoughts weren't in agreement. Valkov had willingly risked his own self to avoid the Plague harm, while Hiwatari snr. was now fighting with the other coach because one of his players was put at risk. He'd never so much as cared back at Clonmel. He looked for Arista and saw her conversing quietly with the female enforcer and the Scottish red head who patted her arm reassuringly. She smiled. Brooklyn clenched his fists. He'd seen the sheer horror on her face from when Valkov had been attacked. It wasn't anything to do with team spirit but because of history between them. Oh yes, Brooklyn knew all about Belyaev's past with Valkov before Tala had come to Clonmel. And it angered him. Yet again there was something Tala had gotten before him. Well he'd fix that.

-x-

Amber sat on the bleachers looking down onto the ice which had just been buffed so it was all shiny and reflective. The crowds had gone home, the stewards, or people who'd been elected by teachers had come in and cleaned it. The game was long over. The team was celebrating a draw up in the mess. She should have been up there, but she didn't feel like it. In the end up it had been a 3-3 draw and she felt like she was to blame. Loss's she could handle, wins were a dawdle but draws made her depressed. Especially this one. She'd played like shit tonight. After Tala's attack, after seeing what that ogre had done to him, she couldn't understand how Coach Hiwatari hadn't known about Gunner. She fucked up, completely and utterly. Nothing would convince her otherwise. When ever Gunner had had the puck, she wouldn't go near him. Fear had been what it was, pure and utter fear. The guy had been so massive and vicious. Maybe it was seeing how badly Tala had been affected and Enrique too, that had influenced her thoughts of this opponent. After all most opponents didn't bother her and most of them were bigger than her. Shahero had almost been injured too but Hitoshi had warned her in the nick of time and she managed to just graze past him. Then they pulled their keeper and Amber hadn't been able to stop Gunner from getting that last goal. She could almost sense her teams' disappointment in her even though no one had actually said anything like that to her; she blamed herself.

She hated being afraid. She hated others knowing she was afraid. It gave them something to hold over her, and she was afraid of so many things. Ian used most of them to his advantage, like plastic snakes and spiders and the like of that, but that was different. He only did that to get a rise out of her, no malicious reason. But others would use it to cause her harm.

-x-

He watched her silently from the shadows. She was the last thing he'd been expecting to come across when he came down here to just think. He had a habit of coming down to the rink when the school was silent and he needed to think. Preston didn't give people much time to think or be on their own. You were always running into someone in the corridor that had something to say even if they didn't really know you. So the cold rink was the perfect place. He could sit in the sheer peacefulness of the giant refrigerator and just think. The cold and the dark numbed his senses, warded off headaches that had formed from stress and just made him feel better.

He'd never seen anyone down here before and he'd thought that she'd at least be up at the party but thinking about it, he hadn't seen her. But he'd never thought to wonder at it. Before he made a move, she tensed and snapped her head round to pin him with her dark gaze. He stepped forward into the waning light and watched as she acknowledged him but she didn't relax. If anything she became tenser.

"Something bothering you?" he inquired.

She shook her head slightly, blowing at an annoying strand which fell into her eyes. "No, just thinking."

"Do you mind if I join you?"

"Free country."

"It is." he sighed heavily and eased himself down onto the bench beside her. "It's a great place to think, I come here most nights to think."

"Maybe I should be asking you if you mind me being here," she said softly.

"I don't mind." he watched her out of the corner of his eye. She reminded him so much of James and how he'd always gone off on his own when he needed to think. She looked so solemn. Her black hair was loose and fell to her mid back. Her eyes were long and whiskey colored, much more cynical than Treasa's gentle eyes. Her skin was blanched under the gold making her eyes stand out darker than they should be while her lashes were a black sweep under stark black slashes of her brows. Her nose was Treasa's too, small and buttonish and her mouth was James' mothers'. Molly Benson was usually the life and soul of any party, she didn't take shit from anyone and she respected everyone as long as they respected each other. When he was a child, Molly had been like a mother to him and he could see a lot of her had rubbed off onto her grandchild. She was petite probably about an inch or so taller than her grandmother but because she was slender as a willow, she could give off the impression that she was taller until someone taller came along. It was hard to believe that she'd grown up so much and had become such a hard-headed, independent, fiery young woman and yet he was pleased to see that no one could walk over her.

"So what did you come down here to think about?"

"The match." she answered quietly. "I messed up. I let my personal problems mess with my playing which you told me not to do. I feel like I let everyone down."

"You didn't. Everyone's taking this whole change hard."

"They're not acting like I am." She replied. "I know that I'm acting childish, it's just that I can't seem to help it. It's like when I'm hyper and I'm sitting and clapping my hands without realising it, and then I'll look down, see myself clapping and think, 'why am I doing this?' But I'll keep on doing it." She blushed. "Sorry, you don't need to hear all this. Probably doesn't mean much to you anyway…" she trailed off and shook her head. "See there I go again. I can't help it."

He chuckled. "I knew someone like that once. She always said what she thought and it always was the truth which annoyed others more. No body likes a know it all."

"No they don't." she supposed; then let out a long breath. "You're not so bad to talk to. Let me guess, as soon as you remove the whistle you're actually a decent guy and not a slave driving coach."

Again he chuckled. "Yeah it's the curse of the whistle, it completely controls my life."

"Ah ha! I knew it." She chuckled, then sobered. "You're sons lucky to have you as a dad."

Nicolai nodded. "I'm lucky to have him. What about you Amber, what about your father?" he caught how she flinched and a flicker of sorrow flitted through her eyes before she jerked her shoulder.

"He's somewhere. Me and my dad, we're not exactly what you'd call close; we're more like acquaintances who occasionally hang out. He's getting married to his very own version of a stepford wife, or a blue haired Barbie. Perfect looks, perfect hair, perfect clothes. She's so damn perfect that she's not even human." she sighed heavily. "I guess I just needed to get that out of my system."

"It's not good to bottle things up." which was something she seemed to do without actually drawing notice to it. Kai was a very private person and rarely spoke of his own feelings which meant he kept things to himself but he acknowledged his thoughts and emotions even though he never revealed them. Amber tried to be open and for the most part was, as far as he could read, but she kept a lot of things private from even herself. It wouldn't surprise him if she made herself physically sick. People who kept things bottled up were prone to headaches and stomach pains. Being a coach meant he had to read his players so they wouldn't end up injuring themselves or affect team dynamic.

"I don't. You've known what I think, I'm very vocal about my opinion."

"You haven't been very vocal about your opinion of how I handled the game today." he pointed out.

She lowered her gaze to the ground. "I was disappointed. I thought you'd have done your research, isn't a coach supposed to do that, to know the opposition and their weaknesses?"

"You're right. I was the one who was over-confident. I believed that the Indian's were no threat to us, and they kept Salvadov very hush-hush, not playing him in other games."

"Oh. He was so big. I didn't want to go near him, I was scared of him. Even with my padding on, that guy was so much bigger than me. I couldn't go head to head with him in the end and because of that, they got that goal. If I had been off the ice and Arista had been on, she would have saved that goal and prevented us from having that draw."

"You can't blame yourself. There's no point in it." he looked down on to the ice as the moonlight crept eerily inside giving it an ethereal look. "We'll make it up. We have a great team here, as long as we work together."

"Is that a dig at me?"

"You, Kai and Tala could work very well. You know Tala's moves, which is why I usually told my enforcers to be all over you. You could have a pretty good double team, and Kai knows how to use the ice Amber, if you two work together, you could be scoring a lot of goals and easily out playing the Sharks. The Tigers could be on top, don't you want to see that happen?"

"Not really." she stated with a small curve to her lips, then at his raised brow, she added. "I want to make that happen."

He grinned. She was her father's daughter, but she sure as hell had Treasa's spirit and a hell of an attitude. "We'll make this work if we work together."

"Okies but don't ask me to be nice to Hiwatari off the ice, I think the world might end."

Nicolai laughed. "Since I'm too young to die, I'll make allowances. Go hang out with your team Amber, they're worried about you."

She gave an exaggerated roll of her eyes, even as she felt pleasantly warm inside. Maybe Coach Hiwatari wasn't so bad after all. Heh, life might actually improve.

-x-

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g--b-S-t-E-r07: Aw thankies. As for L/H we're working on it. I have basically it all done, just need to find tune it and write at least another 10 pages. I'm not sure how the ending will work out but it will be settled don't worry. I'm so not looking forward to the flames at least this story doesn't provoke as strong a reaction. Lol.

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B-D-A: My story and if I want Miriam to be shy, then she is!! Besides I think she's more coy than shy.

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grandsummon: Ian is the biggest pain to ever exist in the world of beyblade, I swear. He gets under her skin because he knows nearly everything about her. I think Kai will find out sooner than Amber, around chapter 13, Christ I haven't even posted ten and I'm talking about 13. Oh well Amber will find out around that time too, I think. Summer hols are over and you're getting your LC in two weeks, huh? L/H will be updated in a little while I swear, it's almost done.

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Kara: Yeah I know Xanny's back. Was talking to her while she was posting it, so I was pretty ecstatic.

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Alexis:** Digital Survivor:** Um... well thank you. I thought it was a nice twist until Coors politely told me that she hadn't even noticed it. I don't know when Amber will find out... I'd say Kai's going to figure it out first. He's more suspicious about his fathers interest in her, than she is. Kai is still living next door but he hasn't realised its Amber he's living next door too. Johnny and Miyami probably will get back together. No Tari really wouldn't let me do that. I broached the subject with her over MSN and she was all fine about it, then she produced a knife and told me that she trusted me to do the right thing. I doubt the fact that there's an ocean between us will stop her from extracting her revenge. Though she's been busy lately so I don't think she's actually read this story so I'm safe for the moment. Besides I love Johnny, I won't ever actually hurt him too bad. Every one knows I'm a sadist; it's a problem having part of Ruin inside me. I need to cause pain and suffering every so often but this fic is relatively fun rather than drama.

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swoosh-98: So how was vacation, where did you go? Amber knows she has a godfather, she just doesn't know where and she barely remembers him if she does. But it'll be fun seeing how she reacts.

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Settican: Oh, gee thanks. Well I love ice hockey and beyblade so it's been a whole bundle of fun writing this. I love the Mighty Ducks. And D3 was on Saturday and I'm missed the first half hour because I was working all day Saturday which totally bit!! So I finished at 6:30 and it started at 6:30 but I turned up just in time to see the horse turd part, cos that was fking funny. sniff sniff Yeah every fic must come to an end. I haven't it plotted for this one, but it'll probably be like a big show down between the Sharks and stuff, something cliché for the sake of it since I'm depressing myself with Love/Hate.

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Dark Destiny2: Hey Court!!! Lol, more Hitoshi than Kai I think, Hitoshi's ego's bigger. hides from Coors hockey stick Which is fine because her ego matches, lol!! I'm gonna get beat up for that. Lol. God I hate skirts so much. And losing her shoe, that does suck!! I actually went to kick a guy and he caught my leg and threw me onto my ass and I was wearing a skirt and the rooms upstairs, their doors were open and their students got an interesting sight... ¬¬ So not fair. Ugh shudders Guys are perverted. Except for Steven who stole Naomi's shoe because she stole his wallet and this all happened in the middle of Irish with Miss McCafferty... cowers that was one scary lady. I really didn't like her, and she didn't like me because she said I was wasting my talent with Irish by spending my time writing. Meh, I got an A in Ordinary Irish which is like D in honours, and I did that without studying, so... maybe I did waste my talent. Johnny... god that was such a great save. Wasn't that like one of your fave lines or something when you were editing it? Kai's a bloody perv in her eyes. Him checking her out is a foreign concept to her. I doubt you would laugh your ass off over anything I wrote... just would be weird. If someone did laugh their ass off, would it roll or would it flop and not move again?? Hmm... Yay Tala and Amber, woot woot!! Yeah this is the first step to a better more promising friendship. They can build on the bad point in their friendship and be stronger. I hope. I hope I can write that so that it happens. Hmm... maybe I will lock them in a room together to see what happens... but it's been done before in fics... oh we'll see. You can supply weapons to the 'I hate Brooklyn' club... I dunno if it's still running. But we decided Yoshi is shallow! A whip would be something Ruin would do... snickers Gives me ideas. I actually have a whip in my shop... as well as furry handcuffs and tropical fruit flavoured massage oil... Christ oh yes, that's a good idea. Okies I think I better wrap this up.

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Luvs Fluffy-sama: Yeah I already have, well it's 34 pages now. Not that much more but it's really hard to write it, so much emotion and a big twist in my opinion. Oh jeez, it's going to be soo long when I add the reviews and stuff as well. Lol. But oh well, I'm working hard so that's not too bad. You'll have the chapter soon.

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Rayne: Coolest school? O.O Seriously?? You think?? I don't know. But I like it; it's fun. I can totally see it in my head, three floors, a basement. A toilet on every floor with red wooden swing doors; red lockers along the walls... numbers over the doors. All very modern but also with a dab of the old and traditional. I guess that's what I try to do. Create a world where people can escape to and dwell there for a while. Not everyone's life is perfect but they get on with it and I want people to take some sort of courage from it.

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Leina: Pssh... you're not far wrong on the weird part. I don't know, it just seemed incredibly odd didn't it? You come out of a room and hello, there's a guy staring at your legs... yeah weird is the word. Oh well I was in a weird mode. I think chapter 11's looking good. I have the cold again so I think that makes me write better. Dunno why. But I lost my voice for a while, so I think I should do that to Amber... like the ultimate torture.

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Dragon-eyes22: Hey Emma. Nah it wasn't as good as Seven, though I didn't think Seven was all to hot either. I get Amber's sleep problem, but it's usually 3 o'clock in the morning. We get another hint soon on why she isn't sleeping so well. I'm finally getting into chapter 11 now which is good. Actually Nicolai being nice, I wasn't thinking about Coach Orion then, but I can see it now. But I have an actual soft spot for Nic from L/H even though he's not in it. So that's where it came from. Do you think it's moving too fast between Amber and Kai... I mean is it believable? Because I don't want him just turning around one day and just being nice for no reason. I love History [1] for the simple fact that Mr. Shallow made it so much fun for the six of us. Yup Johnny really stuck his foot in it and it was an interesting save. Yup. Fights and car chases rule!! Soppy films are annoying, but action films with a dollop of romance would be nice to watch for a change. There aren't very many when you think of it. Lol, yeah Ian was a prat in this chapter. I like Mariam in this fic, and though I went through a bad stage of disliking her, I won't make her horrible or too bitchy. But I love Amber and Kai, I like that pairing a lot which is a good thing. Just getting there's the problem but I think I have it sorted. Yeah Tala and Amber are friends which was mainly the whole point of the story so now that that half of the story is over, I can get on with the other half. Amber doesn't day dream as such, she just lets' her mind wander to other things. She does day dream though, and she zones quite a bit but is quite apt at keeping track of the conversation going on around her. And as for DC... well it's going slow. You read what I had, so you know yourself I'm having a slight bit of trouble with it.

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ButterCup: Hey. Ok I know you're not annoymous. It was an ok chapter but it cleared up some things. Yeah Tala and Amber, he's one of the best things that happened to her, so hopefully they'll work everything out. I don't know if Kai understands completely but he'll put up with her easier now. And it's easy to be scared, but you just have to get on with life I suppose. I'm scared of a lot of things and I run away from a lot of things too. I didn't go to college because I don't want to be on my own with a bunch of people I don't know. But I hope to go soon, I'm just going to get some life experience in first then I'll probably head to America or Canada and do something like History [2]. Lol, you'll find out what happened to Treasa in this chapter.

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KaieshaKai: Johnny and Miyami will get together sometime, don't worry. But I can't just break them up and put them back together, yet.

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Arcada: Unfortunately I know your address far too well... gee I wonder why, lol, actually your emails brighten up the night for me. They're fun to read even though it takes me a while to get back to you. I like Brooklyn and Arista, she won't take shit from him which is what he needs. Kai and Amber... so complicated those two because they're just as stubborn as each other. But he's a little bit more honest with himself than she is. Johnny and Miyami will get together, I wouldn't be so cruel to them, besides Tari would likely chop my head off, or worse tear up her Amber picture or stick pins in it. So I'll fix them. I love History[3] so Amber loves it too, it's the only true class she's passionate about. She's not a rebel as such and she doesn't do well in classes but History[4] gives her a chance to shine. (god do you know how many times I wrote Hitoshi in this whole reply section?? God every time I got to write History[5] I keep typing Hitoshi!!) It's a pity your teacher spoiled your interest. Oh well Miss Magee did the same to biology.

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Miss Wright: Yeah it sucks when you just are getting into a story and it just ends. Especially when the story hasn't been updated and you've kind of forgotten it. It makes you bored of the story since you can't keep up, or that's how I feel. I figured I owed Amber that, because people were jumping very quickly on the Amber's a bitch train, without knowing the reason why. I feel her thoughts on men are well justified. Yeah Nicolai knowing her father and mother is going to be interesting. But Kai and Amber would barely know each other. She may have held a picture of him in her mind subconsciously, but she'd have no real memories of him. Kai's reaction is changing to Ams isn't it? I just write how it pops into my head, without sometimes knowing where everything's going, but it generally settles into place. I just let the characters lead me. Johnny and Miyami will be fine, I promise. I don't know where this whole Ian and pranks thing came from, because originally it was supposed to be Kai or Tala, she'd fight with the most and now it's Ian. It's like I go into these trances, and then I go back and read what I've written and I'm like, woah... hey that's good. Yeah I know the whole aspect of missing shoes. Sometimes I like to walk around with only one shoe... (or so that's what I tell everyone when I can't find one. Yeah Tala and Amber, I love those two. Tala is very vital to her, and she was incomplete without him.

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Smiley-Joe: Suppity. Yeah it wasn't too long to wait for the chapter compared to love/hate, ne? lol. Addictive... I don't think anyone's addicted to my stories, I find that hard to believe. I know myself I get addicted and very caught up in certain stories, Coors' Devilish Desires being my main one, at the moment and I kinda of go into withdrawal symptoms when I don't read it for a while. I feel bad then because I'm always pressurising her for more, and that's just wrong and selfish, but the thought that anyone would like my stories is weird for me. But this at the moment is my fave story. And I don't feel that I'm writing it for the sake of writing like with say DC or FS, I'm writing this one because I truly adore it. I'll put in what Kai chose in a while, if I don't actually write something, then I'll put it in another chapter for a sharp remark from Amber which will intertwine the chapters more, I think. So if they're are any questions then ask and I'll make sure to pop them in somewhere. Not the eleventh it seems cos in chapter eleven they're just having an interesting conversation and sorting things out. So it's more like the twelfth (god that word is sooo annoying) but yeah the Twelfth is the beginning, and the fourteenth is the end. I have it plotted so hopefully you'll approve. Yeah he's a guy so yeah he was looking at her legs. He did admit he was a legs man, like near the beginning around chapter four. I love Tala and Amber, they're so much fun to deal with. And he really redeems himself in this chapter. I won't split them up for a while I don't think. Yeah she got her shoes back but Ian's an evil little shit!! I don't know where these little ideas pop up from, but some of them are damn funny. And usually spill over into History[5] making it entertaining. Hmm... we'll get round to her getting her shoe back soon enough. Lol.

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TwErP: Could you just imagine a gnome war, with the gnomes lined up on the pavement with the street between them and Amber and Ian dishing out pep talks. God that would be something. I did a small beserker army (you find out about them in chapter 9) in the shop I work in (also in chapter nine) and I ended up breaking the feet of one of them. Wasn't pretty. I'm not holding out as such but as soon as I wrote chapter eight, I kept writing instead of taking a break and then I wrote nine and then ten, and then hit a block on eleven which I seem to have lost. Then I wait for a week for the reviews cos that gave me time to enjoy them and finish ten. Then I sent the chapter 9 to my beta but she was in the middle of a hurricane so that meant we had to wait for a while. Sorry about that, but think of this, you have two more chapters coming for certain. And then chapter eleven hopefully. I think chapter ten so far is one of my faves, just the start of it is so very funny in my mind. The rest is bumfucked up... it's still my fave chapter. 11's not bad either though.

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grand admiral chelli: This is becoming a name I'm familiar with, it's unique, it stands out. It should be ok for Tala and Amber, well maybe your picking up on the thing in chapter nine because that was just scary for Amber. But it's going ok for the moment in chapter eleven.

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Midnight Insanity: Lol, yeah doesn't he just. No ones safe!! Dun dun dun!! Lol. I don't want it to move to fast, but it never seems to. When I think I have them sorted and they'll be friendly, some one of them says something and doesn't put them back to square one but makes them step back a pace or two (depends on what was said) from each other. It's fun. I can't rush it, because it won't be rushed. The characters, since I know Amber so well now, won't let it happen. Everyone should know by now my absolute love for Amber and Tala. I can't write a fic where they're not friends. I would like to write a boys versus girls type fic, but it won't work because that would mean those two not being friends and I can't do that. Or even those fics where Tala and Kai are best friends and the Oc and her friends are kind of their enemies, I can't do that. Because it would be wrong to split Amber and Tala up. You have no idea how gut wrenching it was to write the fics where they weren't friends. Maybe I rushed them being friends but I couldn't write it anymore. They're too important to me. Ian and Amber really have suddenly just became these terrible rivals for like no apparent reason. I mean if she was fighting like this with Kai I'd understand but I don't know why she's fighting with Ian, but it doesn't matter because no one but him could get back at her so well. I just like this side story, you don't know who's going to strike next. I love the part in ArcadaAvalon's story 13 shades of grey... so funny!! Those two are becoming mortal enemies without anything to overshadow it and it's great fun to write. My chapters will continue to be long. That's because I don't know how to stop, but I'm glad you liked it. Continue to review and I'll continue to write.

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StarAngel Caelum SunSoar: Yeah suddenly everyone's opinion of her changes and I love that. People only see what you want them to see, until you suddenly switch the situation, which shows that you should always look below the surface. (I should take my own advice, then again I have recently tried to understand a certain long time enemy, so I can actually forgive him... I guess that's part of growing up. Oh well) But I like to influence people in a certain way and then turn things around on them. It's fun. Yeah Nicolai wasn't keeping track on things was he? Well it had been a while, I guess it didn't click that the sweet little girl who he'd played with was this annoying, hot headed, contrary young woman. Once you have a picture of someone... it's hard to change it. Tala abandoned her and betrayed their friendship by denying knowledge of her, that's the biggest hurt ever since she was so close to him. She loved him and he threw that love back at her for a chance to play with the big boys.

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ChibiKai02: Hey Yoshi!! Ah yeah that shit for brains prick assed dick! OK yeah I probably shouldn't put Brooklyn in the same sentence because even Brooky-baby isn't as bad as him. Yeah I believe things between Amber and Tala will work out. I have mixed feelings for Mariam and Kai... she's nice, she's just with Kai!! So wrong!! Lol, my internet will continuously be fucked but oh well. I may get everyone to download GCN, it doesn't seem to have any major problems.


	10. Ornery

**A.N.** Here I am again. I'm updating big time. First L/H, then Trinity: The Virgin Suicide and now SLTS. Go me!! I'm so pleased with myself. Then again Xanny's updating left right and centre too. Who else feels as miffed about Amber in her new fic as I do? **If you're a Amber/Kai fan people, read Death by Structure!!! By Xan-thip-pe**. **And while I'm here, please also check out Cool, Sexy and ready! It's in my fave's!!**

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Beyblade. I only own Amber Marie Benson, Nicolai and Jean Hiwatari and Ruin Mulryan. **Miyami Kinomiya** belongs to Unlucky-star, or Tari. (Thanks for the picture of Amber, it totally rocks!! ) **Shahero Kaeto** and the Kaeto family belong to Coors and her hockey stick. **Arista Belyaev** is the inspired creation of ArcadaAvalon she who does disappearing acts. **Aspin Grant** has Animerle's name stamped on her butt. **Sonia Martini** is Spitfiresae's. **Kirby Preston-Lee** is owned by KindredInsanity. **Zareth Forest **came courtesy of Zimo.

**Dedication: **This chapter is dedicated to Zimo and Grandsummon for completing their JC's and not fucking up completely, lol. Well done guys, I was rooting for you both.

**A.N. **Special thanks to Coors for posting this chappie!! (haha :P What would you guys do without me?)

Chapter Ten: Ornery

Life was shit.

The phrase just blinked on inside Sonia Martini's head like a flashing neon sign which advertised people to drink alcohol and your life will improve. You know's it ridiculous but all the same part of it rings so true. Right at that moment for Sonia Anne Martini, life sucked. She sat in Wednesday Assembly a week before the long Halloween weekend and wished the world would swallow her whole. For the past couple of weeks she'd kept out of Ozuma Benson's way, limiting their contact to just a casual greeting in class or when they were with their group of friends. She wouldn't allow herself to be caught in the alone with him. It was for the best after all. She'd even been counting off the days she'd successfully managed to avoid him and had been quite pleased with her restraint but it seemed someone controlling the wheels of fate disliked her. Oh yeah she'd pissed some one off big time, though she wasn't quite sure. All she knew was that she, Sonia Anne Martini was about to embark on her own living hell.

"Miss Martini?"

She blinked her blue, blue eyes and zeroed in on Mr. Dickinson who beamed up at her, eyes twinkling and his manner scarily reminded her of Dumbledore, who Amber had once said he modelled himself on, which had caused Shahero to chuckle and calll out various sweets as she entered his office. "Huh?"

"Is Friday evenings ok for you?"

"Uh, yeah sure. I mean I guess so." she shook her head to clear it, feeling heat creep up her neck as everyone turned to stare at the usually composed girl. "As long as it doesn't affect my training then it should be ok." she answered, swallowing thickly. She could almost feel someone laughing at her dilemma. Actually someone was probably laughing at the fact that she'd been stuttering, but that wasn't botherig her at the moment.

"Hey Sunny-D, you ok?"

She looked over at Michael and managed a weak smile. "Yeah I'm fine."

His concerned lavender orbs narrowed. "You're not. What's wrong? Are you nervous about the receital?"

What exactly could she say to him? She couldn't lie, she could never lie to Michael. Never. "Sort of." But she could tell him half truths.

"You'll be great. You sing at the carol services every year, you have a great voice."

"A carol service is all grand and dandy Michael, but this is a school open day and I don't know what song I'll be singing. It's not likely to be a carol now is it? And I have to do a duet with Ozuma."

"Really not seeing the problem?"

"It means she'll have to spend numerous hours alone with him while they practice, no?" Miyami interrupted and batted her lashes innocently at Sonia who sank lower in her chair.

Miyami chuckled. "Aw poor Sonia. It'll be fine, he's not likely to take you right there on the floor."

This caused Shahero to laugh out loud but she disguised it weakly with a cough. Though various students turned to her.

Michael shook his head and flicked his plum coloured hair out of his face. "Am I missing something?"

"Mais oui." Miyami drawled, she was mixing her sentences up with a bit of French which had the habit of annoying Shahero who had to take a minute to work out what she was saying.

"Yeah a brain." Shahero snickered.

Sonia scowled at her. "It's nothing Michael. I'm just over reacting."

"Miss BENSON!"

Amber yelped and nearly toppled off her chair which she'd been sprawled carelessy over. "What?" she asked over the beating off her heart.

"How would you like to write out the whole of what was said in this assembly in detention this afternoon?" Miss Maye demanded.

"It wouldn't take very long since I haven't been paying attention." she muttered under her breath causing the two closest to her -namely Rei and Spencer- to snicker.

"What was that?"

"I said, I wouldn't like it very much."

"Then please sit still, remove your earphones, or I'll have that discman confiscated and please attend the next assembly in appropriate attire."

Amber glanced down at what she was wearing. A pair of lavender cotton P.J bottoms with a little puppy's and toilets scattered about it and a thin cotton grey t-shirt with 'do you want a piece of me' in in script font along the chest. She sighed heavily and began to remove her earphones before bending over to place her discman on the floor. She jerked as something cold and wet trailed down the skin of her neck. She slapped her fingers to her neck and felt that it was wet and...oh gross. Snapping round, she glowered at Ian who was sucking his finger slowly as Kane snickered at her. Growling she turned round and watched Maye. Pranks between the two had escalated over the past week or so and now she was afraid to walk out of her dorm because she was unsure what he would do next. No doubt about it, Ian was the King of Pranks, but she was damn good at it herself. She smirked as she caught sight of Tala sitting to Kai's left who happened to be sitting infront of her. Leaning forward casually, keeping an eye on Maye who was warbbling on about something or other, she rested her arm on the back of Kais' seat.

"Hey T." she whispered.

Kai rolled his eyes in disdain while Tala smirked and leaned back in his seat, pushing the cushion back so Amber wasn't leaning forward so much. "What do you want?" he asked amused.

"Compass."

He frowned. "That pointy object I use to draw circles with?"

"That would be it."

"I don't have it on me."

"Know-" she broke off as Maye looked in her direction and she made an exaggerated show of strecthing until Maye looked away. "Know anyone who does?"

He thought about it, then leant forward in his seat and muttered something to some boy who Amber didn't recognise. A second later, he leaned back and she felt something against her leg. Inconspicuously reaching down, she took the compass from him but stayed put.

Maye was still rabbiting on, her gaze continuously flicking to Hitoshi who was lazily attempting to keep his eyes open though sometimes he'd gaze off in a certain direction and a smirk would play on his lips. "Again I find it necessary to announce that the computers in the computer lab and the library are not for personal use. If I find any students-"

"BITCH!"

The whole auditorium turned to the centre of the seventh row and gaped at Ian Petrovich who was nursing his leg while Amber Benson was bent double with laughter.

"Mr. Petrovich, Miss Benson, I'll be seeing both of you later for detention!"

"Oh it was so worth it." Amber managed to gasp out between giggles.

"If you don't behave Miss Benson, I'll see to it that you won't be playing in the next hockey game."

Her ochre eyes widened as her lip curled in disdain and hatred washed over her features distorting the pretty face. The laughter faded but she said nothing as she flicked her gaze to Nicolai and with a weak smile in his direction, she turned back to Maye. She swallowed and clenched her teeth. "Sorry miss."

The apology was delivered in a cool tone, but to Maye it was a victory. She beamed wickedly and the sight of Miss Kaeto and Miss Kinomiya's expressions were everything. But the look on Hitoshi and Mr. Hiwatari's faces puzzled her. But Maye didn't care. This was a victory for her and it happened in front of the whole school. They'd learn to respect her.

Mr. Dickenson frowned. Maye may have been a valued member of staff due to the money she could pay into the funds at any time, but she had a long way to go when it came to earning students respect. He'd have to have a word with her about humiliating students in front of the entire school. It was a type of bullying and it could leave in her a very sticky mess should either Miss Benson or Shahero Keato who seemed to be another victim of Maye's go to the education board about it.

In the fifth row, Ruin Mulryan who'd been watching the whole scene with a feeling of pure bitchiness towards Maye, sought Shahero out in the crowd. Their eyes locked and a small smile appeared on their faces. Maye was going down.

-x-

Kai dawdled down the corridor boredly. He was on his way to History but he'd had to walk Mariam to her class so he was going to be late. It didn't bother him much. He preferred to head to class late when the corridors were empty and no one was pushing each other out of the way. He could hear the echo of his foot steps on the lino as he crossed to his locker. After rolling in the combination, he yanked open the door.

He only looked up as he sifted through his books to see Maye head into a room and the noise that had been in there escalated while she raised her voice to be heard. He grinned briefly feeling a vicious dislike for the woman. She was cold and vindictive with no real care for anything in this school. She should have taught at Clonmel, he thought stonily. She'd have fitted in their perfectly compared to here where nearly all the teachers who he'd come across genuinely seemed to care about their students, including Mrs. King who always gave of a formidable presence.

Maye was a bitch by all accounts, even Mariam who never seemed to speak bad of many people dispised her. It seemed she chose various people out of every year to pick on. In her year it was Mariah, in the sophomore year it was Tyson and Kirby who'd fallen into her bad books by denting her car in the first few weeks, and Benson was in the bad books for standing up for Spencer in their first year. Seemed Benson had always been gobby. No one seemed to know how Shahero had ended up in the bad books, or Miyami for that matter. Probably for the same reasons as Benson or for knowing her. Kai found that a stupid reason.

"Just wait, there's no need to frustrate, waiting is the best part. I'll see you, it's only a ma-a-tter of time. I love you and no one can take that awa-a-a-ay, so I'll prove to you, that this isn't just an obsession."

He looked round as he heard a female voice singing and almost knew who it was even before she appeared around the corner. Benson had been singing the same lyrics for the past couple of days, as though they were the only part of the song she knew and it was driving him up the wall. Partially because he liked the sound of the song but he didn't know it.

She rounded the corner in her usual scuffed sneakers, hoody and pants. Gone was the skirt she'd once worn, now it was back to her usual pants. Her black hair was in a half pony tail today compared to the way she usually wore it, in a high pony tail, messy bun or straight. If he ever acknowledged it, he'd admit he liked it when she wore it down. It just framed her face better. Where as Mariam suited her hair up with the thick bits falling down to frame her pretty face. Mariam was a stunner, and she always looked good. No matter the time or the day, she was always composed. If that irked him to a degree, he'd never admit it.

He watched out of the corner of his eye as his nemesis traipsed to her locker, dragging her feet and squeaking them off the lino. Her ear phones were snugly tucked over her ear with the discman in her backpack, which was a denim shouderbag today. As she fiddled with her lock, her fingers played with the amestyst dragon pendent around her neck, a gesture that wasn't because she was nervous or not that he'd every observed but because it soothed her just to do that.

"Sobbing for release..." again she trailed off.

He almost groaned out loud, did she even realise how frustrating that was?! Probably. He noticed recently that she and his father had been getting along better than they usually did and he wasn't sure how he felt about that. It had happened somewhere after the match with the Indians which she'd lost for them. Instead of lecturing her, he'd supported her!

"I-- I-- feel alone-- feel alone-- someone takes my picture-- takes my picture-- but never looks at me in the-BASTARD!"

Kai jerked and nearly rapped his head off the door. He whirled round, accusations ready to fly of his tongue but they died to laughter. Benson was gaping at her locker, or should that be an empty locker. He snorted out a laugh which had her snapping her smouldering gaze to his causing his pulse to hitch.

"Hey don't blame me, I had nothing to do with it."

"I know that." she seethed. "That little fenian bastards gonna pay."

His shoulders shook as he kept the silent laughter inside. "Ian?"

"Yes Ian, shoot!" she cursed and stomped her foot.

"He wouldn't have had time to do that, if you had simply worn your uniform to assembly." he gloated.

"You're a smug little shit aren't you?" she muttered, then slammed her locker shut. "Ok Ian, let's see how you deal with a really pissed Amber?"

She headed down the corridor and he followed a pace behind her.

"Do you usually talk to people who aren't even around?"

"Oh yeah, me and you have plenty of conversations."

He quirked a brow. "About what?" he asked as he fell into step beside her.

"The many ways you'd like to die, sometimes you even beg for me to have mercy!" she said the last with cheerful delight, more like sadistic glee.

"Beg? Hiwatari's don't beg?" he scoffed.

She tossed him a cool, aloof smile. "You would if Mariam wanted you to."

And because he knew she was right, he shut up causing her to grin. She twiddled with the knob on her discman and turned the music back up in volume.

_I'll still be chasing you, faster._

_Chasing, Faster_

_Leave and take me with you, take me_

_I'll still be chasing you_

_I feel alive, you are my ecstacy_

_It's you that I'm craving_

_I feel alive, you are my energy_

_So why do you hate me_

_I'm holding you, holding you close to me_

_You are my angel_

_I lost control_

_You were my enemy, but now you're my friend._

She skipped ahead and fastforwarded through some songs and when she stopped she automatically picked up the song and sang along ignoring Kai perfectly, even though she could feel him walking beside her like a line of warmth along her skin which made her arm prickle.

"It's starts with-- one thing I don't know why-- it doesn't even matter how hard you try-- keep that in mind I designed this rhyme-- to explain in due time--"

Kai absently rapped the verse out in his head, watching his petite team mate move her lips to form the words easily keeping time to the verse. It seemed Benson had some taste in music, whether it came from Tala or not but he wished it would rub off onto Mariam. Her music really grinded on his nerves, kind of how Benson's voice grated on it when she was sniping at someone but when she sang it was almost hypnotic. Then again it could be the song, but he didn't even notice the corridors pass by or the steps they climbed, as they walked through them towards History.

"All I know-- time is a valuble thing-- watch it fly by as the pendulem swings-- watch it count down to the end of the day-- the clock ticks life away-- it's so unreal-- you didn't look out below-- watch the time go right out the window-- trying to hold on-- but you didn't even know-- wasted it all-- just to watch you go-- I kept everything inside and even though I tried-- it all fell apart-- what it meant to me-- will eventually be a memory-- of a time-- I tried so hard-- and got so far-- but in the end-- it doesn't even matter..."

She trailed off as they reached room 305 and palcing her hand on the knob, she steeled herself then yanked it open and strode into class. Kai followed with a shake of the head.

"Ah and since Miss Benson, and Mr. Hiwatari arrived late, they shall work on this project together." Shallow stated as he turned to regard them.

Amber didn't even blink, instead she was engaged in a staring contest with Ian who grinning like a manic fool. She felt like B.A. going up against Mad dog Murdock. She could just hear a small part of her crying 'kill da fool!' and that thought had her lips twitching.

"Amber?" Shallow called out for the third time. Exasperated he exchanged glances with her confused friends then looked between Ian and her. "Amber, I know you and Ian can barely take your eyes off each other but-"

"Oh ew! Give me some taste would you?" she snapped but didn't look at him. "All right, Gidget, give me my books back!"

"Gidget?"

Finally she looked at Shallow. "Girl plus midget, equals gidget." she explained ignoring Kai's comment of how it would suit her better. "I mean it, I want my books back Asshole."

"I think I preferred gidget, now would you mind explaining to me what's wrong?"

She snarled and took a seat beside Johnny and Robert. "Ian stole my books! My locker is completely empty, which makes you a brave man Petrovich, cos even _I_ wouldn't go too far into _my_ locker."

"Yeah Amber could probably live in it if it wasn't uninhabitable." Johnny announced with a laugh. "She's that small."

"She even has to be careful walking down the road because she might fall into a crack."

Amber snarled at Ian, and resisted the urge to lunge at him but Miyami stepped up to defend her. "That's not something you'd have to worry about is it, Ian? Your nose wouldn't fit down a crack!"

While the girls laughed, Shallow shook his head in dispair.

"I want my books back Ian!"

"Amber please remove your earphones, you've been warned about that already today."

She rolled her eyes while she pulled her earphones off and wrapped them around her discman. "Ian I've got detention with you later, now you can either hand over my books now, or you can face me in detention and believe me with the mood I'm in, you'll be in a shit state!"

"Ian give her, her books back."

"I don't have them."

"Look guys, these games are all well and good but you're seniors for god's sake when are you going to buckle down and start getting serious about your school work?"

"Well it's a little difficult for me, since I don't have my books!"

"Ian give her, her books please."

"I don't have them."

"Then where are they?"

"In the bin outside the canteen." Ian mumbled.

Amber bolted up in shock. "What?! Oh no, oh no! Sir, make him go and get them. They're gonna have mystery meat and every other gross thing imaginable all over them and my mom's gonna kill me!"

Shallow rubbed his temple feeling the beginnings of a tension headache brewing. "Ian go out and get them and if they're ruined, you give her your books and you take hers. If you don't, I'll send you both down to Dickinson's office. This has gone on long enough!"

Ian nodded and got to his feet. "Yes sir."

Amber glowered at him as he left then rounded on Shallow. "What's this about me and shit for brains over there working on a project together?!"

Johnny leaned over and nudged Kai who was drawing something on his notebook. "She's talking about you."

"At least I have something for brains." Kai retorted.

Reaching his end Shallow got to his feet. "Benson, Hiwatari, enough!" he snapped sharply.

The class jolted in their seats and Amber felt humiliation rise within her. She turned her gaze to the table and held her tongue. Shahero glowered at Shallow but knew not to say anything more. He was in a pisser of a mood while the rest of them just sulked.

Shallow exhaled heavily and dropped down onto a seat beside them. "Not been a very good day for you, has it Amber?"

She looked up at him cautiously and shook her head. "Not really."

"What did you do to Ian?" Shahero demanded with a grin.

"It was his fault. He licked his finger and wiped it down the back of my neck." she shuddered in revultion. "So I stabbed him with a compass." she shrugged nonchalantly.

The class chuckled remembering Ian's reaction to the jab.

"Amber... And you wonder why you get in trouble."

"Oh, it served him right." she declared airily but her lips twitched. "Though Maye was a bit..."

Shallow nodded. "She's getting above her station. The only reason she's acting vice-principle is because Mrs. King didn't want it at the time."

The group nodded remembering how Mrs. King had refused as she'd been going through a bad patch in her life. She hadn't felt she'd be suitable for the position and Maye had leapt at the chance.

"For all of Greene's bad points, I'd welcome her back with open arms." Miyami muttered.

"Yeah, Maye's taking this whole being vp way too far. No student can approach her about anything. She complains about everything and doles out detentions like Santa doles out presents." Amber sighed with a shake of her head. Idly her gaze roamed to the window. Outside the trees swayed in the breeze, scattering leaves to the ground so they twirled and danced along the wet tarmac. The sky was a rich blue with fluffy white clouds racing over it. She spotted a plane flying overhead with a jet of white streaming out behind it. It was turning out to be a nice Autumn, heading into winter and the year was moving too fast. There was a time when she'd be pleased that it was moving fast but then again this was her last year and in a couple of months she wouldn't be hanging out with these people, playing pranks on Ian, fighting with Hiwatari or making kissy noises behind Mariah and Rei. She'd miss it. She'd doubt she'd have such a great group of friends after she left the school and she could accept that. Life didn't always treat you good, so you made the most of the good times and valued them. She would never take her friends or her enemies for granted because each one made her who she was and they wouldn't always be there. She might not have any petty enemies when she left for college, which would make life boring. So she'd annoy Ian, Kane and Hiwatari as much as humanly possible.

"Amber."

"Huh?"

"You zoned." Miyami told her, grinning lazily as she stretched and turned back to her doodles. A pretty guitar weilding fiend was decorating the margin of her page while lyrics were dotted here and there.

"Oh, sorry. Uh, about this project..."

"I'm not switching you round.

"But I was late for a reason."

"Sorry. Besides I had to work round the fact that Shahero didn't want to work with Ian or Robert, Robert wanted to work with Oliver and Miyami and Shahero are no longer allowed to work together. So Miyami is working with Ian, and Shahero is working with Johnny and you and Kai are working together."

"I wanted to work with Johnny." Amber grumbled.

Johnny grinned. "Everyone did, I just had to chose who'd serve me better. Unfortunately that happened to be Shahero." he shot Miyami a meaningful look while she rolled her eyes and turned to smirk at Amber's face as Shahero crowed about how she was special.

"A special case."

"Hey! If anyone's special Miyami, it's you."

"Damn right I'm special."

Kai looked up as he felt Amber's searing gaze penetrate into his thoughts. He sighed heavily, made a mental note that he'd probably be working on this assignment on his own, so it was best for him to get information from Shallow about it. "What's this project on?"

"Anything your heart desires as long as it relates to something on your course. It's not allowed to be wrriten about in depth in your texts, but it can be briefly mentioned. You have to get research on it, write up a paper and be able to write an essay on it for your summer exam. You also _must_ provide proof of research."

"How would we do that?" Robert asked looking up from his conversation with Oliver. They'd been going through their history book in search of something to start with.

"Well if you get it from books, you must state the name, the author and the page you found the information on. If it's from an internet page, provide the link to it. But make sure it's a proper site and not one that's going to disappear in the next week."

"Do we just put the book information in brackets after the piece of information we use?" Miyami wondered as Amber took notes and Shahero ordered Johnny to do the same while she busied herself with his virtual X's and O's game he kept on his key chain.

"Well you'd put the page number and initials in brackets but not the entire name. They're be a place for you to place all that information on your reference page which you'll hand up at the end of the exam. Oh and include the publisher's name and the date it was published as well, and if the books been done in editions, name the edition."

Amber groaned. "Is that all?"

"Yes that's all. It's not needed to be done until April. The latest date is mid May, but have the rough draft done for me to look over in April, then I can look over it and give you pointers to improve on it." He got up from his seat to retrieve his text book when he remembered something. "Oh and don't leave it to the last minute. Start it now, get an idea and do the research, just don't leave it too late otherwise it won't pull together properly. Now where's Ian?"

The class shrugged and turned back to their books when Shallow gave them a page to look up and read over while he went in search of the midget.

-x-

"So he just stole everything out of my locker, can you believe that?!" Amber demanded to an amused Ruin as they stood in the third floor female toilets. It was between classes and the two girls had decided to get away from the crowd so that Amber could bitch to her about Ian.

"It's Ian, of course I can believe it." Ruin stated as she studied her nails and winced, they needed a trim, though they would provide some fun in threatening Clover Nixon who had attacked her in the hall the other day for making a move on Tala. Ruin had been entirely too amused to actually knock the silly bitch into the next century but the next time she tried that trick, Clover would need serious plastic surgery.

Amber scowled at her reflection and ran a finger through her hair which had decided to curl itself into a ringlet which she couldn't understand. If she wore her hair down, it fell straight as a die, same when she tied it back, but when she wore half up, the half that was down started curling. Must have something to do with the density of the mass, she decided. "So how's everything with you?"

"Same as it was this morning. Unlike you, my life is never that interesting."

Amber shrugged. "Hey, is there something going on with you and Tala?"

Her Goth friend raised a brow. "Do you think there is?"

"I don't know. You're a really difficult person to read, Ruiny and as for T, well... I have no clue what to think. He watches you all the time though. But you probably know that." she added as an after thought.

A fluttering started under Ruin's heart. "Uh, what do you mean I probably would know that?"

"You notice everything." Amber stated as she entered a cubicle and came out with a length of tissue which she placed by the sink while she washed her hands. "I hate this soap, it smells funny."

Ruin nodded then casually watched Amber out of the corner of her eye. "What do you mean he watches me?"

Amber looked at her in the mirror. "He watches you. When you enter the room you attract his attention which means I'm left to repeat everything I say. And don't pretend you don't know that, cos you do."

Ruin shook her head. "I... why would he do that?"

Amber shrugged. "I don't know. He likes you would be the obvious assumption."

"Hmph."

"And what does that mean?"

"Nothing. Nothing at all, can we talk about something else?"

"Like?" Amber wondered as she wiped her hands on the tissue and crossed to dump it in the bin.

"I don't know. Tell me about Hiwatari, got any master plan to annoy the hell out of him?"

"It's still a work in motion. Me and him have to do a project together. Which sucks in my opinion. And we were only paired up because the idiot decided to turn up to class late."

Ruin smirked and bit the inside of her cheek when Amber cast her a dark look. "Sorry. I totally agree this is the end of the world."

"Mock me all you want." The petite Irish teen turned her Discman back on. "I gotta head to class, got Mrs. King now and no doubt she'll be wanting to know all about my books escapades."

Ruin chuckled and watched as Amber exited the bathrooms singing to herself. Ruin looked at her reflection, pressed her lips together and turned her Discman on before heading out herself. Íl níno assaulted her ears.

_This is hard to believe_

There was a reason she loved this song, not only the lyrics but also the music itself, it was like none of the other songs she listened to. And she'd listened to a lot of different music, what with her whole dorm having different musical tastes although they liked the same genre.

_I am not what you see_

She frowned when she caught sight of Clover and Kennedie Banks standing together by the lockers laughing -well Clover was laughing while Kennedie was smirking- at a sophomore who'd just tripped over her shoe laces. Ruin sighed, feeling for the girl she walked up and knew immediately when Kennedie had spotted her as her mauve eyes became cool and calculating as she nudged Clover. It was hard to believe that Kennedie and Sonia were cousins; they were so different. Kennedie had pale pink hair long and tied back in a plait all very innocent. Her mauve eyes were lined subtly in black and her lips were glossed over. She was very innocent and harmless. She wore the uniform perfectly and got good grades, just like Sonia. But she was a tease who liked nothing more than being amused by others plights. She did anything to find amusement in others. Her preferred victims were guys who didn't have a chance in hell with her but she'd lead them on and give them the idea that they did, or she played off friends against each other, which was why she'd dated Ozuma to annoy her perfect cousin. She and Ruin had a long standing dislike that went back to when she and Tala dated and Ruin talked him into dumping her.

_All the pressure is breaking down on me_

She approached them and crouched keeping her eyes on them as she lifted a fallen book and offered it to the girl. "You dropped this."

The sophomore looked up at Ruin surprised then a small watery smile flitted over her lips. "Thank you." she whispered.

Ruin nodded and rose slowly. "Don't you two have a class to head to? A guy to hump? Or something?"

Kennedie curled her lip haughtily while Clover snarled. "Maybe you should get a man to hump Morrigan, might put some colour in your cheeks."

Ruin tilted her head slightly in a salute. "You're right." she stated with a smirk as she caught sight of a familiar figure striding towards them. "Hey Tala, have you got some time to spare?"

_I will take what is mine_

Tala quirked a blood red brow as he approached the three girls with the kneeling sophomore in the middle who was watching the whole situation almost entranced. He wasn't sure what he was being asked, but the glint of wickedness in Ruin's eyes told him that Clover and Kennedie wouldn't like it. So he decided to play along. Besides Ruin's little plans were always amusing to him. She had a habit of getting inside someone's mind and using their own strengths and weaknesses against them, to play them in the hopes of gaining some amusement.

"Sure, how much do you need?"

Ruin tucked a tongue in her cheek. Now she could aim a blow at his ego which was be funny, but then he wasn't her intended target though he left himself open to be one. No, instead she decided to leave his healthy ego alone and focus on the other two.

_And won't waste any time_

Kennedie watched the play between them intrigued. She'd always suspected that there had been something beween the two of them while she'd been involved with Tala but there had been no proof. They'd never been caught making out or sharing intimate glances, in fact as far back as she could remember all they'd ever been was friends. It seemed, she realised as Tala ran his gaze over Ruin with an look of pure male interest, that their friendship had taken a twist since he'd arrived back. She wasn't sure how she felt about that. She had no grand delusions that she and Tala were fated to be but he had an amazing body, skilled hands and a very talented and imaginative mouth. And that had been when he was fourteen, he was bound to have improved in all areas' since his leave. She'd been looking forward to trying out her theory especially now that Ozuma refused to play nice anymore having become aware of his more than friendly interest in her sweet darling and ultimately gagworthy cousin. Then again, just because Mulryan and Tala had something going on didn't mean she couldn't try out her theory all the same. A guy like Tala would never stick with one girl, he would always be on the look out for a better model.

"Not too long, how's your stamina?"

"For you?" he tucked his tongue in his cheek as he contemplated it, then he glanced at his watch and sucked in breath though his teeth. "Ten minutes, if we get straight down to it and aren't delayed."

Ruin smirked inwardly. "There's a janitors closet down the corridor. Work for you?"

Tala tossed a look down the corridor. "Yeah sure." he turned to Clover and Kennedie. "Sorry ladies. But I have an engagement."

_Don't believe in what you want for me_

The sophomore blinked then snickered at the look as the boy and girl walked down the corridor, while the other two bitches glared at their backs. Before they could round on her she hurried down the hall eager to tell her friends about how the Goth girl got revenge on the slut sisters.

-x-

Ruin peeked out the janitor closet door out into the now deserted corridor. Rolling her shoulders, she turned back to Tala who was standing behind her, arms folded and his eyes watching her intently.

"They're gone." she said simply. "And there's about three more minutes to go. I say we could probably go now, I've proved my point to them."

"And what was that point?" Tala asked quietly but there was a certain bite to the words.

She jerked her shoulder. "I'm fed up with those two, thinking they're so much better than everyone else since they can hike their skirts up for any guy with an erection in the vacinity. "

"So you used me to get back at those two."

Ruin wanted to roll her eyes at his snappish comment, but she curbed the urge. "I didn't use you Tala. If I do, then you'll know about it." she said ending the conversation. She opened the door, but Tala caught her shoulder and pulled her back. "What's wrong?"

"I still have three more minutes. Figure I should get something from it."

She composed her features and gazed at him coolly. "I have to find Shahero before class starts."

"Ruin, if I didn't know any better I'd say you were scared." he drawled slowly, running his gaze over her features drinking her in.

Her brows shot up. "Scared, of what?"

"To be in the janitors closet with me."

"Why would I? Unless you plan to beat me up with a mop, which I doubt." she scoffed derisively.

He stepped forward but she wouldn't back down. Ruin never would, she could handle herself and she would. So he had to tread carefully other wise he could end up in an uncomfortable situation.

"What are you up to now?" she wondered in that derisive tone.

He smirked, he loved her voice. A woman's voice, it had always been so much more mature compared to every other girl he knew. It was like straight sex. "I'm getting my hands on you again." he told her simply as he used his body to back hers against the door.

Even as something inside her started to flutter, she aimed a cool disinterested look at him. Or what she thought was cool and disinterested, but he knew her better. Her eyelids fluttered down as his hand began to to skim up her sides inching her blouse up to feel her skin underneath. She felt cool and smooth, completely like her personality, but at his touch she began to tremble subtly.

"What makes you think I want your hands on me?"

"You going to tell me you don't?"

She contemplated that for a second, then her mind went blank as he leaned forward and keeping his gaze on hers, he began to toy with her lips.

She wasn't trembling so subtly now, he thought. He could feel the the quick involuntary shivers course through that compact body of hers but he kept the kiss slow and resisted the urge to dive headlong into it when her lips parted. His teeth scraped over her full bottom lip and a low moan sounded in her throat before she growled and fused her mouth to his. Her hands streaked up his body to wrap round his neck. She grabbed a fistful of red hair as her mouth fed from his. His tongue stroked against hers as his hands jerked her against the hard length of him. His taste, his scent everything about him drove her insane. All her best laid plans, all her attempts of staying the hell away from him and keeping him subtly at arms length went to hell when he touched her like that. It pissed her off that he could so easily dissolve the walls she so carefully constructed. Her head fell back as he scraped his teeth along her throat and his fingers tugged the shirt from his slacks to just touch his skin. She'd seen him so many times during their youth and in the weeks he'd been her stripped down to just a pair of trousers. He was pale perfection with that snow white skin with not a blemish in sight. And she'd desired to just run his hands over him. It was something she'd never been able to control but it was a healthy female reaction.

His mouth returned to hers as her nails scraping over his stomach had him sucking in a breath. He was losing himself in her, as her lips met his touch for touch. His slim pianist fingers played with the pressure points on her neck knowing exactly where to touch her to have her body melting against him, even as she took him under with another drugging kiss. He groaned as she nipped at his tongue then soothed it again. Somewhere a bell was ringing and it took him a while to realise that it was the bell to signal that class was starting. Actually it wasn't until Ruin pulled away that he understood what the bell was for.

She frowned at him then snarled. "Dammit. If I get detention..." she trailed off and concentrated on composing herself. Somewhere along the way her blouse had become unbuttoned.

He watched as her competent fingers did up the buttons and considered what it would be like to have her doing that in reverse order. "You never cared about detention."

She looked up and ran a hand briefly through her hair to untangle it. "Usually I wouldn't care, but Amber and Ian in detention together, no one would risk entering a room with those two. It's just not sane."

"And you're the Queen of Sanity."

She smirked. "Well I'm not the Queen of Insanity, I leave the ruling of that little realm to Hero."

He leaned against the wall and watched her, hoping for a way to stall her into spending more time with him. It was weird how much he liked being around her. Girls, unless they were actually just friends, were there for a quick good time and to be dropped when you were finished with them. Ruin wasn't to be dropped. She confused him. She wasn't just there for entertainment, since she was a friend but he couldn't help wanting to just nibble on that lower lip of hers. She had one hell of a mouth.

"So what are you the Queen of?"

"Bitchiness." she replied with a careless shrug. "I don't know. I'm not the queen of anything. I leave those little games and nicknames to Amber and the others."

He heard the loneliness in her tone. She always kept herself isolated from the others, a trigger reflex. She'd been hurt by her parents obvious neglect and disappointment in her, she didn't want to give anyone else the chance to hurt her, or, he thought, to heal her. She even kept Amber at arms length to a degree. He was betting Amber only knew what Ruin wanted her to know. Amber only saw what people wanted her to see, which made holding grudges and other stupid things like that so easy for her. Ruin wasn't that good at them because she could so clearly see the different sides in every argument. But he could see the loneliness and the pain in her so carefully guarded eyes, because if she thought about it, they were similar.

"Ruin's a nickname." He replied.

She nodded. "And thank god for it." she gathered her bag. "Who the hell comes up with a name like Morrigan anyway?"

He chuckled. She was back to herself for the moment.

"I have to go. I'll see you around."

"You will." he stated as she exited the closet and left him alone for a while.

A few minutes later and he was composed enough to exit the room. He closed the door and scanned the corridor, then turning to walk off he caught sight of movement to his left. He sighed as he saw Amber leaning against the wall smirking at him. She'd been in a fight with Ian again, it seemed, since her blouse was rumpled and gaping open to reveal a tank top with some words he could make out on it. Her hair was pulled out here and there were smudges of ink on her face. She made quite a sight and the smirk on her face, which told him she knew what he'd been up to and who with, made him sigh. She was coming back to him and he hadn't really noticed how much he'd needed that. Her acceptance, her love was something he'd closed himself off to and had made him hollow. Now he was greedily taking anything she offered and using that to fill it up.

"I know what you were doing." she announced in a sing-song tone as she clasped her hands together and pushed away from the wall.

"I can guess what you were doing and it probably wasn't nearly as enjoyable."

"Wanna bet?" she demanded lightly.

She looked very pleased with herself, which meant she came out on top in the fight with Ian or else, she had a good plan for him later.

"It can't be compared." he stated slinging an arm round her shoulder casually as he lead her up the corridor.

"Maybe, I guess I wouldn't really know." she said softly.

He caught the wistful tone and squeezed her shoulder. "You'll find the right one sometime, Benz. You just have standards and won't settle for less than your worth."

"Great, I'll just sidle through the rest of my high school life without ever having a boyfriend." she grumbled half-heartedly since it didn't really bother her. It only sneaked up on her at odd moments, otherwise she wouldn't even think on it.

"The guys in this school are a bunch of idiots anyway. Why would you want one of them as a boyfriend?"

She shrugged. "I don't. Not really. But it kind of takes a whack to your confidence, you know, actually you probably wouldn't. But sometimes I think I'm pretty, but then why don't I even have a guy like me? I don't want a boyfriend but some interest wouldn't do my ego any harm."

He leaned his head on her hair. "You're gorgeous and your time will come. Don't worry."

She nodded under his head and felt slightly better. She may not have a boyfriend but she had friends, good ones who cared. That meant a lot, to her anyway. "So how's Ruin?"

"Awkward. I don't know what to do with her."

"Tala, she's not a thing. She's a person, no matter how much she tries to shrug away that humanity that clings to her. You don't do anything with her, you treat her well and with respect."

He rubbed a hand through his hair. "Hold on." he pulled her to the side and began to do up the buttons on her shirt.

"Jeez, didn't think you'd ever be doing up my shirt. You'll have eye brows raising all over the school." she quipped making him grin.

"Shut up Benz. You're missing a couple of buttons."

"Yeah Ian ripped it when he tried to put an egg on my head but I jabbed him in the gut so it smashed in his hand." she snickered.

"And you wonder why you don't have a boyfriend."

"Pssh, way I see it, if a guy doesn't like me for who I am, then he's not worth it."

"Damn right Benz." he agreed, trying to fix her hair while she rolled her ochre eyes.

"What are you, Mother Goose? Quit fussing."

He smiled and flicked the tip of her nose downwards making her scrunch up her face and rub it. "We're late for the Dragon, Benz."

"Ooh, yeah. Oh well, you were helping me get cleaned up."

He nodded. "She lets you away with anything for some reason."

"Yeah." Amber murmured then shrugged. "Still I wouldn't lie to her too often. I respect her too much, like you respect a tiger. You admire it, but you're damn well aware that it can kill you."

"Nice analogy Benz."

"I'm full of them. Hey, are you trying to set a record of how many times you can say Benz in one conversation, and what happened to Benny?"

"You're more grown up now, so therefore you should be called Benz. And I think I'll reserve Benny for when I need something."

"OKies, I'll keep that in mind."

They turned down the stairway to the second floor to room 203. "You done that homework?"

Tala shuddered. "Do I look like I care about Willy Loman? The mans a nut job."

"The whole family's a failure and they don't listen to each other. Oh well. And the guy's delusional not a nut job."

"Same diff in my mind."

"Same diff... That doesn't make any sense."

Tala laughed and was still chuckling as they entered 203. Mrs. King shot them a disapproving look but she was glad to see some of the colour had returned to Amber's face. The girl had been looking pale the last while and it was nice to see those two finally working it out. She'd had half a mind that if they still hadn't worked things out she'd place them in detention together. She rose a brow as she caught sight of how Kai Hiwatari, the new student, watched them with a look that wasn't very friendly. She sighed. High school life was never dull. And neither was MacBeth, she thought opening the book, though her class would disagree.

-x-

Mariam waved cheerily to a group of her friends in the chemistry lab who were standing around the counters in white lab coats. Some noticed her and waved back but others were too lost in their notes or their experiments. The past couple of weeks were really beginning to work out well for her. This year was pretty good. She was prefect, well on her way to being head girl, was doing well in all her classes, had great friends, would be cheer captain next year and had the hottest looking guy in the school as her boyfriend. Yeah life was working out pretty well for her. Of course things would be handier if Amber would stop baiting Kai. It was getting to the point that being around the Irish girl was becoming an annoyance. If Kai would just ignore her when Amber said anything then it would be fine. But he seemed to have the same trouble that Amber had; they just couldn't keep their mouth shut.

She'd just come from her Maths class and had fifteen minutes before French. Languages was one of her strong suits, something she didn't have to worry about. Kai was good with languages too, and when he was in the mood, he helped her study for tests but he was tutoring Ruin Mulryan. She wasn't sure how to feel about that. Ruin was interested in Tala right? But then again Ruin gave off this whole woman of experience aura, would that appeal to Kai when they were alone in the library on Friday nights? Nah, Ruin was completely not his type.

She barely stifled the yelp as she was yanked into a dark room, which she vaguely recognised as the janitors closet. She turned round slowly and smirked up at Kai who was holding a finger to his mouth.

"Hey." he murmured.

"Hi. How are you?"

He shrugged and waited as usual for her to make the first move. He got her in here only because she wouldn't have known he was here, so he didn't consider that the first move. He liked her to make the first move, which meant she had to come to him. Chasing after females was pointless and his father had made a point that if you chased after a female that meant she meant something. Kai wasn't going to let any girl mean something. He was too young and had his whole hockey career in front of him. Mariam didn't understand hockey. She hadn't understood his frustration with the draw with the Indians and she couldn't comprehend how a draw was worse than a loss. But she was a girl, so what did he expect.

"Well my day was good." Sometimes having a proper conversation with him was like getting blood from a stone. Impossible. "I heard about Amber and Ian's little incident this morning."

Kai sighed closing his eyes. "Can we not talk about that person?"

She smirked though inside she was feeling uneasy. "Who? Amber or Ian?"

"Both."

"So why did you bring me in here?"

He looked round studying the small closet. "Seemed like as good a place as any."

She quirked a derisive brow. "Real romantic." she said dryly but she approached him and slid her arms so they hooked around his neck. Her lips curved as they met his and she sank slowly into the kiss as his mouth moved agilely over hers.

-x-

Amber dashed at the single tear that rolled down her cheek. She breathed in a deep breath even as her body trembled with the strain.

"I can't believe the immaturity." Mrs Tate snapped out as she surveyed the scene in front of her. Students had gathered around to see what was going on and most of them smirked at the sight.

Ian was snarling viciously while Spencer restrained him. Finally Amber could take it no more and broke down into a fresh fit of giggles.

"Miss Benson, I don't see how this is very funny." But, though Tate said that, her lips twitched as the girl stumbled and tried to stay on her feet while Ian grumbled looking overly pitiful with his shirt dyed with pink water which Amber had managed to dump over him and flood the second floor with. Judy sighed and rubbed a hand over her face. "Spencer take Ian up to the dorm. Since you both already have detention, well I'll find something. Amber come with me, and you can clean up the mess."

Amber managed to the stifle her laughter enough to wave Ian off but when he growled and lunged only to be lifted off his feet by Bryan, she only lapsed into more giggles. Judy shook her head and lead the girl down the corridor to the stair well. "I don't know Amber. You're a senior now. You should have some common sense."

"I do. It just goes on vacation sometimes."

"Maye already dislikes you, you're not proving yourself to her."

"Ah well, my life is now officially over." Amber wailed mockingly. "Sorry miss." she apologised when Judy sent her a look of disapproval. "But Maye, is a..." she blew a raspberry instead of saying her particular word of choice. "Ah but Ian's face miss, you must admit."

Judy sighed but her lips twitched. She couldn't help it. Ian had looked funny with his white shirt covered in red food dye... "Amber where did you get the dye?"

The Irish girl grinned. "Sophomores were making pretty pastry's with pink icing, so I borrowed some to make pink water and didn't Ian look cute."

"Well you're going to mop up the second floor Amber."

"That doesn't bother me."

Hmm, Judy thought, detention wasn't much of a deterrent anymore and with Amber and Ian's escapades becoming more and more outrageous and affecting the entire school, they really needed to find something else for them. She cast Amber a look and shook her head. Amber was in detention almost as much as Shahero Kaeto, it was rediculous.

Various students along the third floor watched their Science teacher approach with Amber in tow. Johnny and Kane who'd been in the process of filling a couple of water balloons' by the drinking fountain quickly hurried off in the opposite direction to the other flight of stairs. Amber watched them go as Judy opened the Janitors closet. She turned to enter and almost walked straight into a stationary Judy.

"Uh..." she trailed off as Mariam and Kai untangled themselves. Oh shit, she thought as Judy folded her arms and tapped her foot in expectation.

"Miss..." Mariam trailed off and glared accusingly at Amber who made a helpless gesture.

"Mariam I expected better of you. This is a janitors closet, not a damn brothel. Get yourselves fixed up. Since you have a prefect meeting Mariam you're excused from detention, but you Mr. Hiwatari on the other hand will be there."

Amber winced. Great detention with the sourpuss. Oh yay! She looked up as Judy said something to her. "Huh?"

"Get the mop Amber."

"Oh yeah, right."

Judy sighed and promptly left leaving Amber with the mussed couple. Whistling innocently she crossed to Kai. "You're in front of the mop, could you move."

"If I didn't know any better I would think you got the teacher up here on purpose." Kai stated glaring down at her.

"Well you do know better." Amber snapped. "I have better things to do than go around setting the teachers on you two. Because in my little world, you two aren't together and in my little world, you're _still_ gay!"

Mariam made a sound of outrage but the petite Irish woman had had it for today and rounded on her. "Don't start with me Mariam. It's not my fault you chose to come up _here_ of all places. How many couples have been caught up here?!" she demanded and had grim satisfaction of seeing Mariam blush. "If you want privacy then go down to the closet in the gym complex. None of the teachers would think of catching students in there because it's too far away."

"How would you know?" Kai suddenly asked; looking up buttoning his shirt.

"Common sense." she growled. "But obviously when you're thinking with your dick you don't use common sense."

Mariam scowled and folded her arms. "We wouldn't have been caught if you hadn't spilled water or whatever."

"Piss off. Just go away Mariam before I say something I regret." The older teen said dismissively shoving Kai out of her way to drag out the mop and bucket.

Mariam stared at her, then with a flip of her hair she gave Kai a brief kiss then stormed out of the closet. Kai glared at the sullen girl who looked ready to break. "That was harsh."

Amber rocked back on her heels and looked up at him. "That was and still is none of your business, now clear off."

He stepped away but didn't leave. This was another side to her and her voice had changed, darkened and sounded more mature. She seemed to have so many facades to her, but none of them seemed to be constant. She flipped a switch and she'd change. She was diligent student in class, conducting debates about various topics without resulting to hurling insults. She liked playing pranks with her friends and she was good at thinking them up. She liked revenge, she liked action films and cartoons'. She could be pure bitchy and extremely petty. she didn't care about her looks and was comfortable in her Pj's. Her family was the most important thing in the world to her, and she would defend her friends with her life but at the same time would take them down if and when they were getting too up themselves. And she completely and utterly despised him. She was an enigma and completely confusing and it bugged him that he couldn't peg her exactly.

"It was my fault, I didn't know this place was caught so often."

She pinned him with a dark look and he was sure she was going to spew something at him, but instead she shrugged. "Doesn't matter. Mariam should know better. But I guess she's not the one who's going to be in detention, so whatever." She snatched the mop from the bucket and kicked the tin can back into it's resting place. She had just walked to the door, before she turned back to him. "Did you call me a bubble head earlier?"

He rose a brow. "A bubble head?" if he did, he was sure he would have remembered.

"Yeah like air head?" she tapped her foot impatiently watching him as he stepped forward.

"When was this?"

"In history."

"No, I didn't, because air constitutes as something." he knocked on her head as he knocked on the wooden door siumultaeneously. "See you have nothing."

She snarled and glared daggers at his back as he strode confidently down the corridor. Suddenly she laughed and shook her head. "What a weird guy?!"

-x-

Detention wasn't exactly what Kai had been expecting. Since he'd managed to avoid the whole place so far, he was pleasantly surprised when he entered to find the room was almost empty but for Shahero Kaeto, Ian Petrovich, Benson, a green haired guy from the JV team and some guy from another year that he didn't recognise but who was sleeping anyway. He looked round to see the Teacher was reading a book and wasn't paying any particular attention to anyone. Shahero was scribbling something furiously while Ember was reading something but every so often she'd look up and smirk over in Ian's direction causing Shahero to grin if she caught the look.

The green haired guy was building something out of empty pens and sellotape which he kept borrowing from Shahero. Kai dropped onto a vacant seat and lounged back in his chair then hissed as he felt something poke his neck. Turning round he caught sight of Amber innocently reading.

"You weren't sitting there a minute ago." he hissed.

She shrugged. "I decided to play musical chairs. Don't like it, don't sit there then."

He growled. "Don't poke me."

"Just be thankful I didn't draw a smiley face."

They lapsed into silence for a few minutes. After around ten of them doing basically nothing, someone knocked on the door. The Teacher got to his feet and answered it to see Hitoshi standing there. They talked in low murmurs, then the DT guy gathered his stuff and headed out the door. Hitoshi strode in and dropped into the lounging chair behind the desk and lazily scanned the detention crew and smirked. Yep there she was, concentrating on staring out the window while Kevin Wong stabbed her with a pen. Snarling, and he happened to enjoy watching that mouth snarl at him, she rounded on Kevin then passed him a pen. She turned her gaze back to window but not before her gaze locked with his for a brief yet electric moment. He watched her stiffen then roll her shoulders then she tuned him out.

Ams was staring into space mouthing lyrics to the songs coming from her earphones as she tapped her foot against Kai's chair. Hitohsi watched amused as Kai's jaw clenched then his hand whipped out and snagged her leg causing her to yelp and her chair to wobble on two legs.

"Fuck off Hiwatari." she snapped, yanking her leg from his grip.

"Then keep your feet to yourself."

"Ams!"

Amber snapped her gaze to Hitoshi. "What?"

"What CD you listening too?"

"Mixed." she informed him unhooking her earphones.

Hitoshi got to his feet and approached her table keeping an eye on how Shahero tensed at his approach. He leaned against Amber's desk and lifted the case to review the contents.

"So who's on it?"

"INME, Lostprophets, ASH-"

"Ah right, the ones I've never heard of before."

Amber glowered. "Not my fault you have crap music taste, right Hero?"

"Hmm? Uh, yeah." Shahero muttered distracted. She caught Hitoshi's reflection in the window watching her and she could feel it burning into her.

"Convince me then."

Amber quirked a brow. "How?"

"Play it. Choose your best songs and let me hear them?"

She gaped at him, then jumped out of her seat before skidding to a halt at the CD player. "Okies, um... what do you want to hear?"

"Surprise me." he drawled.

"Hey, Shahero what should I play?"

Shahero shrugged. "How should I know what _he_ likes?!" she demanded only sweeping her gaze up to meet his for a heartbeat before looking back at her friend.

"Fine. Kev, what song of INME's do you like? You have a choice of Gelosea, Faster the Chase, Neptune or Wounds."

Kevin thought about it while rubbing his nose. "First one."

"Right." Amber punched in the number then hoisted herself up on to a table.

_Why don't you came and feed me?-- Feed me all my memories-- And I'll wash it down with all of your goodness-- Your goodness-- I guess I won_

Amber sang easily with the song and smirked as Shahero was drawn in. Hitoshi crossed his ankles and amused himself by watching her. She was annoyingly addictive to be around. The past couple of weeks trying to ignore her hadn't worked. She popped up every where. So he figured why try and fight it, being around her seemed to annoy her more than it annoyed him which was just how he liked it.

_But I just can't seem to change,-- You lied to me, You lied to me,-- You don't even know my name,--There is good in me and it's proud to love you,_

Why was Hitoshi watching Kaeto so much? It almost seemed like the JV coach was interested in her, but didn't that break some rule, somewhere? Well Benson didn't seem to notice. She was too lost in the song. As usual she was caught up in herself more than others, Kai thought grimly. They had practice after this. And that would mean more of his father observing her and talking to her as thoughshe was his long lost daughter. Something was completely off there, and he'd find out what.

_I chose to be a dreamer-- But your reality seems sweeter-- To taste it would turn my whole life around and around-- I guess I won-- But I just can't seem to change-- You lied to me, You lied to me-- You don't even know my name-- There is good in me and it's proud to love you--I am containing what is real for something I cannot conceal-- I am containing what is real for something I cannot conceal-- I guess I won-- I guess I won-- I guess I won-- I guess I won-- But I just can't seem to change-- You lied to me, You lied to me-- You don't even know my name-- There is good in me and it's proud to love you-- But I just can't seem to change-- You lied to me, You lied to me-- You don't even know my name-- There is good in me and it's proud to love you-- true-- ooh-- ooh-- ooh-- ooh-- ooh-- ooh-- ooh--_

The rest of the song past and Amber was already prancing back to the CD player. "What now? Lost prophets. What song?

"Shinobi."

Amber pinched her nose. "I dunno... Hito, you ever hear Shinobi?"

Hitoshi blinked at her. "What? What the hells Shinobi?"

"I don't know Hero... might be a bit too advanced for Hito."

"Whatever she can listen to, I can." Hitoshi snapped.

But still Amber was far from convinced. She wanted Hito to like it. She liked it when people liked the same stuff she did. It meant she could listen to it without any one complaining and winning Hito over would be a bonus. He was always critising her music when he was at her house.

_A photograph left by my feet-- Reminds me of times once left behind-- A distance, A well worn fact-- These things left to past but I feel that-- I've seen too many complications-- Never going to waste my time-- You might find out-- Never will doubt-- Harder to pretend_

Shahero made a face that she didn't agree with Amber's choice but Amber shrugged and continued singing.

_Tell me that it's worth fighting-- Tell me that I don't hear-- Tell me that I'm alive-- And I don't need happiness--_

"So what are you guys in DT for?" Hitoshi asked turning to Kai.

"Caught in the Janitors closet."

_This station, So empty-- Find safety in your broken heart-- A steady smile, A well worn frown-- Time gets you down but I know that you-- Seen too many complications-- Never going to waste my time-- You might find out-- Never could doubt-- Harder to pretend--_

Hitoshi winced. "Ouch. Third floor?" when Kai merely nodded he chuckled. "Try the Gym complex next time. No one ever goes down to that one. What bout you Ian? Oh right, assembly this morning. What did she do to you?"

"Stabbed me." Ian grunted.

_Tell me that it's worth fighting-- Tell me that I don't hear-- Tell me that I'm alive-- And I don't need happiness--_

"Fuck Benson, Kaeto's rubbing off on you."

Amber shrugged still singing. Shahero just glared at him.

"What did you get in here for?"

She rolled her eyes. "Right now I wish it was for castrating a certain male member of staff."

_You don't-- You don't-- Don't-- Don't-- Don't-- Don't -- You might find out-- Never could to doubt-- Harder to pretend_

He smirked, desire darkening his gaze. Why the hell did he have to be attracted to a girl who was younger than him, she was a school girl for Christs sake. She didn't even have much of a body, but she was Shahero and as long as she was, he would want her. "You wouldn't do that to me."

"You're right. I wouldn't want that part of your anatomy anywhere near me."

"So you wouldn't object to any other part of my anatomy, then?"

_Tell me that it's worth fighting-- Tell me that I don't hear-- Tell me that, Tell me that what's it's that I feel-- _

She hissed. "Fuck off Kinomiya."

_A permanent smile with a well worn frown-- (tell me, tell me)-- But I know you'll be gone when I walk on down-- (tell me, tell me)-- And I'm sick of the feeling that you're not around-- (but I know)-- Nobodies falling apart-- (that I)-- Don't need to know what you're thinking now-- (don't care) -- You don't-- Don't-- Don't-- Don't_

"No seriously what are you in here for?"

"Threw a water bomb at Devenny. Figured he deserved it and after chasing me round the school, he got Maye to announce I had detenion, for a whole week, over the PA system."

"Not bad Kaeto."

"I've done better."

This time he grinned making her heart trip. "Like the computer virus?"

Shahero smirked wickedly. "There's no proof to say that was me."

Was it any wonder he desired this girl?!Life was never boring and no one was ever safe.

"Nah, but we all know that was your geniusness and we're not finished with her yet." Amber decided.

"What are you planning?"

Amber looked at Hitoshi making sure the others were too obsessed with Green days new song on her CD to be bothered with her. "Can we count on your help if we need it?"

He frowned. "Don't underestimate Maye, guys."

"Why would you need his help?"

Amber sighed at her friends angry outburst. "I'll need his help. He's a member of the facutly now, which puts him in a very good position."

"He probably wouldn't help us get at her anyway." Shahero grumbled. "He'd probably warn her."

Hitoshi scowled and was about to retort when he caught the flicker in Shahero's blue blue eyes. "You're not jealous are you, Kaeto?"

"No." She scoffed even as her pulse began to race at the look in his eyes.

Amber rolled her eyes at the age old game between them, even as she envied her friend. That banter between those two, which could loosely be described as flirting showed he was attracted to Shahero. He went out of his way to talk to her even if it did annoy her. He always watched her and, Amber thought as she watched him draw Shahero close to nuzzle her neck even as Shahero half heartedly squirmed to get away, he took every opportunity to touch her. Shahero was lucky, even if Hitoshi was a prat, he was fucking gorgeous one. That had to do her ego some good knowing someone like him liked her.

"Piss off Kinomiya or I swear I will castrate you." Then again maybe it didn't.

"You're exciting me." Hitoshi laughed.

"I'll sue you for harrassment."

"You have no witnesses."

"I do, I have everyone here." she claimed.

Hitoshi watched amused as she looked round only to notice that the boys had averted their gaze and were either listening to the music or doing homework and paying no attention to where Kinomiya's hands were currently sitting. She scowled at them and hoped they'd all rot in hell for leaving her at the mercy of Hitoshi Kinomiya. Shit, the guy probably didn't even have any mercy.

"See, no witnesses."

"I have Amber."

"Benson?" Hitoshi sneered. "Who's going to take her word over mine?"

"Uh, everyone." Shahero deadpanned.

"You wish." he scoffed. "They all know that Benson would lie through her teeth for you."

Hitoshi released her abruptly and they jumped apart when the door opened. Both breathed a sigh of relief when it was only Bryan and Spencer.

Bryan's lilac eyes sought out his cousin. "You ready?"

Amber grinned. "Oh yeah."

Hitoshi frowned. "I may be lenient but you can't leave detention."

Amber grinned maliciously. "I'm not leaving."

"Then why are Bryan and Spencer here."

"Payback." as she said it, she walked to the back off the room and yanked open the window.

Kevin sat up rigid in seat, eagerly anticipating what was to come as Shahero joined her friend. Bryan grabbed Ian and hauled him to his feet. Once there Spencer grabbed said feet and they carried Ian towards the window ignoring his frantic struggles.

"Oh shit." Hitoshi murmured to a bemused Kai and delighted Kevin.

"Let me go. C'mon guys let me go. I'm gonna kill you Amber."

"Be a bit difficult if you're brains splattered all over the ground." Amber declared breezily, her ochre eyes glittering. "How far up are we Shahero?"

"Not too far. We're on the second floor but then this wing has the basement."

"Three floors up." Amber let out a low impressed whistle. "Not bad. If they dropped you Ian, you'd probably only break a couple of bones."

"And bruise a few ribs."

"And Tala can tell you that, that would hurt."

Hitoshi sighed. This was going too far. "Guys drop him."

"I say we hang him by his pants from the window." Kevin suggested earning a glare from Ian.

"This would be around the height that you dropped that water onto me, wouldn't it Ian?" Shahero estimated. "I never got you back for that."

Amber peeked out the window to guage the distance. The ground swam before her eyes and had the blood draining from her face. She popped back in, gulping air. "Oops forgot I was afraid of heights."

Shahero face faulted. "Be careful would ya?!"

"Sorry. Now Ian admit I won and stop these childish pranks or they hang you from the window."

Ian felt a cold layer of sweat break out over his body. He hated heights. His mouth went bone dry as he remembered the dull hard thud when his bag was tossed out the window. His heart quickened and he swallowed painfully.

"Put him down." Kai ordered them coolly. "You wouldn't injure one of your own teammates so this is an empty threat Benson, I expected better."

"Don't challenge her for Christs sake." Ian wailed.

Amber ground her teeth. "I might not do it to Ian, but I've given it a lot of consideration when it comes to you." she retorted. "Put Ian down, but I'm serious if you annoy me anymore. I'll get you back worse."

Bryan and Spencer dropped Ian unceremoniously in a heap on the floor. The midget scrambled to his feet and dusted off his pants. "Dammit Ams, you can be such a bitch."

"It wasn't my idea. It was Shahero's." Amber confessed then grabbing her bag she left the room.

Glancing at the clock, Shahero noticed it was time to go. "Sorry Ian, but you deserved it. You guys coming?"

Spencer nodded following her while Ian trailed them at a distance. Bryan hung back long enough for Kevin and the other guy to leave and for Hitoshi to move to the other side of the room. He appraoched Kai as the captain gathered his stuff.

Leaning close, he kept his voice low. "You don't like my cousin, that's fine. As a matter of fact, she doesn't like you much either. But if I find out you've hurt her in any way shape or form then I'll hurt you. And I know many ways to make a man feel pain without leaving a single mark."

Even though his pulse had hitched, Kai kept his tone cool. "Is that a threat?"

"No, it's a promise." with that Bryan walked off, hands in his pockets, his gait easy.

Hitoshi waited till he left before joining Kai. "You made an enemy there."

The younger bluenette shook his head. "Malkovich always disliked me."

Hitoshi shook his head. "You existed before hand, and he had no real feelings towards your existance. Now he does, he dislikes it."

Kai involuntarily shuddered. "Whatever."

"Bryan always makes good on his promises so tread carefully."

"What bugs me is how can a girl who's plain ornery have earned such undivided loyalty?"

"Maybe she's more than just plain ornery." Hitoshi replied before leaving Kai alone.

-x-

**Snickers I don't care what anyone says but the thought of Ian being hung from a window amuses me. We did that to Ryan, ha! That wimp screamed his heart out, especially when his bag went out the window and landed with a thud!! LMAO!! Anyway, not much in that chapter. TALA!!! Did every see the Amber/Tala moment?? They're mucho important, in fact they're everything to me. **

**Reviewers: **

**Grandsummon: **Nah I don't mind as long as you review. So you passed you JC, I'm so pleased. I was watching the fourth years around where I work get their results and I was wondering how you and Zimo were getting on, so you had my thoughts. Jeez, L/H chapter 21 part one!! Do people not understand there's a part two? I never knew how much people would over react to their not being together. Amber and Ian are my fave's. It's great to just have them duke it out and not have to worry about inserting feelings and shit, cos the whole romance angle is such a dud in this story. And they're just great to write. The store I described is where I work and I sold the Tigers to a man who's son was going to Belfast for a heart operation. Meh, I sold them for €60 which sucked cos he got them on the first day of the sale, if not I would have sold them for €121. I don't think Ruin or Tala know what's going on. They aren't really together because they've been friends so it's weird, but they just make out and stuff when they're alone. Neither wants to bring feelings into the mix. Tala's super duper, man. Would I hurt him? Puh-lease. He's my fave out of everyone, even Kai at times. Amber and Kai... ::growls in frustration:: Every time I try to write a nice moment between them I can hear one of them fuck it up by saying something stupid. And Nicolai... he's really getting a good part in this fic now. I love Nico, even though he doesn't get much in L/H since he's dead and all, I just love him.

**T.k-Kon: **I don't think we should be attacking Dicklynn, just yet. I still need him for the Arista story line. ::Grumbles::

**Krixel:** I know it's so weird when those two aren't friends, 'cept in Trinity: The Virgin Suicide, they aren't friends so I'm sitting there going... who's Amber going to say this stuff to? Mariam gets on my nerves sometimes... guess it's me being an Amber/Kai supporter and then I look at her and I completely understand why a guy would like her, can't do the same with Amber. Must get Tari's pic out again. But this fic is not as much about physical attraction... well for Amber and Kai anyways. Feeling sorry for Ian... yeah can't see that myself. Aw I was so proud of Tala saving Amber. No one seems to be pissed with Kai for sending her out there...huh... And I saved Nicolai's butt from being kicked by having him have the heart to heart with Amber, if he hadn't people would have been wailing about him not knowing about Salvadov. But I love Nico so I'll do anything so people see him in a good light. As for Brooklyn, Garland and Boris, well I just thought I'd shove them in for the craic.

**Darkwolf-of-night: **Amber hasn't seen her godparents in ages, she'd not be thinking along the lines that Nicolai would be her godfather. She doesn't think that way. Sorry I haven't got round to reviewing, ask Arcada... I never review when I've already read something, I have to be reminded and prodded a lot to do so.

**Rayne**: My school was shit too. I like my imaginary one better. Lol. It's the same every where, I notice people care more about themselves, so I write a world where they don't. Where friendship and family matter. Everyone's insecure, they either just hide it very well or those who hide it very well are probably the most insecure. Vanity is a form of insecurity and everyone's vain to a degree.

**Ryouya-Kyuuketsuki**: Yeah it probably hurt like hell, but all noble things do.

**Signourney**: Wow, big compliment? Everyone seems so natural, I guess because to me they're all so real to me. They don't fit into a mold the way they should when I'm writing them.

**G--b-S-t-E-r07**: The Gnome wars rocked, but are now over. I think, hope. I love Nico and Tala, Kai's just awkward. He never does what I want him to do. It's hard to describe, but if I try to write him being nice to her, a really mean thought will pop into my head for him to say and it goes down on Paper, so they move one step forward and two steps back.

**Ayuka-chan**: I'll see if I can fit her in, it may be hard given her attitude.

**KaieshaKai**: Yeah Tala's great. I love him mucho lots.

**Swoosh-98**: Your cottage sounds like a vacation to me. Lol, poor Shahero... ::snickers:: Well she gets her revenge so that's not so bad. Kai's afraid of heights. That'll be in chapter 13. I think. Um, I agree to all statements. Boris is evil, Garland's... ::shudders:: Aw poor you, school'll be over before you know it.

**Twerp**: Chapter ten was already written so yeah it was when. I have 11 and 12 written so they're both a given. It's just hard with so many OC's, I feel like I'm forgetting some of them or neglecting them which I don't want to do.

**Smiley-Joe**: All reviews start of weird. I find the weirdest one to be, you updated, cos I feel like going duh... I did?! And then scratch my head like a ape or something. If they say something after that, then it's ok, but the people who just review and say that, well it's kind of a given that if they're reading it, I updated. Meh, whatever as long as people review, I just wish they'd give me more feedback, but you always do which is why I always look forward to your reviews. Aw you're worried about Treasa. I love Treasa, the coolest mom. Tala was amazing in this chapter. Let's bow down a worship him... then again maybe not. But yay, I'm really making up for the lack of Amber/Tala in the first few chapters. If you notice it's more Amber/Tala than Amber/Kai lol. Ruin... I don't know how to describe her, she just balances very well with Amber. I love her a lot too and I'm glad people like her. Um... I stand for a couple of Kai/OC pairings. But if you notice my little clique only uses one Kai/OC pairing, Amber and Kai. Then there's Charity and Kai, and I use to like Kai and Liika, but I don't anymore as much. And Kat/Kai... for a little while. Prefer her with Johnny now. I feel empty without my usual dose of Devilish Desires and hello, did you read Xanny's new fic?? Amber's like about to die!!! ::growls:: I'm still pissed about that!!

**Settican**: I can't skate for dick, one try and I ended up on my ass as well. But there's no rink near us and we only have one ice hockey team but they're damn good. Go Giants!! Mighty Ducks D3 rocks!! Woot Woot!!

**Angel of the living dead**: I update pretty non regularly. When I need a review boost, then I update or if the comp will let me.

**Buttercup**: You're named after my fave powerpuff girl, you cannot be ignored, lol. Kai is really warming to the team, just not a certain member of the team. L/H was updated, right?

**Moi**: Heya. Ruin is very observant and very protective of Amber. Yeah I suppose it would have been rushing things. They're still not getting along in chapter 12 for gods sake, so annoying. I'm working Miriam out of the picture as we speak, lol. It'll work, at least I think it will. You have to remember why Kai took an interest in Miriam in the first place.

**Midnight Insanity**: Nah it's not strange. Believe me, in L/H the person I think Ams will miss the most is Tala, then Kai and Bryan. Nicolai is cool, the father she should have had. Maybe will have a fic about that, maybe. Ian is amazing to bully, though I should point out that what Amber and Shahero are doing to Ian is bullying. And Hitoshi and Shahero have been neglected recently. Must fix that.

**Miss Wright**: Well I'm very pleased with how this story is panning out. Though if people hadn't reviewed and asked about it, I probably would have forgotten it. How mean would that have been? Amber and Kai should work together very well next time on the ice, Tala and Amber are completely back on track now, and Ruin and Tala are complicated, very much so. One more chapter before Johnny and Miyami, soz. The Ian pranking has kind of died after this chapter, but it picks up now and again through the next couple of chapters.

**Kat**: I agree with the Ian statement. You can only love him or hate him. I adore him, but I need him to be bullied, but he always gets his own back which makes it fair. Stupidity ruled when it came to the Shahero thing, definitely. Amber and Kai are always bitching at each other, whether they're together or not, lol. As for Tala, I just love him and Ruin's thoughts are very observant and she sees a lot. Yeah supposedly Zareth is real... aw man!!! ::whimpers::

**Leina**: Well Nicolai keeps an eye on Amber, Kai doesn't much care either way.

**Alexis: Digital Survivor**: Nah Hitoshi isn't Justins father in this. Cáit has changed her fics, her new one is the one to go by. She couldn't use Hitoshi because he's Shahero's and we don't pinch each other's men.

**Grand admiral chelli**: The Beserkers are really cool. I now have them arranged in the shop so that they're worshipping the big Gnome with the beer tankard. Lol. Yeah Ian gives as good as he gets, keeps Amber on her toes when going up against Kai. Lol.

**StarAngel Caelum SunSoar**: Thankies.

**ArcadaAvalon**: Kai and Amber won't be related, I don't think. Nicolai is her Godfather, no blood relation, but should anything happen to her parents she'd go to live with Nicolai and Jean, or technically she would. But with her family she'd probably live with Bryan or Seth. But her and Kai are in no way blood related, they barely even know each other, so it's ok. Aw thankies for the compliments, they make my head swell, more will mean I don't have to go to work. More please. Yeah Shahero and Hito, rock. As for Amber losing her voice, go ahead. You know I trust you and love your fics, big time!!


	11. Bring Back Capital Punishment!

****

Disclaimer: I don't own Beyblade. I only own Amber Marie Benson, Nicolai and Jean Hiwatari and Ruin Mulryan. **Miyami Kinomiya** belongs to Unlucky-star, or Tari. (Thanks for the picture of Amber; it totally rocks!! ) **Shahero Kaeto** and the Kaeto family belong to Coors and her hockey stick. **Arista Belyaev** is the inspired creation of ArcadaAvalon she who does disappearing acts. **Aspin Grant** has Animerle's name stamped on her butt. **Sonia Martini** is Spitfiresae's. **Kirby Preston-Lee** is owned by KindredInsanity. **Zareth Forest **came courtesy of Zimo.

A.N. Ok just to make a note before Coors kicks my ass. Hi**r**oshi is Shahero's **father** Hi**t**oshi is Shahero's beau (though she don't know that yet.) OK? Just that I know the names are similar but I just wanted to clear that up. Wow, this fic is going so well. I'm so pleased. However, as per usual, the further I get into the story, the longer the chapters become. The next chapter's in two parts. Same when it comes to Christmas.

Chapter 11 - Bring back capital punishment!

Autumn turned to winter and the days became shorter. The weather turned colder and became blustery and often the students and faculty woke to the school having been sprinkled with frost, and with it beginning to freeze as the sun set. It was on one such evening that the Faculty congregated in the staff room, sipping steaming mugs of coffee and reviewing their notes for the day's classes.

"Well I just don't think that detention is proving itself anymore." Carol Maye's shrill voice made itself known above all others. The tall willowy brown-haired woman was scowling into her herbal tea, her pale green eyes staring out into the magical world outside. Soon the inky darkness would press at the glass.

"What do you suggest then?" Fiona King demanded, sweeping her blonde hair tinted with silver out of her face. She planned to grow gray gracefully and maintain her dignity. "That we enroll them in slave labor?" she gave a haughty snort and returned to photocopying Mac Beth notes for her senior English class.

"Why not?"

"Next you'll want to bring back the cane." Judy Tate rolled her cornflower eyes at the fifty-year-old English teacher who stifled a snicker.

The acting vice-principal scowled. She'd been expecting the support of the staff not their derision. Of course, she should have expected that from Fiona King, the champion of students.

"And public hangings." Shallow added, his lips twitching under his dark moustache.

Fiona choked back a laugh while Judy grinned into her coffee.

"I expected better of you. You're acting like the students yourself."

"And you're stuck in the dark ages. You're in your twenties but you're going on 120." Judy said kindly. She was usually the peacekeeper between Fiona and Carol since Fiona felt that Carol was complaining far too much for her own good. The girl had only been in this school a couple of the years and she wasn't even a teacher while Fiona had been at the school 30 years, she'd even taught Carol. They'd never seen eye to eye when they were younger.

"Have you never heard the saying love your neighbor or do onto to others as you would have done onto you?" Reverend John McKinnon drawled in his pastoral superior tone.

"That has nothing to do with it." Carol huffed indignantly. No one ever took her side and Hitoshi wasn't even around this evening so, so far the whole day sucked.

"That has everything to do with it." Shallow snapped edgily. "It's all about respect. If you don't respect the students why should they respect you?"

"Respect? What do they know about respect?"

"Exactly." Fiona shuffled her notes into order. "We are teachers. How can they learn respect if we do not teach them?"

"They never respected me." Carol complained.

"You never earned it." Shallow shot back, slamming his coffee mug -which read 'Those who can, do. Those who can't, teach', a present from his history class- down on the table so the coffee sloshed over the rim. He jerked to his feet and stormed out the staff door almost barreling down Nicolai as he walked in from his evening run.

He felt the tension in the room and raised a brow at Judy who shook her head. He watched as Carol huffed and stormed out of the other door. Making a face, Nicolai crossed to the coffee pot and poured himself a mug, sipping at the piping hot liquid and relishing the heat as it coursed down his throat and warmed his body. He'd gone for his evening run and missed what ever just happened, but the world had been so crisp and fresh outside. The sky was a frosted blue, with the setting sun staining the wisps of clouds orange. The air was just a little nippy, heralding the change in the air. He loved the beginning of winter when the autumn leaves had just turned brown and crunched under his shoes as his feet pounded against the tarmac and the frost made the grass a silver color like sugared angelica that his wife used to decorate her cakes.

"You missed one hell of a show." Fiona commented as she eased her slightly plump figure down onto the easy chair and leaned forward to lift a newspaper from the table.

"I noticed. What started it this time?" he wondered as he dropped down on to the couch beside Judy.

"Oh the usual. Carol getting above her station and acting far too old for her age. She's not much older than the seniors yet she's alienated herself from them so quickly." Judy said a wisp of sympathy tinting her tone.

"Not like young Hitoshi mind you, though he did have a habit of being more comfortable with those younger than him." Fiona stated remembering the JV coach from when she'd taught him. "Where is he?"

Nicolai winced and dug out his cell phone. He punched a button and seconds later, the phone was answered. "She's not here."

Fiona raised a brow, and then glanced over as the emergency exit opened and Hitoshi huddled in, blowing hot air onto his frozen fingers. "Shit, it's damn cold out there."

The English teacher cringed. "Get a mug of coffee in you, and watch your language."

"Yes ma'am. So where's the..._her_?"

Nicolai shrugged. "She just stormed out of the staff room when I entered, her and Shallow must have got in another fight."

"She's trying to give regular members of detention stricter punishments." Judy stated. "She'll tear your team apart Nikky."

Nicolai cursed. "What is her problem?"

Fiona answered. "She's never had much respect for people who take part in sport; I suppose some of them must have looked down at her at some point. She's become bitter. But she's got her eye on you, boy."

Hitoshi nodded as Fiona patted his knee. Mrs. King had always been a good teacher to him. During his years at the school, they'd formed some sort of bond. He wasn't exceptionally diligent when it came to academics but he'd never failed to pass an exam. Fiona had taken extra time to make him try harder when it came to English, he'd had talent in the subject, and he'd just never been willing to take that into account. When things got on top of him, she'd always lend him a friendly ear to listen and give him advice. Though no one else could see it, he figured Fiona had been one of his favorite teachers at the school. He knew Tyson would agree. It seemed Fiona seemed to bond better with the outcasts of the school than the academics or the jocks. Girls with no brains just annoyed the woman.

"Don't need to tell me. She's hardly subtle about it."

"Why don't you take her out Hitoshi?" Judy prompted.

"Hell no. No way. I happen to have taste and standards and she doesn't come close to matching them." Of course, it would drive Kaeto into a jealous frenzy... then again maybe not.

Nicolai slouched in his chair and sipped his coffee. "She won't appreciate being a sympathy date. Let her come into her own. I should talk to Stanley, has he been in this evening?"

"No." Judy said with a slight sigh.

"I have a proposition for him. My team is far from co-operational but I was thinking of taking them away for a weekend in that long weekend."

"That weekend we're getting ready for the exams?" Fiona tried to clarify.

"Yeah. I was thinking of a team bonding session. Take them to the country or something, a youth center. Then they could just be together and get to know each other without any outside influences. They need it, I think."

"That's not a bad idea." Judy stated.

"I'd need to take a female grown up with me, though."

"Not Maye." Hitoshi stated. "Don't think about it."

Nicolai sent him a dark look. "I was more thinking along the lines of you, Judy. You have the teams respect, they like you and can be themselves around you."

Judy contemplated it. "That's not a bad idea. I wouldn't mind getting away for a while. Discuss it with Stanley and get back to me about it."

"All right, then."

0-0-0

"All my friends are murdered-- All my blood no marrow's' in-- All these fiends want teenage meet-- All my friends are murderers--Away--"

The dining hall was yet again a flurry of activity as the students desperately tried to feed themselves. Miyami was sitting listening to her Distillers CD as people carried on conversations around her. Kirby who was sitting on her right was chatting to Tyson while Shahero was catching up on her French homework. She idly cast her gaze down to where Johnny was talking to a junior girl with a swing of shiny silky brown hair. Frowning Miyami watched the way he smiled at her. She knew that smile; it made you feel like you were the only person in the world to him. That was _her_ smile!!

Shahero looked up as Miyami growled and raised a brow. "Problem?"

"Who does he think he is?"

Following Miyami's gaze, she smirked faintly. "I think, he thinks he's Johnny McGregor."

"Why, who do you think, he thinks he is?" Kirby wondered.

Miyami sent her a dark look that had the teal haired girl shrugging and returning to her conversation with the less intimidating Kinomiya.

"Who's the girl anyway?"

Shahero shrugged. "Dunno, I've seen her around but haven't paid much attention but I think she's a Clover worshipper."

"Worse." Hillary stated joining the conversation since Tyson seemed to be ignoring her when she was trying to berate him. "She's a Kenedie worshipper."

"Great, which means she's training to be a conniving little bitch."

"So who is she?" Miyami asked Hillary, silently agreeing with Shahero's summed up comment.

Hillary looked over at the brunette flirting with the red head Scot. "Amanda Monroe, Junior and grade B student who also involves herself in cheerleading and helping out in charity functions to meet guys."

"How do you know all this?" The dark haired Asian wondered.

"It's my job to know everything." Hillary brushed the comment off. She knew that Shahero didn't have any love for her, and Miyami just put up with her.

"Great, then you know what I want!"

"Shahero, I don't have any problem with you."

"Hillary doesn't have a problem with anyone." Tyson declared. "It's just everyone has a problem with her."

Kirby choked back a laugh while Shahero snickered. Huffing Hillary got to her feet and stomped away from their table. The teal haired sophomore noticed Miyami's gaze hadn't moved from her ex.

"Um, Mimi, if you keep staring he'll know he's getting to you."

Miyami sighed. "I know that. I do, it's just...that girl is so..."

"She's a skanky hoe, and Johnny knows that you detest girls like that."

"I should scratch out her eyes."

"Dye her hair." Shahero suggested.

"Shave off her eyebrows." this came from Tyson, her loyal cousin.

Miyami smiled but it was lethal and sharp. "That's not such a bad idea."

"He'll know it was you and he'll think you're not over him." Kirby pointed out reasonably.

The silver haired woman growled. She didn't want him to think that, but she didn't want him moving on. If he couldn't be with her, then he shouldn't be with anyone else. It was all Hiwatari seniors' fault. That rule was completely and utterly stupid. She sought out Mariah and Rei who seemed quite happy together. However, for that to happen, Mariah had had to quit the team. Miyami couldn't do that, or could she? Aspin and Mariah had both done it, why couldn't she? Because, she thought wearily, Aspin had to and Mariah's first love was cheerleading not hockey. That was how they gave it up, unless she was forced to, she couldn't either. Nevertheless, she missed Johnny so fiercely it ached. She had to do it, she had to quit the team or talk to Hiwatari about it.

0-0-0

Sonia put an extra burst of speed on and pumping her legs until her muscles began to sing and her blood began to simmer, she pounded down the track hearing the satisfying thump of tarmac under her sneakers. The evening air was cool and turning to freezing with the sudden arrival of winter but she continued to run. Despite the weather, whether it was sunny, balmy, overcast, bucketing down or frigid, she ran. It was like breathing to her, to not run would be the ultimate sacrifice for her. She couldn't remember a time when she hadn't run. She use to race against her brother back home along the beach below their house. It was a stunning setting, to run along the pure white beach as the rising sun cast a pearly glow over the sky. Steve wasn't exactly cut out for running. He was essentially, with his build, an American footballer but he often dabbled in Ice Hockey. She'd gotten a taste for it herself, or street hockey. However, the need for dodging and rules annoyed her, so she found she'd rather run. All you had to do was run for the finish line and beat everyone else. It was simple. Moreover, she got to beat Steve, which was always nice. She wouldn't say she was extremely competitive but she had a healthy competitive streak when it came to her brother and when it came to sports. She liked to the do the best, to achieve the highest mark and show everyone that she could excel.

She'd always felt second best to everyone, especially her cousin Kennedie who had the looks and the body that made guys fall over her. Sonia understood that she wasn't the type that boys looked at immediately and wanted, but she understood that she was pretty and eventually, boys would look at her the same way they looked at her cousin. However, she'd be damned if they treated her the same way. Therefore, she'd made good use of her brain and made sure that people would know she was smart. After her first group of A's boys became intimidated and gave her a wide birth. Just as they did for Ruin and that gave her some satisfaction. People never seemed to be wary of her, she was just too sweet and too innocent or so Amber said, which was ironic coming from a girl who had never so much as kissed a boy.

She winced. That was bitchy, very bitchy. And uncalled for. Amber hadn't done anything wrong and there was good reason why she had issues with the male species. Sonia on the other hand couldn't claim to. She had a good relationship with her parents, maybe they asked a lot of her, but she was capable of providing. And despite being a bit overly protective, Steve was a very good older brother to have. He never really made an issue of her sticking to the rules and having order in her life, and he hardly ever made fun of her life plan. Hardly. Ozuma had never made fun of it either.

She slowed down until she came to a stop and bent double, breathing in deeply, before arching back and began to walk along the track back to the beginning, slightly panting for breath. She shouldn't even be thinking of him. She'd promised she would, especially after last Friday. She hated the whole rehearsals for the recital. It meant a whole hour in his company, luckily though she got the music teacher to stay with her. With the music teacher in the room then she wouldn't be tempted to do anything, and for the rest of the week she spent the time ignoring him. It was for the best anyway. She was Sonia Martini and boys never distracted her. Her life plan was to study, do well in her grades and become a teacher in Kindergarten or something like that. Maybe become a PE teacher, that wouldn't be so bad. After all, she liked sports. She had the whole plan; the only problem was that the older she got the less firm her plans became.

She'd always planned to have friends, but who could plan for the assortment of friends she ended up with. There was Miyami, who was skilled at nearly everything. She was the perfect all rounder who you could go to about any problem. There was Shahero who liked to punch first and use reason later and had the most wicked sense of humor, she'd ever come across. Then there was Ruin, so cold and emotionless at first glance, and then you got deeper and understood that she wasn't emotionless, but she was in control of everything almost as though she was addicted to it.

Moreover, if you were in trouble, she'd sense it and help. Sonia envied her, her self-respect and her ability to cope with everything. Then there was Arista, the silver haired Russian who got high when she had a hangover and could bond with nearly everyone even those Sonia found it hard to talk to. Even though the girl had a habit of sticking her foot in her mouth, every so often all her friends valued her opinion and her skills on the ice were unmatched. There was Aspin who gave very little care about her appearance even though she was stunning. Who had suffered such a terrible accident which caused her to give up something she loved, yet she went on with life and didn't self pity herself. There was Russia in Ireland, and though Russia sometimes found Sonia's bubbliness annoying, she was still counted as a friend. Russia's bluntness in any situations was a source of amusement and even though she acted so much older than she was, sometimes there was childishness to her, which Sonia wanted to nourish since it had been swept away at such a young age by her situation. Finally, there was Amber, the girl who said what she wanted without thinking of the consequences and who seemed to be adorably open and naive but kept her real feelings locked away from herself. Amber, who couldn't have a conversation without sarcasm and unless she was seriously ill, always had something to say because she simply loved the sound of her own voice. Who could be so childishly annoying one minute, then switch to a mature adult willing to help a friend in anyway possible, who when someone was hurting, she hurt too.

They were all so very different but one trait they all shared in common was an innate sense of loyalty to those they cared about. That was something Sonia admired in all of them. After all loyalty was an admirable trait, and someone who was loyal could also be trusted and trust was very important to Sonia. And she'd broken Ozuma's trust, hadn't she?

Sonia stretched and arched her body like a cat, linking her fingers behind her head. She hadn't planned to have such intriguing friends, and she'd never thought of having a male friend as close as Michael was to her. It was something she'd never been able to imagine. She was so girly, or she was, compared to her roommates. Nevertheless, even though she'd played with Barbie's when she'd been a child, she'd also been serious about her sports from such a young age. Her parents had made sure of that, but at elementary school, boys hadn't paid her much attention and all her friends had been like Kennedie, so interested in boys. She'd just been so shy. It just never occurred to her, to try to make friends with boys and if she was being honest; she didn't think it was possible. When she'd started at Preston she'd kept that line of thought until she met her roommates, after all, they all had at least one male friend who they were platonically linked with. The most famous in her opinion was Amber and Tala, they'd always been so close and she'd envied that. When Michael had once approached her about her skills as a runner they'd had a nice pleasant conversation and he'd become a person she'd say hello to in the corridor. Then he'd recruited her for a mixed soccer game on sports day, after scoring the winning goal she'd become a lot friendlier with the boys and she'd been grateful for Michael to open that window for her. And they'd become friends over the years; he was like another brother only not as protective which she'd appreciated.

Therefore, because of all that, she accepted her life plan wasn't going to go according to plan. There would be some detours but they would eventually lead her to her goal. Ozuma on the other hand was a detour she wasn't expecting because she couldn't gauge him. He wasn't just another boy who she could date and then they'd part amicably. He was a friend first, and if they did get together, it probably wouldn't part amicably and they wouldn't be friends anymore. And she had a very serious thought that should they become an item it wouldn't be as casual as it could be because Ozuma wasn't like other guys and her feelings for him were hard to figure out. So, for both their sakes she'd just stay away from him.

She crouched at the start line, focused on her goal and then let out a sigh as she caught sight of the figure approaching. He hailed her with a wave and she stood up slowly, watching him cross the track to her. He crouched along the way to scoop up her jacket then handed it to her when he reached her.

"Jeezus, Sunny, it's close to freezing out here."

She smiled shaking out her garnet hair from the collar of the jacket. "It's not that bad Mickey, you get used to it."

He raised a plum brow, and then shrugged. "If you say so. I thought you would be having dinner."

She faltered now, and looked up at him before looking down and the ground, shoving her hands in to her pockets. "I'm not all that hungry."

Michael scoffed. "Uh-huh, you haven't been all that hungry for the past while now. You eat muffins for breakfast and barely anything at lunch and at dinner you go running. What are you trying to prove?"

"Nothing." she flinched at the accusatory tone. "I just wasn't all that hungry for dinner. And, I have a major track heat coming up. I need as much practice as possible."

"And how will you run when you have no energy because you're not eating?"

Sonia scowled, and hunched her shoulders against the wind. "I know damn well what I'm doing Michael. OK, I have been eating. Just not with you guys. When you're in study hall, I head down to the dining hall and sit with Gladys, you know, the lunch lady. Ask Emily, she comes with me sometimes. Even Kenny and Jim sometimes come with me. And if Ozuma wants to complain about someone not eating, tell him to check out his cousin." She snapped feeling satisfied when Michael flushed sheepishly. Imagine him thinking that she wouldn't know that the two of them were double-teaming her. She knew them two better than they knew themselves. She caught the way they'd sit together and watch her when they thought she wasn't looking. If they knew anything then they should have known that she wasn't looking in the compact mirror for the sake of vanity. Stupid.

"Sorry, but we're just worried about you."

"Well don't be. I can take care of myself."

Michael sighed and turned to head back to the school. "I know that Suns, but... look I'm sorry I accused you of not eating. I should have known better."

She gazed at him coolly trying to gauge if he was being sincere; then she nodded. "Yes you should have." she fell into step beside him and watched as the school came into view over looking the track field.

"So what were you saying about Amber?"

She bit the inside of her lip. "I'm not sure exactly. However, it seems to me, she's loosing her appetite. She eats for the sake of eating, but she's not eating a hell of a lot."

Michaels' brow furrowed as he thought of something. "You don't think she's having a relapse do you?"

Sonia shook her head. "I could just be imagining it. Actually, Salima commented to Kirby about it. I just happened to hear. She's always had a small appetite; after all, she's tiny. Everyone could just be over reacting."

Michael nodded. "I'll mention it to Oz anyway; he'll want to keep an eye on her. So how's the running going?"

She nodded with a slight smile. "It's improving. I'm shaving seconds of my lap time each practice."

"Great, you'll ace the heats."

"Great to know you have such faith. By the way how's your team doing?"

"We're... getting there. Just getting used to Hiwatari and Valkov, I mean Hiwatari just likes to get on everyone's nerves at times, especially Ami's. You should see those two on the ice; you'd think they were on opposing teams."

"I bet Amber's not making it easy on him. She's had it in for him since day one."

Michael gave a slight nod of his head. It was almost imperceptible. He kept his gaze on the approaching school building where various squares of light shed a glow out onto the night. Some students still wandered about in the dark but most were inside.

"Why is that?"

Sonia tucked a strand of garnet behind her ear and blew out a breath to flutter the gold bangs from her eyes. "I don't know. No one's talked to her about it because she's keeping it low-key recently. She's warming to him I think."

He agreed with that. However, Amber wasn't what he wanted to talk about, but he needed an opening, he figured this was a good enough one. "So are you warming to Ozuma?"

Her face closed down. "What?"

"You think I haven't noticed how you react when he's around? Puh-lease Sonia, I'm your best male friend, and I probably know you better than your female friends do. You always like to be warm and giving, but to Ozuma you're pretty much frigid. Want to tell me why?"

Her eyes became seeped with misery. "It's hard to explain. Remember how I might have kissed him?"

He raised a brow. "Honey, you _did_ kiss him."

She wrinkled her nose. "Let's not dwell on that. Anyway, he keeps trying to talk about it. How can we go back to the way things were when he wants to talk about it?"

He sighed, tucking his hands in his pockets. "Why do you have to go back?"

"Well if we don't, where do we go?"

He chuckled. "You're sweet Sonia, innocent and naive."

"Yeah so people keep telling me, but they use that to walk all over me because I won't hold a grudge despite how much I'm hurting."

"Do you really think that's what Ozuma'll do?"

She threw her hands up in the air and whirled on him. "I don't know what he'll do! That's the whole point. I don't know what's going through his head and I don't know if this is all a little game for him."

Michael rolled his eyes. God it was so annoying how insecure she could be about herself and she was insulting their friend to boot. "If you think that Sonia, then you don't deserve him."

She froze and flinched at his words as though he slapped her. Instead of apologizing, he walked on ahead leaving her shell-shocked at the entrance. What had she done now?

0-0-0

Amber scowled and watched her cousin pace out of the corner of her eye. He was up to something, waiting for someone. He'd been up to something all day. She knew it. She was Amber Marie Benson and Ozuma Samuel Benson would never get anything past her, because he'd adopted the famous Benson shifty expression. She'd seen that expression on her Uncle Seth's face too many times to count and usually it was because he was plotting something.

But what it was, she didn't know.

Therefore, she had been following him for most of the day, which had led her to being in the library. He was sitting in the corner talking in low conspiratal tones with Robert, Oliver and Lee. Lee and Robert being two of his closest friends since he'd been here, they had that whole mature-before-your-time thing in common, she supposed. Every so often, his gaze would dart to the door every time it opened though he tried to make it casual.

Oh, she had him made all right; she just wanted to know what he was plotting. The last member of the group would give her a hint.

"Benson, have you come up with anything yet?"

She groaned inwardly remembering who she was here with in an attempt to be subtle about her spying on her cousin. Tala had been busy, she remembered, with what she didn't know. Johnny was with some brunette and had told her he couldn't come to the library. Enrique had visibly blanched when she suggested it; Shahero and Miyami were eating, of course. Sonia was on the track. The whole team had just given her the same negative answer. So, since Hiwatari had been bugging her incessantly about getting their project started, she snagged him.

Now the problem was that he actually expected her to _do_ some work. Oh, man.

She turned back to him, lazily propping her foot on the edge of the table noticing how Emily shook her head at her from behind the librarians' desk. "Nope."

Kai sighed. "What is the bloody point of us being here if you're not going to do anything?"

She glanced up at him from the book she'd decided to pour over. He looked so frustrated compared to his usual calm self; it was somewhat amusing. She, through no fault of her own, seemed to annoy the hell out of the teenage captain. And the best part was that she wasn't actually trying to annoy him. She just wanted to ignore him for the most part, or completely though it was hard when her gaze caught his and she'd feel that quick internal tug. It was... a dangerous thing, she'd decided and one that made her want to stay away from him. Which was why she really should have begged Enrique to come to the library, she could have bribed him with porn or something. The boy really seemed to respond to women on whole, it was sometimes very upsetting to see how he actually thought of her sex but she realized he wasn't acting alone. She was betting the guy in front of her had no concerns when it came to female's and their feelings, which was why she was watching out for Miriam, though for the most part her friend did seem to be content with her relationship. Amber just didn't understand it, and she didn't want to.

"I am doing something; I'm looking through old history exam papers to see what past students chose. Besides every suggestion I make, you disagree with."

"You do the exact same." he shot back.

"That's because you keep suggesting Russia. No offence, I think Russia's great and all, but we already cover a big part of it through the course." when he opened his mouth to counter, she quickly continued. "And I don't want to write a paper all about the all female assassin group or whatever they were."

He rolled his eyes and wished silently to be back with Miriam. The girl in front of him was determined to ignore all his ideas. Which made sense, he mused, she was probably used to nagging until she got her own way, well he was use to getting his way too so they'd see who'd win this battle of wills. And what was so interesting? He followed her gaze over to where her cousin sat with Oliver, some boy he'd seen in some of his classes and Robert. A slight smirk played on his lips.

"You got a crush on Jurgen, Benson?"

He watched the way the blood drained from her face leaving her eyes incredibly dark and large in that narrow angular face. Christ, he thought as he felt the punch to the gut when she raised them to his. She spluttered and coughed harshly as she choked.

"Robert? What? No!! Jesus Hiwatari." she coughed again and cleared her throat as her eyes watered. "He's my cousin."

Two blue brows shot up. "Another one?"

"Third something cousin on the Del Areece side, my Mom's side. His grandmother is my grandmother's sister or something like that. I don't pay attention to that side of the family since Nona Del Areece disowned me."

He listened to the casual way she just brushed of her grandmother disowning her. It was as though it didn't matter to her at all, and he guessed if Voltaire did the same, he really wouldn't care that much either, but he couldn't imagine her grandmother could be as bad as his grandfather. Maybe her grandmother thought she was annoying as well, he thought snidely.

"So what's so interesting over there, then?" he wondered, leaning over the book in front of him and picking up his highlighter, colored in a passage from the textbook he could use in his History assignment.

She scratched her nose with her knuckles before answering. "Ozuma's up to something. He's waiting for..." she trailed off as Michael approached them and dropped into the seat beside her cousin. "Michael, so this has something to do with Sunny-D"

"What makes you say that?" her companion asked distracted.

"Michael's' the only male that Sonia feels comfortable with." she responded automatically.

"She doesn't have that in common with you, then?" the words were out before he could stop them and he wished he'd bit his tongue as her gaze whipped to his, pinning them with blazing ochre.

"I'm not a slut, Hiwatari."

Of that, he had no doubt; Miriam had been quick to fill him in on her virginal status as she liked to call it. Untouched by any boy, she'd commented and that had been intriguing, but he wouldn't like to show Benson the ropes, the boy who did that would have to have a barrel load of patience in the hormonal area. As a captain and since his best friend was her best friend it gave him a niggle of worry knowing how people could take advantage of innocence like that.

Then again, despite her innocence, Benson's cynicism would be her salvation in that area. A girl like her wouldn't fall for cheap flattering lines, and that took the edge of the worry.

"I didn't mean it like that, Ember, so cool your jets. You're quick to jump on to the wrong end of things when it's me, aren't you?"

"Well that's what it sounded like."

"I meant that you have a lot of males you feel comfortable with. Such as Tala, Bryan, Ozuma and you're whole team." he wondered if she knew how her whole expression softened when he mentioned those three names, it gave her a very vulnerable look before the cage bars came down and locked him out again. "Even my Dad." there he'd finally got out what had been bugging him for a while.

She snapped out of her thoughts and almost grinned. Not as subtle as Hiwatari would have liked, she assumed. "I'm not trying to steal your Dad."

"I didn't-" he felt a hot flush work its way up his neck as she easily saw right through him and got to the core of the matter.

"Yes you did. I suppose if it was my Dad and someone had latched onto him after sniping at him, then yeah I'd be suspicious. Look, my Dad isn't the best; in fact, he ranks down there amongst the worst. Not his fault, he just wasn't cut out to be a Dad I guess and that hurts at times, and yeah I sometimes wish for a father figure. Nevertheless, I have one in my Uncle Seth, and Hiroshi. They are there when I need them and somewhere I have a godfather that I can barely remember who came into my room once at six in the morning to give me medicine because I was coughing. I have those people, even though I don't actually know where my Godfather is, so I'm not stealing your Dad. I just admire the man he is and he's a great coach who listens to his team." she looked at him and frowned as he continued to stare right through her. She wanted to squirm but resisted. "What?"

Her sharp question brought him out of his trance. He'd become lost listening to the ebb and flow of her voice and how it lilted over various words holding a Celtic trace to it. It was scarily mesmerizing when she was speaking about people she genuinely cared about, instead of being sharp and cynical where it gained a bite to the words. He shook his head, realizing, with embarrassment; he was daydreaming because of her voice. If it had belonged to someone else, maybe he'd indulge himself but this was Benson and that would be just wrong.

He shook his head. So she still loved her father despite his obvious neglect of her. There were shadows in her ochre eyes, shadows of pain when there shouldn't be. He almost could understand the teams desire to protect her, it was like a pack of wolves, and the strong ones would rally round the wounded to keep them safe. He wondered idly why they hadn't just called themselves the wolves; it was a much more suitable name for them.

He wondered if she noticed that when she was distracted, she was actually civil to him and reminded him of the girl he'd talked to after the game months ago. He'd noticed it that day when her shoe had been stolen because she'd been plotting against Ian, she'd held up a vaguely civil conversation. And at the hockey match, she hadn't been as snide since she'd been preoccupied; it was the same that day her books had been stolen. If he hadn't realized she was distracted when she was civil; then he'd have thought she was actually warming to him. Not that, that mattered, he assured himself, because it shouldn't. Nevertheless, a very small part wanted her approval.

Unaware where Kai's thoughts were taking him, Amber's gaze focused on her cousin. '_Ok so Ozuma got Michael to talk to Sonia, that's smart'_, she thought to herself or so she guessed he had. After all, if he couldn't corner her, the next best thing to get information from her was to use someone she trusted. Amber had to admit, she approved of the plan but it irked that he hadn't asked her to do some snooping. After all, she was his cousin, but Sonia may suss her out, then again, Amber Benson was a good actress and she could be subtle. No, there was no reasoning, she was plain irked. Oh well, she decided, it wasn't as if she wanted to get involved in their domestic.

She frowned prodding her lower lip with the top of her pen. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught sight of _him _watching her and wondered at it and the way her pulse had spiked simultaneously with the jerk in her gut. Someone with a romantic nature -like Sonia, Salima or Mariah- would speculate on it and come up with a very daft reason for it, but this was Hiwatari and if there wasn't the fact that he was an arrogant, self obsessed and often full of himself jerk; then there was also the fact that he was her friends boyfriend to put her off him. It would just be wrong to think up fantasies on him because he had a face like a Greek god. Dreams were ok, she thought, she couldn't control them and if she didn't sleep then she wouldn't dream. However, she was awake and fully in control of her conscious right now, dammit!

He watched her scowl as a faint blush darkened the smooth gold of her cheeks and he wondered what was going on in that head now. Since she was basically on her own with no real way to avoid him, he decided to risk another question that had been bothering him.

"Why did you work so hard to make me dislike you?"

Her gaze snapped to his and seared him. "What?" he tone was clipped and frigid, a sure sign he'd hit the nail on the head.

"You were perfectly sociable after that game but when I transferred over here, you acted like a spoilt child. You made sure I didn't even look twice at you."

She rolled her eyes. "I did not. Beside you wouldn't have looked twice at me anyway. You were interested in Miriam." she pointed out motioning with her pen.

She was right, she wasn't his type. She was ornery, hot tempered, childish, bitchy, contrary and as predictable as a tornado. No, the prickly little Imp as anything but his type. All the same she'd intended for him to dislike her from the get go. And that annoyed him. He didn't like being manipulated. He liked to make his own decisions on people but she'd influence that decision deliberately.

"Hmph."

Oh boy, he was pissed. She could see it in those eyes. They were dark and glittering as they fixed on her. But she couldn't work out why. She hadn't made him dislike her, had she? Then again, she had sort of. She'd liked him from the get go and that made her decidedly uneasy, especially since she never developed crushes on guys at her school because that way, she wouldn't find herself in an uncomfortable situation. She was seventeen and had never been kissed, never mind in a serious relationship and that was hard to deal with, especially since she considered herself reasonably attractive. Or, she had at one stage. Those circumstances made her wary of finding herself in a situation that could change that.

Kai was hot and had probably kissed tons of girls and he was dating Miriam who was stunning and experienced. If she had allowed herself to develop a crush on Kai, and he found out, well it would be awkward. Worse, what if he -by a very weird twist of fate- liked her, then things would just turn embarrassing. She wouldn't let that happen. So she'd made sure it wouldn't by making sure he'd find her nothing more than an annoyance. In addition, if he did warm to her, then he'd only see her as a teammate.

So yes, she'd made him dislike her. However, it was in her best interests, she wasn't going to be hurt by a boy again. And if anything Kai Hiwatari would hurt her.

She jerked a shoulder in response and they returned to their usual silence. Funny though, it wasn't uneasy or hostile. Unfortunately, Ozuma and Michael had disappeared while she was talking with Hiwatari, which just made her even more annoyed with him. Well she'd just have to get her cousin to open up during study hall, which would be starting in ten minutes. Sighing, she gathered her stuff and shoving them into her bag; she got to her feet and stormed off.

Kai watched her go and shook his head. He really had no idea what to do about this girl, none what so ever. She wasn't even his enemy anymore. She wasn't stupid and she was anything but bland, but he just didn't know where she sat anymore. Sighing, he decided to seek out Miriam before study hall started. Being with Miriam would help him clear his head and put things in perspective. God knows how much he needed that.

0-0-0

Ozuma chuckled at Michael's incredibly lame and highly perverted joke, which was only aimed at lightening Ozuma's mood, so for that he was grateful to his American friend. It was embarrassing to realize he was hung up over a girl. Even when he'd been dating Kenedie he'd never been that involved with her. However, Sonia was another matter. He could see through it if he'd been banned from being with her, but there was no reason for them to not be together.

He liked her; she liked him. He was almost sure of it. She was being stubborn but he was a patient person, he would wait her out and he'd get her use to the fact that he was interested in her. Once that hurdle was cleared, it was just a matter of easing her into a relationship with him.

"Why do you think Coach called us in for?" Michael asked more to himself than his friend. "Study hall doesn't start for another while yet and then movie night."

"What did you get?"

"It was a toss up between Minority report and Die Hard."

Ozuma winced. "Does that come complete with your Bruce impression?"

Michael flashed a grin, and then yelled out in a raspy voice. "HOLLY!"

"WHAT?!"

They turned to find a sophomore looking at them expectantly. Michael flushed sheepishly. "Um, nothing." he mumbled as Ozuma struggled not to snicker.

The sophomore, who's name was Holly coincidentally enough, rolled her eyes and sighed heavily. Boys could be so immature. As soon as the _boys_ turned the corner, they broke down laughing.

"Shit that was a good one." Ozuma wheezed.

"How was I supposed to know that there was a Holly in the corridor? I didn't even know we had one in the school!"

"So what did you choose? Minority report or Die Hard?"

"Die Hard. It's a classic. Besides I don't want Bethan drooling over Tom Cruise."

Ozuma chuckled then sobered. "She wouldn't. She's stuck on you."

Michael caught the wistful expression on his friends face and struggled to come up with the words best suited to soothe. It wasn't something he was good at but dating Bethan gave him a good idea on what to say.

"Sonia's difficult only because she's worth it. You wouldn't be interested in her if she wasn't."

Ozuma looked at him sharply with searing green eyes. "You make it sound as though I'm only interested in her because she's a challenge. I'm not."

Did he think he had the right words? Well obviously not by Ozuma's reaction. "Look man, all I can say is that if it's meant to be, it's meant to be, if it's not, you'll just have to get over it."

That was all well and good but, Ozuma mused, for the fact that he was already in too deep.

As they entered the study hall, they weren't surprised by the chaos. Shahero was nose to nose with a sneering Hitoshi, exchanging some heated words. They both looked ready to rip each other's head off or kiss each other senseless. For them, Ozuma figured, the results would be the same.

Miyami and Arista were braiding Kevin's hair while the sophomore slept with his head resting on his folded arms. Though how he could sleep with those two chatting loudly beside him, Ozuma would never know. He was a light sleeper, which came from living in fear of his cousin deciding to extract revenge on him while he slept and for fear of his father. He shook his head, he hadn't thought of his biological father in a very long time. It wasn't good for him to do so.

There was music blaring out of the stereo, which was usually only used for language tests. Johnny and Tala were discussing a picture in the magazine Kane had just snatched from them and was now poring over. He was ignoring Aspin who was childishly kicking his chair and Mariah was running around showing everyone pictures of her baby cousin she'd just printed from an email.

Ozuma and Michael exchanged glances and headed into the room, taking their respective seats. Ruin walked in followed by Amber who was babbling about something or other. Her gaze locked on his and immediately she zeroed in on him.

"Ok, you and I have to talk."

A black brow rose. "We do?"

"Yes we do." she stated, leading him over to their table, shooting Kai a look as he followed them and slid into his usual chair next to her. "Do you mind?"

"Not at all."

She ground her teeth. "Go look at some porn or jump your girlfriend or something."

Kai raised a brow, and then looked at her bewildered cousin. "What did you do?"

Ozuma shrugged. "You never do anything with Amber; she just decides to have a fight with you. There is never a reason for it."

His cousin scowled. "You-" she broke off on a growl. "Hiwatari gone piss off."

The boy beside her blinked at her tone. She could easily have been asking him politely to leave them for a while, though why she didn't just use those words instead, he didn't know. It would have got a better reaction, but since he figured that was about as close to pleading as Benson got, he decided to oblige and go find Tala since Miriam was cooing over baby photos.

"What did you want to talk about?" Ozuma asked leaning back in his chair and watching her out of shrewd green eyes.

"What were you and Michael discussing in the library?"

"Nothing Ams, just guy things."

"Guy things which have to do with Sonia?"

He sighed heavily. What was the use of trying to hide things from his cousin when she automatically knew exactly what he was up to? She could see right through him and that unnerved him since he was usually the king of secrets. He didn't like to be so transparent when it came down to one woman. "Fine yes."

"And?"

"And what?"

"Well what did you decide?"

He shook his head and began to take out his books and pens. "Look, seemingly Sonia thinks I'm playing games with her."

Amber rolled her eyes despairingly. "She should know you better than that."

"True she should." he affirmed with a nod. "But I'm just going to have to move slowly with her. I like her, so I'm not giving up on her. Now since you're here, are you having a relapse?"

"A huh?" she stopped swinging on her seat and looked at him confused.

"A relapse. People have been noticing that you're not eating that much recently."

"Recently as in these past few days?"

He nodded hoping she'd come up with a good reason for this. The thought of his cousin becoming anorexic again was something he didn't want to go through. It had been hard enough before because she hadn't wanted to admit it, because she hadn't believed it. However, as she did begin to believe, being quite practical, she began to eat more and it hadn't been anything that you read about in the papers, which was why she hadn't truly believed it herself. She hadn't needed to go to any institution, though Dan made her ride the pine pony for quite a while so she could recover. It hadn't been serious, but Ozuma had been keeping an eye on her in case she started again. He wanted to get it early, should she fall back into the pattern of not eating again.

"I'm not anorexic or heading in that direction again," she told him, not seeing the way Tala's gaze snapped to her and how his eyes filled with concern. "I don't actually eat a hell of a lot when I'm having my period."

"Oh."

She chuckled. Why did she find it so funny when boys got squeamish about things like periods and other things like that? It was perfectly natural, but then again it wasn't to them was it. Maybe she might have been a prude when it came to things like that if she hadn't lived with seven girls for most of her teenage years. "Don't worry Ozuma, I'm finished this cycle anyway, I'll be eating normally tomorrow."

"Well...yeah...um good."

"Ozuma you're kind of pale, are you ok?" Arista wondered as she settled into her chair beside him.

"We were talking about my period."

"Stimulating." The Russian muttered dryly but the grin on Amber's lips prompted one of her own. She had great respect for Ozuma, he was one of her closest friends but sometimes he could be such a gentleman, that watching him with his often crude cousin, who had no shame when it came to certain things, was extremely humorous.

"Oh it was very."

Amber glanced over as Kais' arm brushed hers' as he returned to his seat. He shot her a look that told her not to even start on him. She shrugged and leaned back on her seat to arrange her legs Indian style. One of the advantages of being short, you could sit just about any way you damn well pleased.

"You should try doing Yoga when you're sitting like that."

The Irish girl smirked at her female companion. "Yeah in the middle of Dunbar's class, wouldn't that be a riot?"

"He'd lay an egg."

"Shit yeah." that would be fun though. Someday she'd try it, see what happens. She still owed Maye some pay back though and she smirked. She'd get that later. It would be well worth it.

"All right, everyone listen up!"

They turned to look at Nicolai as he strode it. Hitoshi who'd still be arguing with Shahero, snarled at her one more time for good measure, before going to stand at the Coaches side.

"Aw he's good little lap dog, aren't you Kinomiya?" Shahero clucked her tongue and patted her hip as she would to call her dogs to her side. "What do you use coach, one of those high pitched whistles only dogs can hear?"

The group chuckled while Hitoshi fixed the petite Asian girl and his current obsession with a dark look promising revenge, which he would get. It was one thing for her to humiliate him in the corridors but another to humiliate him in front of her friends and his boss. Oh, he'd get her and he knew just how to do it. Shahero Kaeto wasn't going to know what hit her until it was too late. Sod all the rules.

"Relax Hito, we're not laughing _at_ you, we're laughing _with_ you." Miyami chuckled at her cousin.

"Speak for yourself, I'm laughing at him!"

"That's enough. I've got some news you might be interested in, which applies to my hockey team only I'm afraid." there were groans from the JV team and other students who'd missed the earlier study hall while his team just shrugged.

"Good news or bad news?" Amber asked.

"No more rules." Johnny growled; his amethyst eyes were dark and broody.

"No rules and its good news. I think. I was talking to Mr. Dickinson."

"Stop the presses."

"Amber do you want me to seal up your mouth again?"

She shook her head quickly remembering the slight humiliation she suffered when he covered her mouth with tape so she couldn't say anything more. It had been her own fault for mouthing off and he'd apologized later. And in the end up, she'd realized that though her friends weren't too pleased with it, she hadn't minded. She felt a bond with the coach and maybe it was one sided, but it was there and she didn't mind it one bit. He wasn't that bad, not when you got down to the bone of him. In addition, those thoughts usually led to her thinking the same of his son, which she wouldn't allow herself to do, so she rarely thought them.

"Now as I was saying, before being interrupted. I was talking to Mr. Dickinson and reviewing your playing together and I realized that we might all value from a time out."

"What do you mean by a time out?" Rei interrupted.

Nicolai looked at him before answering. For someone who'd lost his captaincy, the Kon boy was baring it admirably well. It made him a good player and a team one at that. Nicolai decided he might have to re-evaluate his standing on the team. Moreover, Rei had talent and used his own initiative on the ice, if he wanted to, Nicolai would see about getting Rei a place in his old college on scholarship. He'd talk to their Coach, have him come down and see Rei. He was always looking for new talent. Liking that idea, Nicolai made a mental note to talk to the Chinese boy.

"A team bonding session." Hitoshi answered. "We'll take you guys away for the weekend. You'll have no contact with anyone but yourselves and us which means you'll have to work together."

"You'll take part in ice breakers, team bonding exercises and plenty of practice. It'll give you all a chance to get to know each other and adjust to me and you're new team mates."

Amber blinked in surprise. He was learning, she thought proudly. They weren't the sharks and he was beginning to realize that treating them that way wasn't going to work. She'd noticed it herself. It was nice to see that he was coming to understand them. It made her feel good that he cared enough to do this as well. Maybe she could talk to him about Miyamis' problem as well. She was pretty confident she could convince Nicolai. And if she didn't, then he'd be losing a valued player.

"What about us?" Tyson suddenly demanded.

"You're already bonded enough." Hitoshi shot back.

"You're our coach; you have nothing to do with them."

Hitoshi could have strangled his brother for being a pain in the ass. "Don't be such a loud mouth, more than one grown up needs to go with the team."

"Ha, you called yourself a grown up, what a laugh."

What was this? Hitoshi wondered. Pick on Hitoshi day? First Kaeto and now his brother. The two people in this room he cared about the most ganging up on him was not fair. He froze. Shit. He wasn't supposed to care about Kaeto. She was supposed to be a mild annoyance, some one to annoy for amusement. He wasn't supposed to care about her. However, he realized, if he went over his actions since before his last year at the school, it was obvious that he did. Now how was that going to work?

"When?" Kai suddenly asked, earning a surprised look from the Imp. She must have figured he knew, but he hadn't had a clue about this idea and he wasn't all too sure he liked the idea. When he grew bored of the team and their antics, then he went to his other friends, such as Robert and Oliver or Miriam. However, he wouldn't be able to do this on that weekend; he'd be stuck with the Tigers. God what was his father up to? Did he want him to turn into one of them? So obsessed with each other, so united with each other? That wasn't a team, that was a disaster.

"In December, the week before the exams."

"The Christmas exams?" Ozuma demanded.

"That's right?"

"Um..." Nicolai looked over at Amber's utterance and was amused to see she had her hand raised slightly as though she was stuck in a classroom. "I thought you wanted us to maintain a B average, yet you're taking us away the weekend before the exams when we should be studying."

"That's why I assigned you tutors."

"But still that weekend is important." she insisted. "That's why it's longer, so that we can get as much knowledge crammed into our heads as possible before the exams start."

"Fine, we'll schedule in some study classes during the weekend."

"Great." Shahero drawled. "Study classes with Hitoshi, that's going to be a blast."

"Never know what you might learn Kaeto."

She rolled her sapphire eyes and flipped him off making his lips twitch, his eyes dancing with amusement. Nicolai rolled his brown eyes. "Any more queries before Mrs. King takes over the study hall?"

The group shook their heads, and then Miyami raised a hand. "Yeah, sorry but um, I'm quitting the team and I figured I should announce it now while everyone's here."

Kai whipped round in his seat and stared at her, while Johnny looked dumbstruck. "You can't quit the team; you're one of our best players."

"Mim's what are you up to?"

"Oh I knew this was coming." Amber mumbled, causing Kai to shoot her a look.

"And you didn't think to tell anyone?" he hissed.

She scowled at him. He always blamed her. Why should she have told him, she was going to sort it out later wasn't she? It wasn't her fault that Miyami moved so fast. Damn, she should have talked to her friend. Given some of that advice she was supposed to be able to deal out, that didn't involve hockey sticks, torture or Shahero. "I was going to." she ground out.

"Miyami, can I see you after study hall?"

Miyami shook her head. "There's no point. I don't want to play anymore. It's not worth it."

"Miyami think about it." Johnny pleaded but there was no desperation to his tone, just bitterness and anger. As though he was pissed with her for doing this before he could.

"I have." she told them quietly.

"Still I would like to talk to you after study hall. That's all." Nicolai shot Miyami one last look then pushed away from the desk he'd been leaning against and headed out the door followed by Hitoshi who was watching his cousin with concern clouding his eyes.

There was no chance for the team to quiz her since Mrs. King had just entered the room, and she commanded respect, and for that, Miyami was grateful. She didn't want to be questioned to quickly after her decision; they'd just sway her. She wanted Johnny and she was going to have him. Whatever the consequences.

0-0-0

"Are you serious?"

Brooklyn grinned at his new roommate. "Oh yes besides why shouldn't we?"

Mystel frowned. It would be nice to have a night out instead of being cooped in the quiet dorms of Clonmel and it was a Friday night, they should have some fun. However, breaking into a college, wasn't that slightly dangerous. Especially if said school students caught them on their turf. If more people were up for it, so would he be. Then again, it could be fun, and would get Balkof's knickers in a twist. Besides he'd heard interesting things about the college frat parties, it would be intriguing to find out if those things were true and not another myth.

"There's no real reason why we shouldn't, is there?" he supposed slowly coming round to the idea. "And you say you've been out before hand without them catching you?"

Well, he hadn't necessarily got in there without being caught, but to his knowledge, no one had told on him. He wanted to go out. The only time he got out of this school and away from the town was when he took his scarce trips to Preston, though he'd never seen the hot-tempered Tiger Goalie around. Not that he'd gone to Preston just to see her; he'd been there on business. Moreover, it was like research to find out everything you can about the various teams you were up against. He'd seen Hiwatari often enough. The boy seemed quite settled in with the tigers and his new girlfriend.

Oh yes, Hiwatari always seemed to land on his feet as long as daddy was around, he thought snidely. Well he could and would show him. Even though he was shoved down to vice captain, he'd show him. Balkof just didn't like him, so when Garland showed up with his supposed skills; he got captaincy. It had grated on Brooklyn's nerves. He'd been with the team longer; they respected him. He should have been captain. Oh well, he'd get his father to have a word with the committee and see what they say. His father was a prominent member of the committee and often donated generously to Clonmel's funds. It was unfair.

The only bright spot of the recruiting was Moses Solomon and Mystel Devine. Moses was one heck of an enforcer in the true sense. Not the type who bullied smaller players but one who could defend against bigger players like an enforcer should. In addition, Mystel was, as well as being a good player, of the same mind as Brooklyn so they often agreed on various things so that he wasn't annoying to share a dorm with.

"It'll stick a burr up Garland's butt if we dare to leave without him."

Mystel preened at his platinum blond spikes as he squinted in the mirror. He was a good-looking boy, with the typical Aryan good looks, pale blond hair almost white, sea blue eyes and flawless pale cream skin. His build was inherited from his father and from his athletic nature. He liked to look after it, so he invested in keeping fit since his build could go gawky if neglected. He liked to look good, it was just something he felt he had to do and it gave him confidence to know his work paid off. However, he wouldn't say he was vain; he wouldn't spend hours in front of a mirror admiring himself. He left that to Carlos, the faggot. Why he'd want so much bad luck was beyond Mystel's comprehension.

He snickered causing Brooklyn to raise an amused brow. "Something funny?"

"Just thought of Carlos in front of a mirror."

Brooklyn quirked a brow, then his lips. "Imagine him naked in front of the mirror."

Mystel blanched. "God, you have a sick mind. Do you think…? On second thought I don't want to know."

"Yes the hair is all over his body, I'm telling you he's one hairy bastard. One thing me and Hiwatari ever agreed on, we happened upon him when we were planning on getting a shower." He shuddered. "That's one memory that I wish could be erased."

"Ever try hypnosis?"

"Hooey!"

Mystel smirked. "If I didn't know any better I'd say you like having that memory in your head."

Brooklyn stopped what he was doing and turned to his roommate, his eyes glittering dangerously. "Watch what you say Mystel. I like you and I wouldn't want to ruin our friendship by beating the crap out of you," he said softly.

The blond said nothing, just returned to arranging his shirt on the hanger for the dorm check. He could probably take Brooklyn, but sometimes you just didn't know what would set the ginger male off. Besides, out of the people in this school, Brooklyn was probably the most genuine. Sure, he was a bastard but you always knew of his intentions. Unlike others, he could think of, Brooklyn wasn't fickle.

There was a tap on the door. Frowning, the two boys exchanged glances then when Brooklyn nodded at Mystel, the blond went to open the door. He blinked at Jose. "What do you want?"

"I came to see Brooklyn."

Mystel sighed, but stepped back and headed over to the corner of the room, dropping on to his bed and fixing on his earphones to block out Jose's annoying voice.

"What do you want?" Brooklyn asked peeling off his school shirt and turning to his closet.

Jose sat down on the bed, then got to his feet when his vice captain sent him a look. "I was in town today and I heard some of the students talking about a party they were planning on having, and Carlos was thinking of crashing it. And he sent-"

"We're way ahead of you. Get dressed; we'll be leaving in ten. And try to get the minibus keys from the staff room." when Jose scurried away, Brooklyn crossed over to his roommate while shrugging on a loose white shirt. He slapped Mystel's feet and the paler boy opened his eyes barely and surveyed the room, removing his earphones.

"Is the pest gone?"

"Yes. It seems the other boys are planning to crash the party. They're going to get the keys for the mini van. You're driving it."

"Fuck off!" Mystel snapped. "I'm not driving that thing, it's a hazard."

"So? It'll still get us there."

"What about getting us back."

"Stop being such a pain in the ass. It's about time we did something fun instead of sticking to every rule in the goddamn school. All the other students break them, why shouldn't we? We're seniors and in this school we're gods."

"Yeah and we have to deal with Balkof. You know he'll take his anger out on you. You're his new punch bag since Hiwatari left. I've seen the bruises you try to hide."

"Stay out of my business." Brooklyn growled. "I can deal with that old man; got it?"

Mystel sighed. "I hope so."

"Come on, let's go."

Mystel followed him. If Balkof found out, then Brooklyn was going to get in so much shit. Last time he annoyed Balkof without doing anything, he hadn't been able to walk for a whole day. He'd told every one he'd strained a few ligaments and had to limp for the rest of the week and some. Maybe he should get Garland to tag along, and then Balkof couldn't blame Brooklyn entirely. If there was one thing the boys all agreed on, it was Balkof's treatment of the red head vice captain.

0-0-0

Nicolai looked up from his computer as the knock sounded at his door. Shutting down the windows on his computer screen, he turned round on his swivel chair. "Come in."

At the invitation, the door hesitantly opened and Miyami came through it, looking round uncertain what to expect of the office. There were pictures on the wall, a diploma, a picture of a cup and some hockey memorabilia but it was the pictures that drew her. They were filled with a stunning woman with long slate blue hair and sea green eyes who was laughing at the camera. There were others with Kai, one with him in his Shark uniform with Nicolai and Tala standing with him holding a cup between them. There were others with him and Kai as a little boy. It gave her a new insight into her coach, as a family man instead of a dictator.

"You wanted to see me?"

"Yes. Take a seat. Would you like some coffee?"

"If I refuse, I'd be lying. So yeah sure." she lowered herself into the armchair opposite him.

The office wasn't like other faculty offices, and she'd been in quite a few. From receiving praise from her Art teacher to being given detention and lectures from the VP. Nicolai had his desk placed against the window so it wasn't put in between the student and him, but it meant he couldn't see who came in the door, she supposed that was what the mirror was for. There were cabinets and a bookshelf, which also housed photos'. There seemed to be so many of his wife and son. There was another door that led off the office and she presumed it was where he slept at night. The view was good, looking out onto the quad and the path to the sports complex. It was simple and professional without being off-putting.

He handed her a generous mug of coffee and offered her the sugar and cream to pour in, as she desired. Sitting down opposite her on his swivel chair, he stirred his coffee contemplatively. "Is there a particular reason you want to quit?"

"I don't want to quit. I just feel I have to." she replied coolly. She'd dealt with teachers before, she could handle him too, and she was sure. Her eyes strayed to the photos again and to one of a little girl with sunglasses who was sticking her tongue out at the camera as she shied behind his legs, while he held a very young Kai who was peeking over his shoulder down at the girl. It wasn't propped up as the others, but just lying out as though he'd been looking at it. "Is that your daughter?" she questioned curiously. She didn't look like him, Kai, or even his wife.

Nicolai almost swore, and he did inwardly, when he caught where Miyami was looking. That was just plain careless. He'd known Miyami would come down; he should have put the photo away. However, he'd become lost in his memories. He didn't know what had possessed him to root it out, but he'd asked Jean to send it to him after remembering who Amber was, then watching her and Kai interact during study hall, he'd just wanted to look at it. And he had wondered how they'd react if they'd grown up together. How different would they be?

"No, she's my goddaughter."

"She's adorable." Miyami commented quietly, and then turned back to him noticing how he coughed to smother a smile.

"She's grown up quite a bit."

"I gathered that. Kai's pretty young there, what two?"

"Two and seven months."

"And she's around the same age?" Miyami raised a silver brow.

"She'd just turned two. It was her birthday."

"Well, to my knowledge, Kai's no longer two and seven months."

Nicolai smirked. "No he just turned eighteen back in August. However, we're not here to discuss my family, but your reasons for quitting the team. I've never seen Kai upset about anyone quitting the team, usually he's indifferent."

Miyami had noticed that too, and felt a well of warmth for the captain. He wasn't as bad as everyone made out. First impressions were always going to be bad, so she liked to get to know someone before she cast judgment. If she didn't, then she and Johnny wouldn't have been friends or closer. Then again, maybe that- She stopped herself. She lived for the moment and had no regrets. "I thought we weren't discussing your family."

"No, no we're not."

"Ok, well I'm quitting because of your stupid and selfish rules."

"Why selfish?"

"You're not asking why they're stupid?" when he shrugged, she answered. "OK, they're selfish because they don't take into account the teams feelings. We're a close bunch and our outside lives are going to affect how we play on the ice because it usually involves another team member. We don't fall out, so that's never caused trouble. And you notice how Amber and Ian can keep their problems off the ice? It's because we're like a family; we keep family problems between us and show a united front to the world. However, you separating two players because they're seeing each other is stupid. You're only doing it, because you fear sexual tension will affect the team, no?"

He nodded. "Yes that's one of the problems I figured a mixed team would present."

"Well I still love Johnny even though we're not together. But because we can't act on that, there's going to be sexual tension. So your plan backfired, big time."

Nicolai contemplated that for a moment. "Well that puts me in my place. I grant that you're right. Being so close, your lives will be intertwined unlike the Sharks. In addition, I can be accused of treating you the way I treated them which worked for them because their friends off the ice and lives off the ice had nothing to do with their teammates. So I concede to your theory. How about this: since I don't want you to leave, you and Johnny can continue to be a couple, but if you break up, that can't interfere with the team. Nevertheless, understand this, and tell this to your teammates. Only you two, because you were a couple before I came, can be together. I don't want the whole team coupling up."

"Gee, I feel so bad for Bryan and Ian, such a cute couple they could have made." she chuckled.

"Miyami, I mean it. No other couples."

"Well unless Amber and Kai are going to jump each other, there's no fear of other couples. Arista doesn't like any of the boys; neither does Shahero or Amber for that matter. So you're free. Oh, Ruin. Um... could you just extend that rule for her? I don't know the ins and outs of her relationship with Tala, but there's something between them. And the rule didn't stop them."

He sighed, pressing his fingers to his eyes. "Fine. Fine. Go gorge on popcorn or something."

She got to her feet and surveyed him for a moment. "She was right; you're not that bad after all." With that as her parting comment, she left and headed to the mess.

0-0-0

When she arrived at the mess, everyone was already watching Die Hard. Bruce Willis as John McLean was already smeared with blood and shimmying through an air duct in hopes of rescuing his wife. The seniors were sprawled everywhere. Amber was lying with her head tucked on Talas' lap while his arm was circled around Ruin who'd curled into him. Kai was sitting next to them with Miriam beside them. Amber probably had gotten lazy along the way and had decided to drape her legs on Kai's lap. Miyami assumed that no matter how many times he pushed her legs off, she'd only have done it again, so he probably got bored along the way.

Michael was really into the film so much that he was quoting lines, that Amber joined in with every so often then added her own, such as: "Ho, ho, ho, I've got a machine gun!"

"You got that from the play station game." Michael accused making her grin.

"Yup. You ever play it Michael?"

"Don't get him started on that game." Bethan said with an exaggerated sigh.

"It's true, he is obsessed." Sonia verified exchanging a look with his girlfriend.

"I think that games brill." The Irish girl stated.

"'Cept when those innocent people run in front of my gun, why would they do that?" Michael demanded frustrated.

"I know! And then they chase after you like follow the leader which is ok, until they start a fucking conga line off on their own and get killed."

"While wailing, 'Don't shoot, I'm innocent.'"

"Yeah, and they stand in front of guns, like oh there's a bullet, if I stand in front of it, I won't get killed. Then they do and you lose points. So unfair."

Miyami listened to them wail out their frustration about idiots who run in front of bullets. She sought Johnny out amongst the chaos of bodies strewn over the floor like victims of a massacre. He was sitting near the back of the room next to Shahero who was using his shoulder as a pillow. The brunette was next to him but the clear annoyance in Johnny's eyes amused her. It was clear to Miyami, if not the brunette, that Johnny's slight interest in her had waned. Oh, she got a lot of female satisfaction in that.

He didn't sense her. He was too caught up in his thoughts of her to notice her watching him. His senses were clouded by the heady perfume of the brunette and made his head pound. It wasn't like Miyamis' fresh scent. It never made his head pound, she always soothed him; made him feel whole. On screen Bruce was talking to someone, Johnny didn't know if the new guy was good, bad, or indifferent. He was seeing without hearing it or even taking anything in.

Instead, he thought of Miyami. Was she still going to quit the team? Could she? What did Hiwatari want from her? If he did anything to her, Johnny swore he'd destroy the man. He better not let her quit either. Miyami was too valuable to the team, even if it did spite him. He wanted her; he wanted their relationship back but at the consequences that his team would lose an incredible player? Damn the consequences, he cursed. And damn her! She had broken up with him because she didn't want him to the quit the team, and then she went behind his back and did just that. How dare she make his decisions? In addition, on saying that, he didn't care so much. He was crazy, crazy for her, and crazy for wanting her when she obviously didn't want him.

These past few weeks proved he wasn't going to get over her, no matter how he tried. And he had tried but forgetting Miyami was fucking impossible.

One thing that could be said about Jonathan Thomas McGregor was that he was a practical man. If something was bothering him, he got rid of it; if he wanted something, he acquired it by any means necessary. He'd wanted Miyami Kinomiya and he'd gotten her. When he'd lost her so suddenly, that had been a blow he hadn't been expecting and it knocked him for six. His recent attitude bothered him so he was getting rid of it, and he was taking Miyami back, whether she liked it or not.

He shrugged off the brunette, irritated. That was another of his mistakes. He hated mistakes, and he'd made plenty of them recently. Letting Miyami think she could shake him off had been the biggest one. He intended to rectify that immediately.

Beside him, Shahero chuckled with a bloodthirsty edge as Bruce shot a couple of more guys. Johnny paid no heed; instead, he got to his feet blindly and headed for the door, his gaze rising to meet Miyamis' sending a bolt of electricity through him. The air sizzled between them with anticipation of what was about to happen. He didn't stop, just kept walking telling her that they needed to talk as he passed.

Miyami nodded, before letting him lead her out to the corridor, which was dark and empty. She recognized the barely contained agitation in the edgy movements and in the way his firm jaw clenched. He ran a hand through his thick reddish hair in frustration. Her fingers itched so she fisted her hands in her sleeves.

He yanked open a door to the nearby classroom startling the couple inside, who leapt apart and stared at them, panting slightly.

"Leave." He ordered, waiting for the couple to scramble to their feet and exit before entering and shutting the door behind her.

"That was... interesting. I didn't know those two were together." Miyami commented. He shot her a dark look to which her silver brow lifted under her silver, violet and bubblegum pink bangs. "If you think that looks going to send me into submission, you've got another thing coming."

He sighed and raked a hand through his hair again, as he sat down on one of the tables. The moonlight filtered through the blinds casting part of his face into shadows. His eyes were intense and focused completely on her in a way that made her insides bubble with pleasure and her toes curl.

"I don't want you submissive," he said resigned. "I just want you."

Her heart leapt as her blood began to hum. "Well-"

"No!" he cut her off sharply, frustration lacing his words. "Just let me get this out."

She gestured silently for him to continue.

"All right." he wiped his hands on his jeans and stood up to pace like a caged tiger. "I won't pretend to understand

why you broke up with me, I don't understand. We were good together." he whirled on her; his eyes wildly alive with emotion pinned hers. "Dammit, Miyami, I love you. I think part of me always has ever since that day you knocked me clean off my feet, smiled at me, then offered me your hand."

She smiled, even though her stomach had jittered at his agitated delivery of those three words, she remembered the loud mouthed boy who'd declared that girls couldn't play hockey. She'd shown him and though he'd been hot headed and arrogant, she'd still found herself liking him secretly, which had bloomed and developed over their years together. She opened her mouth to put him out of his misery but he held up a hand.

"Don't. I know you're going to say it doesn't matter since you've quit the team." her brows shot up and she reminded herself he was still arrogant, but he continued. "But it does matter. The team needs you almost as much as I do and you need them. If you quit you'll end up hating me and yourself."

Arrogant, cheeky Scot, she thought with a hint of smugness because he was all hers. Still it was presumptuous of him to think she was only quitting for him. "What makes you think that I quit because of you?"

He froze and looked at her feeling his cheeks heat. "I-I...ah shit!"

She tucked her tongue in her cheek and swallowed a laugh. "I did, kind of but still I don't like being obvious."

He looked her over slowly, with a slow smile curving his lips making licks of excitement tease her stomach. "Darlin' you're not subtle."

God, she was crazy about that funny Celtic accent. Years in America never took it away completely. "No, I'm not." she agreed breezily. "Now are you going to let me talk? I'm not one of your idiotic play things so I'm not going to do your bidding."

"Jealous darlin'?

"Not completely, but if I'd seen that ditzy brunette with you one more time, then I might have had trouble controlling my urge to scratch her eyes out." At the look of smugness in his eyes, she added. "Or castrate you, and call me darling again in that tone and I'll do it. You can call other girls that, because it just means you can't remember their names, but if you can't remember mine then there's no point of me being here."

He winced. "Shit, Yami, I didn't mean it like that and you know it."

"Fine, and don't try to make me jealous again McGregor, I don't like it. Now, I went to talk to Nicolai." she broke off when she heard the insult disguised in a cough. "He isn't. He's ok actually. A lot like Dan. You can sit down and talk to him. He's adjusting to us too, Jon."

"Fine, whatever. He's misunderstood. I feel for him." his tone was scathing and mocking.

"No you don't but that's ok, because I like him and we discussed the differences between our two teams. Anyways the gist of it is I'm still on the team."

His smile was easy and filled with genuine warmth and affection, and it was as though someone had turned up the light in the room. "That's great. The team was worried you weren't going to be playing anymore."

He crossed to her and slid her into his arms, engulfing her with his build and she held on needing the sheer comfort of his presence, while ignoring the lust crawling along her stomach. He turned his face to the curve of her neck inhaling her subtle scent of the shampoo she'd used for her hair and the perfume she'd used earlier. She always smelled incredible, clean and fresh. Desirable.

Her pulse kicked and her breathing quickened as his hands roamed over her back. He made no move to ease back, just held her close. However, she felt the way his heartbeat jumped and how the muscles in his frame tensed. The feel of him, the length of his body pressed against her aroused, she was suddenly aware of everything about him, the way his breathing had deepened and his hands had stilled as though he'd just realized what position they were in.

Slowly, he leaned back until his face came into her sight. His eyes searched her face, dipping to her mouth, which parted under his phantom kiss, the memory of how his mouth fit against hers. Her head unconsciously tilted in invitation, while her heavy lidded eyes remained on his, gleaming in the moonlight. Her blood was simmering; a flush worked its way along her cheeks. Her hands slid over his back to hook over his shoulders, while his eyes patiently stayed on hers, he lowered his mouth to within a breath of hers.

His mouth brushed hers, softly, the barest caress before he eased back to watch the way her liquid eyes narrowed and her mouth pouted. One of her hands slid into his thick hair, relishing in the luxurious richness of it. Using her grip, she brought his mouth back to hers. His hands fisted in her shirt, as he dived into the kiss filling himself with the taste of her. Her blood pulsed rapidly through her veins. It was like coming alive after being dead for so long. The taste of him, the feel of him, the way his hand skimmed over her arms and her skin tingled with electricity; they were all the things she'd craved without realizing she'd needed them. His tongue slashed against hers as desire whipped through her. Heat flooded her, consumed her like living flame that she would willingly writhe in just as long as this pleasure coursed through her veins. Her grip on him changed as his hands craving flesh, found it and tore a moan from her throat.

"Johnny..." she breathed his name.

He pulled away as though a switch had been flipped when she'd spoken his name. "Shit, we can't do this."

"What?" dazed she tried to fight her way through the fog of lust, which had clouded her mind.

"This. We can't be together. The rule- I have to stay away from you. I'm not strong-"

"Oh that." she sighed wearily, tired by his emotional swing.

"Yes that." he snapped irritated.

"I was trying to tell you." she muttered, her voice rusty from need, need that had yet to be sated.

"What?"

"Nicolai lifted the rule for us."

"Us?"

"Yes, you and me, do you see another us around?"

He shook his head confused. "You're saying that you and he talked, and he decided to fuck the rule and let us be together and still be on the team."

"I don't know if he fucked the rule, but yes. Oh but it's only for me and you and Ruin and Tala if they want it. He doesn't want our team to be consumed by hormones, I don't think. And we don't really have to worry about that since we can work out all sexual tension."

"So we can be together? No being thrown off the team? No nothing?"

"If we'd just talked to him in the first place-" she was cut off by Johnny's mouth, hot and demanding on hers. She clung to him, answering his demand with one of her own, her mouth moving ardently under his as his tongue stroked hers, teasing out the flavor of her. She broke away from him, panting softly, her eyes drifting lazily closed as his hands streaked over her flesh. "Johnny, not here."

"Where? My dorm'll be empty."

"I have to..." she trailed off on a moan, before crushing her mouth to his one more time. "Shit. Ok, I have to put that bitch in her place first; I don't want you to find her crawling into your bed. It's for her safety."

"She wouldn't be crawling into my bed," he stated. "I never slept with her. You were my first and only."

She blinked at him, absurdly touched by his confession. Smiling softly, she raised a hand to his cheek and kissed him gently on the mouth. "I love you."

The tension that had been pushing down on his shoulders these past weeks suddenly seemed to lift off and for the first time in a long while, he felt genuinely at ease with the world. "I love you too."

"Ok but I still get to claw her eyes out."

"Miyami." He moaned.

0-0-0

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Well what do you think? Huh? Well Johnny and Miyami are back together, that's good no? As for the rest well, I can't really think of what to say. Next chapter will be the class trip. I hope this was ok. I'm not to sure about my writing any more, so I can't really be a judge.

Chiharu-chan: Ooh, I never liked hockey at my school. I thought it was a major balls: I use to step aside when the ball came near and pissed off the hockey team members when we were in gym class. It took six years for my class to realize that I could indeed sprint! Lol.

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ebony-Starr: I kind of already have a beta reader or editor. Courtney. Though you're offer is appreciated. I love Harry Potter too, seem to have a thing for Draco/Hermione fanfics, though it'll never happen I have to say if he wasn't such an asshole, he'd be the perfect guy for her. She wouldn't have to dim down her IQ to talk to him. My fave author is Nora Roberts/JD Robb, I'm not writing the names of her stories because there are so many, but they are amazing. I base myself on her. Lol. I have three siblings, Robert, Bryan and Jonathan. I've heard of the authors you've mentioned, I think I've read some of Faith's, I've read Silverwolverina's but well… that's a sore spot with me. I don't think the review posted what it was supposed to, which sucks a bunch. So what's Southern California like, hot? Ireland's middlin' at the moment. We're getting colder each year.

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T.k-Kon: Hanging Ian by his pants… ::sighs:: Yeah that would be fun. Kai deserved detention, he should have done his homework and figured out that the third floor closet would get busted.

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Lee the Ice Queen: Man I've missed your reviews. Yeah I read on your bio that you were sick. Sounds serious. You're alright now, right? Nah I still have missed you. Oh thank you, not many ever say their proud of me. And for this fic, I'm very pleased. It's technically my favorite because it's just more fun though Amber's very childish. We used to hang people from the second story windows but we also had a basement, so it was three floors at one time and I used to get severe vertigo. Amber's been called a bitch in this story so many times it's unbelievable. Kai and Amber are never on speaking terms, every time I think they're making progress, someone screws up. I'm writing the fourteenth chapter and they still aren't completely friendly, but they're tolerating each other more. Bryan's great, but because I never make him speak much, he's sometimes forgotten, lol. He's just a presence. God, I hated Tala and Amber being off with each other. Shit five chapters, chica you have been gone a while. Not so long from L/H because I'm stalling the end of that. Lol.

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Twerp: Meh, I know. I usually leave it a while before I update anything. I usually have to get my stuff from Court and then the computer acts up and won't let me post.

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Sinfully-Luscious: Wow… me having confidence. Meh, I adore Amber. She's my baby. And TAT rocks by the way. And thanks for backing me up; it was good to have you in my corner.

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Miss Wright: Hey you get your wish this chapter. Miyami and jon-jon back together! Tala and Ruin aren't so complicated. Tala's in love with her, and Ruin isn't used to anyone wanting her or having to want anything, so she's going with the flow. As for Kai and Amber… ::shakes head:: I'm still waiting for it. As for the pranks, well they'll still pop up here and there. They just won't be a back and forth thing anymore. Ian deserved being stabbed, he licked her neck… sort of.

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Obs3ssi0n: Aw that seriously sucks. Why was your story deleted? Or did you even get a reason for it? Aw god I should have thought of his nose breaking his fall, ::snickers:: I'm glad you like the Tala/Amber scenes. I find them easier to write than the Kai/Amber scenes since those two are always fighting. Yeah I try to describe what everyone's doing because I hate to ignore people. But sometimes I do, when working with such a large cast; it's a common mistake. Miriam… Yeah she's… To be honest in the series I actually like her, but in this fic I just can't deal with her at times. And I'm trying not to make people dislike her because she's not a bad person. She's actually very nice, just a bit arrogant at times.

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Darkwolf-of-night: Yeah if Kai ever did hurt Amber, Tala would jump in. For the most part he knows she can take care of herself, though Bryan's just very protective because she's like his baby sister. I don't know if things got interesting, but you all got an insight into why Amber was so bitchy to Kai in the beginning.

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g--b-S-t-E-r07: The pranks are great to write, just thinking them up takes a little time. Aw Tala and Amber are the best. It's so sweet just to write them and then read over it, I end up going mushy and I'm a bona fide cynic. Yeah Bryan isn't someone who's bad side you want to be on. I need more Hitoshi/Hero but the only problem is that I kind of have to wait till they're outside of the school, so mainly until Christmas, which is the 14th and 15th chapters.

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Kaze ni Tenshi: Thankies.

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ArcadaAvalon: Chapter seven inspired me to write chapter 14, so thankies. I'm not evil! I'm… not evil. Yeah Miriam and Kai are gonna have some trouble. Will be happening in chapter fourteen I hope. I haven't heard of Witch Hunter Robin. I also miss Beyblade now it's been cancelled. Sucks big time.

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Ayuka-chan: Oh thanks for the review and the note. I'll try to keep it in mind.

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Coors: Wow you saw all that? How observant of you. As you know I find Hitoshi hard to write, I'm trying to keep him in character in this fic, or how I think he'd be growing up with them as he did and being older than them, but at the same time trying to keep him the way you have him. It's not easy. But Shinobi isn't so bad, Hitoshi could have handled it, I suppose. I just figure that I had Shinobi in before so I put in the other song. Lol. Yeah Amber and Shahero would never have been able to hang Ian from a window, they'd have dropped him for sure. But Ian's not so bad, I don't think. He's just so cool to annoy. Yeah Sonia, I really feel for her, then of course I feel sorry for Ozuma, it's just a vicious circle.

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Grandsummon: Lol, you did sound pretty hyper. Were you referring to the dedication? If so, it's really no problem. You and Zimo both deserved it and I'm so pleased you did well. I know the Junior Cert really isn't supposed to mean a lot but it does put a lot of pressure on the students, and a lot of people don't realize that. Especially Irish and French, or any language subject, including English, they're very difficult when doing a higher level. I hated English because it was based solely on poets and lots of stupid things like that. Especially in the Leaving Cert, god I got the two poets I hated and never learnt. As for Irish, I did pretty well considering I'd only been in Honors Irish for one year, lol. But I'm still pleased you did well. So are you doing Transition year? I did it during the foot and mouth epidemic so we didn't get to go very many places, it was a big balls. I learnt to dislike that year so much, but one advantage was that it made me more mature and I stood up more against the teachers. But we did this cross border thing, where a Northern Ireland school came to visit us and us them and we went to Bundoran to a sports centre for a weekend, and my friend and I had to share a dorm. When the good reverend MacBride came to tell us to shut up, she couldn't since we'd locked the door on her. Lol, much fun.

Anyways, in reply to your review, well being put in the same sentence as Billy Connolly is a very big honor, he's like the best. So hilarious and like me, he never shuts up so you can't get a word in edge wise. I've seen interviews with him and Parkinson, too funny for words. Lol, yeah Kai and Amber seem to affect each other physically, but it's their personalities that clash. Which is what I'm working on at the moment. Kai dated Miriam at the start merely for her looks, with Amber it'll be different. Ian is such a dweeb, lol. But I love him. He can actually be a nice guy at times. Tala and Ruin, yeah they did get hot and bothered there. I just love Tala, and he's a very weird character to write. I mean him fussing over Amber, well if it was anyone else they'd seem gay or whatever, but he doesn't in my opinion. I just don't know what it is about him, but I adore him and his friendship with Amber. It's nice not to have to try to work in any tension between them, because romance is hard to write. I skipped Halloween, I just had nothing to write, sorry. But I have loads for Christmas. Or big ideas for it. But Halloween was… I just think I lost all my inspiration for it. Sorry. Lol, Miriam's not bad, it's just well… she's with Kai so that's wrong. But I'm working on fixing that as we speak. Lol. Oh and your review for L/H was so sweet, thankies. I'm working on the Epilogue and the second part of chapter 21 should be posted soon as Russia's part is written. I don't think you're a dickhead. I always get over whelmed when a friend dedicates a chapter to me, it's like showing you they care or something. It's nice. Maybe it's an Irish thing, lol.

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Buttercup: Bryan's threat was a promise. Seriously, he does not like Kai at all. And he has a good reason, Kai's the one thing that could take Amber away from him. He's grown up with Amber having Tala so he'll share in that aspect, but Kai's a new person and shit. Bryan cares very deeply for Amber and he's very possessive of her, Kai threatens their friendship, so I really think that Bryan would hurt Kai if he got the chance. But I love Bryan's personality and temperament, it's just so cool. Yeah Ruin rocks, she kicks any girls ass and doesn't care about what people think. Lol. I just adore the song that's playing, it's a good song for her.

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Dark Destiny2: Lol, don't worry about reviewing every chapter. That virus is so annoying when you're on the internet, because if the computer does anything at all the virus freezes it with a blank screen and you can't get into it, so you have to shut the computer down. Yeah the compass thing was cool. I want to do that to some people. Well one bitchy teacher is better than loads. Yeah I think that's what a Protractor is. But a compass is the thing that's got a point on one leg and you attach a pencil to the other leg and draw a circle. For most… actually I don't know what people would have thought if they caught sight of Amber and Tala, possibly nothing since they know they're friends but a least a hundred would have thought otherwise. I think Ruin and Tala are so cool at times. Ian being dangled out of a window is a Kodak moment. Pity they didn't get a picture of his face.

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Paris Super Girls: Hey before I forget, you can borrow Bethan Hudson. Her fave sport can be anything, like soccer would be fine or badminton. I tried to email you a couple of times, but my comp is really screwed up. Most of her bio is in Love/Hate in the chapter called Tourist Season or something like that. Tala and Ruin are growing in popularity in this fic. It's interesting between those two. I guess Amber is a good person, she just can be childish but she's genuine so that means people can't feel threatened by her. Yeah Ruin making a fool out of Kennedie and Clover by standing up for that sophomore was a decent thing which is why Ruin's a good person. In Love/Hate and in this story, Hi**R**oshi is with Amber's mom. But Hi**T**oshi is going to be with Shahero. They're two different people. I'm sorry the names are similar. Coors had made Hiroshi Shahero's father before Hitoshi came to Beyblade. Lol. Johnny and Miyami are back, they're a very cool couple, who I adore. I don't like Miriam and Ozuma, I just think that they're more like friends, but that's because I support Sonia. As for RayxMariah, well they're not together in Trinity: the Virgin Suicide, because Miyami's with Rei. I just change pairings all the time. Xanny's a really good writer. She's a really good friend too.

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Midnight Insanity: No I know you weren't insulting me, it was the other writer who was insulting me. Anyways no biggie on that front, we're cool. Right?

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Moi: Tala has changed so much since the start of this story, he was an emotional wreck when he came back from Clonmel, and now he's got Ruin and Amber. The guy sure does land on his feet when he has an author who loves him, lol. Yeah you're seeing the first rifts in Kai and Miriam's relationship, it kind of goes down hill though none of them realize the problems yet. Kai was kind of the voice of reason though you'd just think he was trying to zing Amber again. Bryan definitely doesn't like Kai, he has his reasons, but I adore Bryan. He's big surly and grumpy, can't understand what I adore about him. Lol. And yeah Kai and Amber will be having some interesting moments very soon.

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Unknown: Is this the famous unknown that reviews Coors fics? There are so many unknowns around, so I'm just wondering for clarification. Yup this fic is well underway so there will definitely be a chapter fourteen, so you know you have three more chapters to read after this one.

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Leina: You're quite possibly the biggest Amber/Kai fan I know. Every small bit they have you've commented on, thankies. They'll be having bigger moments after this chapter when everything comes to a peak. Maye's really going to be seeing red in a while, which'll be fun and Ian's not that bad. I range from him being the devils spawn to being this poor unfortunate creature who continually gets bullied by girls.

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Alexis: Digital Survivor: Definitely don't want to steal Shahero's man, Coors would kill me, and take Kai away from Amber in her fic. No, god no, I don't want to throw Ian out the window, we still have one more perfect revenge for him, but you guys are going to hate him in the 13 chapter. Poor boy, I'm horrible to him. And I'm glad you think this story is getting better and better, it did have a rocky start, no doubt about it. I love Tala and Amber's platonic relationship, it's refreshing to write something simple like a childhood friendship which doesn't have any complications. I'm trying to keep Tala and Ruin's moment's less heated because other wise the rating will have to go up to R and I'd have no PG-13 fics at all. Nah Kai deserved to get caught, I love how Amber inadvertently stops Miriam and Kai getting anywhere, it's like fate. Lol.

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Smiley Joe: Lol, hey Ky. How's you? And yeah wow, I didn't realize I'd updated, thanks for giving me the heads up, lol. Tala and Amber have a very important friendship, it provides like a stable base for Amber since she's not that stable she knows she can always rely on Tala and Bryan. As for Kai, yeah there'll come a time when Tala will feel left out because Kai's taking his place in Amber's heart, only he's not because he couldn't ever. Nope, Amber wouldn't have thrown Ian out, it was Shahero's idea. But it was just to scare him so much that he wouldn't try anything else. Of course the whole plan backfires in a few chapters and Shahero has to finish the whole thing. But I think Ian's a really cool character. Couldn't imagine high school without him now, I keep going to L/H and thinking Ian could do this and then it's like, wait a minute did I even put Ian in this fic? What was I thinking Ian should be in this fic. I think he's an underrated character in Beyblade and the fact that he doesn't show up in G-rev sucks. I love American Idiot, it's such a wicked song with great lyrics. Yes everything Amber listens to is in my limited CD collection. Our life does revolve around music, well a teenagers life does. I think more novels should have some music in them. As for Xanny's fic, well I dunno what she has planned. Grr. She's kind of gone under the zadar, I can't find her, lol. If Amber comes back as a ghost, she'll haunt Kai. I actually wrote a fic about Amber as a ghost but I never got very far with it. It's a shame open was deleted. It was so good too and deleted all because of a four letter word, jay-sus. I mean come on! could have given her a warning so she could correct it and then everything would be fine, but they don't care about how much work goes into these stories!!

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Grand admiral Chelli: Yeah Kai needs to get some control over his woman. He didn't even look at her when she asked Tala for a pointy object, come to think of it, what was Tala thinking giving her a pointy object?! No, I agree there's nothing wrong with hanging a person who's scared of heights out of a third story window, just as long as you don't drop him! Amber's got a lot of spunk, just not as much as Shahero, I don't think she does anyway. But I'm glad you've always liked Amber, some for some reason don't. And Love/Hate is written, just needs some finishing touches and it'll be complete.


	12. Hopes and Fears

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Beyblade. I only own Amber and Ruin and Nicolai. Miyami belongs to Unlucky-Star. Shahero belongs to Coors. Arista to ArcadaAvalon. Aspin to Animerle. Sonia to SpitfireSae. Kirby to Kindred Insanity. I think that's all.

Okies, here ya go. As this will probably be the last post before 2005, I'll say this now. Merry Christmas guys, and happy new year. Hope it brings you good fortune.

Chapter Twelve: Hopes and Fears

Aspin figured it was a testament to her feelings for Kane, that she was out of bed at 5:30 in the morning to see him off on his trip. The sky was deep blue, growing lighter towards the horizon. The moon was a sliver, the thickness of a thumbnail, high in the sky still, though it would fade when dawn hit. The grass was dusted with frosted dew making it crisp under the feet of the Varsity hockey team as they trundled like zombies to the bus.

She shivered and blew on her hands watching the way her breath was expelled like smoke, which floated for a while before dispersing on the frigid breeze.

"Cold?" she shivered again for completely different reasons as Kane's breath tickled her ear. Her neck prickled in awareness before she turned round to face him. Her reaction to seeing him made her heart accelerate and her desire grow. Her gaze flicked to his lips, then snapped back to his.

"Yes, it's freezing out here," she complained, hunching her shoulders.

Kane slipped his larger hands over hers, warming them while drawing her closer. He inhaled her subtle scent. "You're hands are like ice."

"No shit." she muttered, hoping her teeth didn't start to chatter. Mid December was always bitching cold.

He lifted each hand to his mouth and kissed them in succession, noting the heat flare in her eyes.

"Get on the fucking bus Kane."

He jerked his gaze up and snarled at the back of Amber as she stalked past him, a duffel bag slung casually over her shoulder.

"You should get on the bus." Aspin added.

Rolling his periwinkle eyes, he lowered his mouth to hers. He had intended to spend this long weekend with her without any interruptions but of course, the team would have to spoil those plans. He knew Aspin had been looking forward to it too, and it pissed him off that he had to put his team first. It wasn't as if he'd gain anything from the weekend away. Moreover, Aspin should have been coming with them. He knew they had both been thinking that when he'd told her. If she'd still been on the team then he'd have had no trouble going, it would have been fun then. Now it was bothersome.

Her arms coiled round his neck as his hands slid under her coat around her back splaying his fingers. Her lips parted to allow his tongue to stroke hers. With a moan of delight, she pressed closer to his lean frame, feeling the warmth of him pressing against her. He kissed her eagerly trying to show her how much he'd miss her all the while enjoying how her body fit against his.

"Suzoru, get on the bus now!"

He groaned and parted from her as his Coach yelled at him. "In a minute."

"You said that five minutes ago." Miyami told him cheerfully as she passed them with Johnny by her side.

He growled at her. It was all right for her, her boyfriend was coming on the trip with her. Though he had to admit, it wasn't a bad thing for Coach Hiwatari to bend the rule for them. He had no dislike for Miyami; and Johnny and he got on relatively well, so he supported the rule being bent. He'd hope Hiwatari would have done the same for him and Aspin if she'd still been on the team.

"Ok, this time you better go, Witch Bane."

He smirked at his girlfriend. She was gorgeous and sexy without even trying hard. Which was probably what made her more so, he supposed. Of course she was also amazingly good at irritating him, especially since she was stubborn, strong willed, prickly and reserved, he loved her for that alone.

"I'll call you later Aspirin."

"Well, I can't guarantee I'll answer, but you go right ahead." she shot back then kissed him hard enough to make his head empty. Pulling back, she extracted herself from his arms and grinned.

He dipped once more to taste her lips; then tried to clear his mind. "I'll miss you."

"I know."

Amused, he caught her and kissed her once more dreamily. "Say it back."

"I'll miss you too," she murmured stepping into him and pressing her face into the curve of his neck.

"Oi, Suzoru get you're butt on the bus!" Nicolai sighed and looked down at his clipboard and sighed. He seemed to be missing one or two people. Rolling his eyes, he glanced out the door of the bus. "KANE!"

"Yes! I'm coming!" the bluenette shouted back, said something else to his girlfriend then jogged to the bus, hitching his shoulder bag so it sat more firmly.

"Where's Kaeto?"

"Still sleeping last time I checked."

Nicolai raised a brow, and located Amber amongst the others. She was sitting in a single seat still wearing her pajama bottoms with a baggy sweatshirt. "Benson, are you planning on sleeping yourself?"

"Seems like a good idea to me." she replied lazily, annoying Kane by making him climb over her legs to get down the aisle. She stuck out her tongue to whatever comment he made, then turned back to Nicolai. "Hitoshi's gone to fetch her."

There was a hiss, and then a silver head bobbed up. "You sent Hitoshi up to our dorm with Shahero still in there sleeping? Shit. Well then we'll be waiting for another while then."

Johnny snickered at his girlfriends comment; then winced. "No we won't. Here comes Hurricane Hero."

"Oh shit, I'm so dead."

"You bet you are Ams." Arista quipped popping up for a moment from the seat in front of the Irish teen.

Nicolai followed their gaze to see Shahero marching across the lawn towards the bus; an expression of thunder on her face with Hitoshi strolling behind her, thumbs tucked in his pockets an easy smile on his face. Nicolai shook his head. Well this was just perfect. Hitoshi probably pissed Kaeto off, she'll be pissed with Benson and it would all just kick off. So much for the calm ride, he'd been looking forward too. He'd been hoping to take his own car, maybe take an hour or so and head off to see Jean, but it seemed he'd have to be on hand here.

Shahero stormed onto the bus after dumping her bag in the trunk, shooting a furious look over her shoulder at the assistant coach who stood back to let her on. Her searing blue gaze shot to Amber and the Irish girl offered a hopeful/apologetic smile, which Shahero met with ice.

"Oh shit."

Nicolai sighed. "Is everyone here?"

Amber muttered something but as the engine roared to life, he never heard it and he wasn't going to ask her to repeat it. He nodded as Hitoshi climbed on board and got out to talk to Judy Tate as she walked up.

Feeling something prod her neck, Amber looked round and sighed heavily. She closed her eyes, and opened them hoping that she hadn't seen what she'd thought she'd seen. Alas, her sight wasn't faulty. "You weren't sitting there before!"

Kai smiled blandly. "I moved. Don't like it; don't sit there."

She scowled as he basically threw her own words back at her. The boy had a damning memory, faultless and annoyingly so. Ignoring him, she flopped back on her seat. Johnny and Miyami sat in front of her on the other side. Shahero had moved to the back. Bryan had his own double seat near the back, as did Spencer. Kane and Ozuma were sitting beside each other talking to each other while Rei had the single and was listening to his Discman. Ian was lounged out over the long back seat, while Tala had taken the seat beside her, which was probably why Kai was now sitting behind her, other than sitting beside her; it was the closest he could get to Tala. Hitoshi was near the front; his body sprawled over the seat. Arista was sitting in front of her, but had said not to disturb her since she was going to sleep. Ruin was sitting in front of Arista opposite Hitoshi. Enrique and Michael strode onto the bus and moved to the back.

Nicolai got back on the bus followed by Tala who made his way down the aisle before dropping down onto the seat opposite her.

"Hey Benz."

"Suppity."

"Tired?"

"Exhausted. This is not normal. I feel sorry for Aspin though." Then with a grin, she turned to Kai. "Didn't notice Miriam getting up early for you."

Kai turned his cool gaze on her. "Why should she? It's too early. Just because I have to get up, why should she? I'm only going away for a couple of days, it's not like I'm going to forget her."

Amber rolled her eyes. Obviously, she wasn't going to get a rise out of him. Sighing she slumped back in her chair and tried to prop her feet up on the back of Arista's seat but her feet wouldn't reach. Giving up on any chance of comfort, she decided to eaves drop on Tala's conversation with Kai, but that soon bored her into a comatose. She hated sitting on her own.

0-0-0

Kirby slumped in her seat, her head resting on Tyson's shoulder as he talked amicably to Salima and Max. It was funny how easily Tyson seemed to make friends. Some people found him annoying, and sometimes she could see how his cheerful determination could get on some people's nerves but if they looked deeper, they'd see the genuine nice guy that he was.

It was odd, she thought, to look round and not see the senior team around their usual tables. Miriam was slightly depressed. She was gazing listlessly round the study hall as though she expected Kai to come breezing through the big oak doors. The image Kirby got in her head made her chuckle. Mariah seemed to be faring a tiny bit better since she was chuckling at Kevin and Joseph's antics as they engaged in a mini food fight.

She glanced up and smiled sleepily at her cousin Daichi as he dropped down exhausted into a spare space beside her. "Hey."

Daichi yawned and nodded, plucking a triangle of toast from her plate. He bit into it and chewed thoughtfully for a second. "It's cold."

"Understatement." Emily said; voice nasally. She sniffled miserably and settled down between Max and Kenny.

Kirby tucked a strand of black hair behind her ear and zeroed in on her friend. "Are you coming down with something, Ems?"

Emily nodded looking very peaky with her skin paler and looking jaundice compared to her orange hair and pale watery blue eyes framed by the thin wire frames she wore. "It's typical. I come down with a cold and Amber's not even here."

Kirby sighed feeling Daichi stiffen beside her. Daichi didn't fully support Amber's choice to become Wiccan; neither did Kirby to a degree. She wasn't very religious herself but she did believe in God and Jesus but Amber didn't. All the same, she was still Amber. She hadn't changed, much.

"Ask Salima," she suggested to the carrot haired girl.

"Oh yeah, Salima's into the herbal thing too. Thanks Kirby."

"No problem. Glad I could help."

"Has anyone decided what they're going to do today? What with their being no classes today, we should probably do something."

Emily shot Daichi a look out of red-rimmed eyes as she wiped her nose. "We're supposed to be studying."

"Emily, chill out. You're supposed to spend Monday studying, not today." Tyson said with an exaggerated roll of his eyes.

"Even if you studied all weekend, you still won't pass Tyson." she shot back.

"Now, now, you two. Calm down." Max intervened.

Kirby sighed and settled herself for a major clash of two complete opposites with Max playing piggy in the middle. Her gaze fell on Miguel as he walked into the hall laughing. As usual, she got a heightened sense of awareness around him. Then she frowned, as another figure appeared at his side, a girl she recognized from some of her classes. She was laughing with Miguel and lightly touching his arm. Something inside Kirby burned and she suddenly felt very odd.

"Hey who's with Miguel?" Emily suddenly asked following her green haired friends gaze.

Kirby shrugged the famous Benson shrug. Salima, still laughing at something Tyson had said, turned and looked. "Oh Tamara Wheeler, she's a freshmen but she takes some sophomore classes. She's really smart and has had a crush on Miguel for as long as she's been here I think."

"Oh yeah, she's on the cheerleading squad, she's really nice. A good match for Miguel." Mariah suddenly jumped into the conversation.

"She's not really his type." Kirby said cautiously.

"Sure she is. Look, she's sweet, smart, she likes hockey, it's one of the reason's she joined the squad, to cheer on the team and she's pretty. Miguel could do a lot worse."

He could do better too. Kirby thought but kept the thought to herself, she would only upset the Tamara Wheeler fan club by blurting it out. Instead, she got to her feet and left the dining hall making a vague excuse to Joe that she needed to get something from her dorm.

Frowning Salima watched her young friend exit the hall, her shoulders tense and her eyes miserable. She turned to Mariah. "Well that was interesting."

The pink haired girl nodded considering. "You think Kirby has a thing for Miguel?"

"I don't know. But how ironic would it be that now Miguel's moved on from her, she finally realizes she likes him."

"Yeah, that would suck. You don't think Miguel is using Tamara to make Kirby jealous do you?"

Salima shook her head of red hair. "No, that's not Miguel's style. He's too nice a guy to do that."

Mariah sighed heavily. "We should get them together."

"I don't know Mari; that just sounds like trouble to me."

"Hmm, maybe. Well we'll see." she smiled, but the wheels were already turning.

"Hey where did Kirby go?" Miguel asked as he joined them with Tamara by his side. She smiled shyly at them before sitting on the seat Mariah invited her to sit in.

"Said something about having to get something from her dorm." Tyson replied over a mouthful of scrambled eggs.

Miguel frowned then shrugged. "That's odd, she never usually forgets anything."

"Are you and Kirby close then?" Tamara asked tucking a strand of black hair behind her ear, a gesture she used to show she was _really_ listening.

"Yeah, she's my VC and Daichi cousin."

"Oh." she smiled. "I just didn't know you two were that close outside of the team. I mean, I don't see you two around school together much."

Miguel shrugged. "Well we are. She's cool and fun to hang out with."

"Sounds like she'd be a great friend."

"She is." Miriam said coolly as she pulled up a chair. She sent a warning look to Tamara. "And who are you?"

Tamara flushed slightly, not anticipating a run in with the junior. "I'm Tamara."

"Miriam, leave her alone." Salima laughed.

"Don't worry about Miriam, Tammy; she just gets defensive over her friends. It's not personal." Mariah soothed with a grin at Miriam who smirked back but she kept an eye on Tamara not trusting her innocent facade.

Tamara smiled weakly, but watched Miriam watching her out of the corner of her eye. Feeling uncomfortable, she inched closer to Miguel. He looked at her and smiled bemused at her actions. The smile made her feel a whole lot better and after a while of being in his presence, she began to forget about the bluenette watching her.

0-0-0

The bus rocked over the bumpy road well into the country on the other side of Bakuten. The sun had risen and was spearing through the tall bare trees illuminating the wooded area in its watery light. The frost still lay in various patches where the sun hadn't yet warmed it.

On the bus, people slept or talked in low murmurs. Ruin and Hitoshi were playing cards; Miyami and Johnny were cuddling. Arista was sleeping as she had promised she would, as were Bryan and Spencer. Shahero was making fun of Kane and Ian much to Ozuma and Rei's amusement. And Michael and Enrique were looking at a magazine.

Tala rested his head back on the headrest, his long fingers absently running through the silky tresses of his Benz who lay across the seat, her head resting in his lap as she slept soundly.

"We're almost there." Kai commented, his eyes looking out the window before turning back to focus on his friend.

"Have you been here before?"

"My parents use to bring me here for my holidays, just a week here with them and then I'd be free to enjoy the rest of my holidays."

"So what's it like there?" Tala wondered as he stared out at the crisp brown and golden woodland.

"Yeah it's cool. There's this big house that everyone stays in when there's like a big school group going, or you can stay in the cabins if you're only a small group. We'll probably be in the big house; it's not so bad. There's a TV, a grand piano which children just mess on and the dorms aren't too bad, there are private showers attached to each one with _hot _water."

Tala snickered as his friend sighed in mock bliss. They'd once stayed in a hostel that had no hot water, no clean sheets and the mattresses were lumpy and the showers were _very_ public. So public that Kai had considered getting his butt cheeks pierced together when one of the male residents kept checking him out. If Benz heard about that she'd have a field day, but Tala wasn't going to add fuel to Kai's ember.

"Sounds cool as long as I'm not bored stiff."

Kai smirked. "I doubt you'll be bored around Ruin, as for the stiff part well that's up to her."

Tala groaned. "You've been exposed to the Tigers; you're cruder than before."

"It's possible." Kai chuckled then watched bemused, as Tala had to catch Amber before she rolled off him as she slowly began to stir. Suddenly her eyes snapped open and locked on his, before she grimaced, stifled a yawn and rubbed her eyes with her tiny gold fists.

"Shit, you're not a sight I want to ever see first thing in the morning." She lied glibly with a rusty voice. The point was he was a very nice sight, all fresh and amused. There had been laughter in his eyes, which made them darken, and at the same time, they held an inner light. His hair was typically mussed. The sun light had given him an almost angelic glow, but the devilishly sinful face ruined it.

"Ditto that." He snapped back wondering why he was so easily riled by her snarky childish comments, after all Brooklyn had never annoyed him but with one sentence or look she could get his back up when he wasn't steeled for it.

"Children please." Tala sighed warily and looked down on his petite friend, who easily rested on his lap with her legs folded to fit on the rest of the seat, it obstructed her view, but she wasn't looking out at the scenery anyway. Instead, she was staring boredly up at the roof of the bus.

"That stain looks like Ian, check out the long nose."

Intrigued, the red head followed her gaze. "Yeah… but it could also be a naked man."

"How do you… oh god! Dammit Tala!"

He laughed richly and noted with some smugness that Ruin cast a glance in his direction. He'd noticed she hadn't been looking at him recently, whether on purpose or not he had yet to find out.

"Do you suppose if someone bent down in front of Ian, they'd get bum-fucked, like accidentally?"

Tala grimaced. "Aw Benny!"

"No I'm being serious." She stated no trace of humor in her voice, but her eyes were bright with it as her lips quirked at his expression. "Ian's nose has to be a scary weapon, he could stick it anywhere, in any hole what so ever without even meaning to."

"Benson shut the fuck up!" a male voice shouted from the back.

Leaning further back so her hair cascaded almost to the floor, she tried to see who it was, but unfortunately couldn't. "Private conversation, dick-ass!" she shouted back then catching what she said, quickly added. "No pun intended."

Tala slapped his forehead. "Do you remember how Nic covered your mouth with tape?"

She winced remembering how sore it was to peel off. "Yeah."

"Well I'm going to do that, or worse wash your mouth out with soapy water. You're mother would cuff you round the ear for that language."

She scowled at him but apologized reluctantly. "Sorry."

"And you haven't apologized for spreading that rumor about me being gay."

Her lips quirked but she relented. "I'm sorry for that too."

"Now apologize to Kai."

She gazed steadily at him. "Don't push it!"

"Like I'd want her apology anyway." Kai muttered.

Amber angled her head so she could see the reserved azure haired teen. "Kiss my ass!"

His lips twitched. "No, but I could get Ian to do it."

The effect was humorous to say the least. Her eyes rounded then her face contorted in disgust. "Oh ick! God! Crying out loud, shit, fuck, goddammit!"

"Amber, you kiss your mother with that mouth?" Nicolai called out from the front glaring at his goddaughter.

"No, I use my other mouth!" she snarled. "It's your son's fault anyway."

"You'd blame the devil if you thought you'd get away with it." Kai mumbled.

"First up, I don't believe in the devil, secondly what did you mean by that?"

He turned to her, fixing her with a look of disdain. "You never take responsibilities for your actions."

"Actually you're wrong. I do take responsibility for my actions; it's part of being Wiccan." She told him calmly; then cursed her stupidity. Telling him something like that would only result in him thinking less of her than he already did. Shit. Suddenly she frowned. Why did she care what he thought of her anyway? She shouldn't, she didn't. She was just fed up with people dissing her because of her chosen religion, a religion that she felt as comfortable in as her own skin. It sat well on her, unlike Christian-ism in its far too many forms. Religion caused too many problems and persecution in her mind, but still people needed to have faith in something. However, no one thought Wiccan was proper faith. Even her mother thought she was just going through a phase and her friends didn't understand it. Shit even Tala winced and clammed up when she said she was Wiccan, goddess knew what Kai would think.

Kai just shrugged. "Whatever, I'm not going to argue with you."

"I am quick witted!" Ian growled loudly as Shahero laughed so hard her sides ached. "I AM!"

"Sss-ure you are!" Shahero managed to gasp out and still sound cynical, a major skill in Amber's opinion.

"I AM!" if he'd been standing, he would have stomped his foot. Seeing the image so clearly, made Amber grin. Her previous argument with Kai was forgotten for the moment, to be fretted over later.

"Of course Ian's quick witted." She called back to Shahero, pushing away from Tala and struggling to her knees to look back at her sister. "His wit's just so quick, we never see it!"

Shahero snickered at Ian's triumphant expression vanish. "Oh I'm so sorry Ian!" she announced with mock sincerity.

He sneered at the ochre-eyed girl. "Oh and I suppose you think you're witty."

"Uh, Ian, see what comes out of my mouth at regular intervals? That's what you call wit!"

Kai snorted. "I think you're confusing wit with shit!"

Amber snapped her gaze to him, and then her lips twitched before she grinned. "That's good." She chuckled as she looked at Ian and her surprised teammates. "See Ian, that was being quick witted, you can't do that!" she turned back to Kai again. "I'm surprised Sharky, that actually put me to shame. That time."

"Benz!"

She sighed and rolled her eyes at Tala who watched her calmly. "I was being nice."

"Stop try-"

"Hey we're here." Miyami suddenly announced and they all looked out the window as the bus rolled to a stop.

"Rejects?" Kane frowned catching sight of a familiar teal and deep green uniforms. "What the fuck are they doing here?"

Amber looked back at him; then turned in the direction he was looking. "Hey the rejects _are_ here. And here's me thinking that Kane was just seeing things. Cool!"

Tala groaned, his lip curling in obvious distaste causing Kai to look at him. "What's up man?"

"The rejects."

"So? You're not giving me anything to understand here. They're pains in the ass but they're relatively harmless."

"They're Bakuten Highs team; me and Benz went to Bakuten elementary."

"So you know them from when you were a kid?"

Amber looked round on hearing that comment. "When were you a goat Tala? I thought at least, that would be something you'd tell me about. Does our friendship mean that little to you?"

Kai sighed. She was like a little child, always needing attention. She seemed to love hearing her own voice. He gazed levelly at her, her eyes were bright, her cheeks flushed and her breathing was shallow. "What's wrong with you now?"

She shook her head. "Nothing. Yo, Coach? Hey where did your Dad go?"

"He went out to talk to the Rejects coach." Ruin answered, laying a card down on the book between her and Hitoshi, which they were using as a base for their game.

"Zagart? I wonder if the lush Doctor Kay came with them." Kane wondered.

"KANE!" Shahero growled and slammed the book she'd been reading down on his head, and then checked the spine as he cursed. "You're dating Aspin, remember?"

"Yes, I remember. I was just asking a question."

"Is she the dark haired lovely?" Enrique asked licking his lips.

"First of all, she's way out of your league Enrique. She isn't a member of the pep squad. Secondly, she's a power hungry bitch who only wants her team, the losers that they are, to win and thirdly she'll use whatever method she can to use it. Even if it means seducing one of the opponents." Hitoshi lectured standing in the middle of the aisle to address the flirtatious blond.

Amber looked at him and nodded, understanding what he was talking about. Shahero looked between her friend and the man who wouldn't leave her alone. Did something happen with this Doctor K? Did she burn Hitoshi? Did he still have feelings for the woman? All these thoughts churned in her head and left her feeling very small and surprisingly lost.

The bus rocked as Nicolai climbed up the steps into the bus. He leaned down to talk to the bus driver who nodded, before he turned to his team. He watched the expression on their face and the look on Hitoshi's as he turned round, nodded to him, and dropped into his seat beside Ruin who offered the assistant coach a small smile. His son was frowning, looking slightly puzzled. Tala looked grim as did his goddaughter, though she cast a smile over her shoulder to the other petite female whose expression was hard to read. Miyami's eyes were slightly tinted crimson and Johnny's hand was clutching hers, rubbing it in a soothing motion.

"OK, it seems that the Rejects have booked this place too." As he said this, he wondered if anyone could even remember the real name of the Bakuten high team. He couldn't. They'd always been to him a minor annoyance. They proved to be no challenge to his team so to him it seemed like a waste of time to play them. However, he wouldn't make the same mistake as he had the last game. He wouldn't disappoint Amber again.

"That sucks! I guess we'll just have to turn around and go back home, gee too bad." Kane drawled with all the mock regret he could muster.

Nicolai chuckled. "Not exactly Kane. It just means we're going to have to share the house with them and our duties with them. I'm placing you all into teams of four with the Rejects so that... Yes Miyami?"

"Point of fact, they really aren't going to respond well to being called the Rejects all the time."

Nicolai nodded. "True, then again my team didn't come up with the name in the first place." he said pointedly looking at Tala who'd been the one who'd introduced the name to his team. He almost grinned as his goddaughter squirmed uncomfortably.

"It was Kane's fault, well Kane and Tala." she accused as she felt her coaches gaze burning into her.

Tala nudged her non-too-gently. "Snitch. They are rejects, each of the team applied for scholarship to Preston, they weren't accepted, only Ozuma, me, Kane, Rei and Amber were accepted."

"Then Bryan when he transferred." Amber added. "So yeah they are technically the rejects and they never win."

"Vindictive little fuckers though." Kane grumbled glowering out at them.

"They're not that bad." Rei said, always keeping the peace and seeing each side. "Just Foxy, he and Gordo have a pretty bad rep at the high school."

"That's because he was with Gordo when he was caught smoking pot."

"Pot Head." Tala muttered and Amber snickered at an obvious inside joke.

Arista looked round and poked her friend's knee. "What?"

The dark haired girl shook her head. "He's a pot head, that's all. Never mind, it was ages ago anyway."

"He still fucked with my car though." Kane growled cracking a knuckle.

Amber rounded on him exasperated. "If you hadn't shot him with a goddamn paintball, he wouldn't have fucked with your car. What idiot goes around shooting people with a paintball anyways?"

He met her gaze pointedly. "And what idiot goes around shooting people with a water gun?"

She opened her mouth, angry accusations on the tip of her tongue, then shut it, opened and shut it again before taking a breath and replying. "It was tourist season!"

Nicolai nodded at something Judy said and looked back at his team in time to hear the last piece of the argument he'd walked out on five minutes ago when he realized they were going off track. Tourist season? The thought made his lips twitch; he and James had done something similar when they were in college. "Right, listen up. The teams will not have leaders; I don't want a power struggle. The red team will consist of..." he trailed off checking his clipboard notes and rubbed his forehead instead of wincing. This wasn't going to go down well. He took a deep breath, better to get it over with quickly. "Kai, Ian, Amber and Michael. Team Blue is Tala, Ruin-"

"WHAT?" it came from two different sources. He looked up and regarded both Amber and Ian standing up glaring daggers at each other. Why, oh, why did he let Hitoshi do this? It was obvious the assistant coach liked causing confrontations by doing things like this. He felt sorry for his son being in his team, then took it back, he felt sorry for poor Michael. The boy was arrogant on the ice sure, but Michael wasn't a hot head and he was easy going round others as long as they didn't criticize his sports. Anything could set Amber off and her biggest match was Ian, her fuel was Kai. God knows when she'd burn out.

"Is there a problem?"

"I'm not working with _it_ or _it_!" she declared pointing first at Ian, then at Kai, who only peered boredly up at her from beneath his bangs, his arms were folded and he was looking out the window while Tala tried to get his Benz under control. Shahero was saying something with sympathy to Ozuma while Miyami just leaned into Johnny and Arista slept. The rest of the team sat back to enjoy the show.

Nicolai sighed. "Amber..."

"Why can't I be in Tala's team? I'd be really good." she whined, then on a surge of inspiration, she locked her arm with her red headed friend and folding her arms, glared a challenge at her coach who ran a hand through his hair.

"You're not in Tala's team."

"Why not?" she growled and sounded to Kai like a petulant child, maybe giving her a tissue would shut her up he thought, wondering was there an off button for her, or a temporary method to shut her up. She was becoming a pain in the ass, childish, winging and generally just spoilt. "I'm not leaving Tala. We're stuck together, joined at the hip!"

"You're not."

"We are! Unless he's with Ruin," she conceded under her breath. Only Tala heard her while the others had a fair idea what she had said, especially when Tala poked her and she yelped squirming out of his way. Turning to him, she rolled up the side of her top under her jacket to see if he had bruised her. Seeing the red blotch on her golden skin, she snarled at him. "Look what you did!"

He bit his lip in an effort not to grin; then pulled back more of her top to reveal her back. "You have a tat?"

She angled her body to see the small of her back, noticing idly how Kai and Arista -who'd be awaken by the sharp yelp- had turned to see as well. "Oh no, cause I heard if you get a Tat there, you can't have that operation or whatever and I figured I'd need one of those or whatever. Mimi did that temp for me. Like it? I'm thinking of getting one on my shoulder blade though."

"What is it? A fairy?"

She beamed at him. "That's Lava Twilight, my fairy of ice. Sometimes she's very good and other times she's very naughty."

Miyami turned in her seat with a wicked grin. "She hasn't had much of chance to be naughty, yet, has she Bambi?"

Amber scowled. "Why do you call me that? I wanna know!"

Her silver haired friend shook her head and slid back into her seat again with a sly smirk.

"Lava Twilight comes from the Inme song." Arista informed Johnny when he questioned the name. "She's not that imaginative."

The Irish teen stuck her tongue out and slumped back in her chair. Then jolted when Nicolai called her name sharply. "Yes sir."

"That's an affirmative for the red team."

"What?" when he merely raised a brow in challenge she sighed and gave in, having a very odd sense of de ja vu, as though she'd seen that expression before. Probably from his son, she supposed. They were very alike, even though Nicolai was pretty cool and easy to talk to and funny when he wasn't ordering her around. She wouldn't know about Kai because he was always ordering her around or belittling her. Would it kill him to chillax for a little while? Probably, she decided.

"Blue Team is Tala, Ruin, Arista and Kane. Any problems?"

The four in question shook their heads but Amber gaped at him. "Why did they get a choice?"

"You would have too but you didn't wait for me to give it." He told her mildly; enjoying the look of pure outrage on her face, then the resignation that crossed as she folded herself up on the seat and made a show of whimpering while Tala patted her head like a little child. He slanted his gaze over to his son and grinned, prompting a reluctant smile. In his eyes, his son never smiled enough or enjoyed life, always being far too serious when he needn't be. He needed someone to bring some life and laughter into it. Some day that would happen, he just hoped his son would allow that to happen.

"What are these teams for?" Ruin wondered, silently wondering how much time she'd get to spend in Tala's company.

"You'll have to work together in team bonding exercises and in making the various meals and cleaning up, depending on what your team is down for on the rota that will be posted this evening."

"Can we get off soon? My bums numb." Shahero complained.

"I'll kick it for you!" Kane suggested at the same time Hitoshi suggested he'd rub it. She glowered at both of them.

"Yellow Team consists of Enrique, Rei, Shahero and Bryan. To answer your question Shahero, as soon as I tell you your teams, you're to get your bags and head to the upstairs dorms. Judy will show you around. Now Yellow team, got any problems?"

"Yeah can we change the color?" Shahero demanded. "I don't like yellow, neither does Bryan, do you Bryanny?"

Bryan shook his head with a slight shrug to Spencer who chuckled.

"Then what color would you like?"

"Blue."

"You can't be blue."

"Blue/Black."

Nicolai sighed heavily. "Right, you can be the black team." He ground out scoring out the 'yellow' and scribbling 'black' onto his page; then glanced at Hitoshi. "As soon as I have an office set up, I want to see you."

Hitoshi grinned and laid a card down on the book. Ruin slapped her hand down on the pile. "Snap."

"Green Team are Ozuma, Spencer, Miyami and Johnny. Any problems green team?"

Miyami snuggled closer to Johnny. "None what so ever on my part."

"Nope."

The others shook their heads. "Well now that that's settled head to your rooms, no fighting with the rejects until we're here at least an hour, please."

The team got to their feet and shuffled off the bus with many complaints of stray hands, feet and other body parts. Nicolai watched them go and wondered vaguely what he'd let himself in for.

0-0-0

Amber flopped onto her bed and sighed. "Wow, it's going to be so weird not sharing with the others."

"I actually like the privacy." Ruin stated as she unpacked her clothes ranging from black to red and blue. Ruin's wardrobe only consisted of dark colors, or very vibrant colors on the dark side of the spectrum. No yellows in Ruin's wardrobe -only blacks, whites, reds, blues and some very dark green.

"Of course you like the privacy, but I miss Miyami and Shahero. I've always shared a room with those two and Arista."

"Well as I said it's only for tonight."

"Hmm… I wonder with whom Shahero's sharing. Miyami will be with Arista, so I wonder where Shahero will be. On her own or she could bunk down with one of us."

Ruin lifted a shoulder. "Let her bunk down with Miyami and Arista." When she caught Amber's shocked look, she added. "Look, you and me, we haven't been spending a lot of time together recently. I kind of miss our talks."

"Ok, not tonight, but tomorrow night everyone can bunk down in our room because-" she got to her feet and spun out on the pine floor. "It's so big! And then the next night Shahero can bunk in our room, ok?"

"Yeah that's a good idea."

"HEY!"

Amber stumbled back onto her bed at Shahero's angry exclamation as she stormed into the room. "Um, hey."

"Hello Shahero, what's wrong?" Ruin wondered sitting down and patting the space beside her.

Shahero dropped down on it with a growl. "Guess who I have to bunk with?"

"A flying cow?"

"No worse."

"Don't tell me my band of pink elephants snuck on?!" Ruin asked in her typical monotone voice making Amber giggle.

"I love how you say things like that."

"Ok, ok! We're talking about me!" Shahero cried directing their attention back to her.

"Who are you bunking with?" the Goth girl asked straight out as she got to her feet and deposited a top into the small vanity chest.

"Queen."

Amber blinked. "Who?"

Ruin looked at Shahero thoughtfully. "Queen… I know that name from somewhere. Oh, the girl Russia beat up before she was forced to go back home?"

"And bingo was her name-o." Shahero quipped while Amber still looked in the dark.

"WHO?!"

"Queen or Camie Quinn. Remember she had that thing for Zareth that night we went out to celebrate our exams? She was that dark haired girl with the mole, had a twin brother who called himself, King. Both of them were excessively arrogant, I mean King and Queen? Doesn't that imply incest?"

Amber made a face. "Ruin… I don't want to know…yuck! But I vaguely remember her, but she wasn't a member of the team, neither was King when I last talked to Foxy."

"Tala and Kai weren't members of our team the last time you talked."

"That bitch stole my boys." Amber pouted and then looked over at Shahero. "Is she still as bitchy?"

The blue-eyed teen observed her friend. "Do cows moo?"

"Depends on what cows you're talking about…ok so she's a bitch. What has she done so far?"

"Ugh, she made out hard core with your friend Foxy in the room while I was unpacking. He was perfectly nice and tried to move it on somewhere else, but _she_ didn't want to. I hadn't even made her an enemy yet… she is now though."

Amber ran a hand through her hair. "No confrontations with the rejects, Coach says, and what his first item of business? Putting our most volatile member with their bitchiest!" she sighed dramatically. "Smart, real smart."

"Come on; let's go get some food or whatever."

"Food? I like that idea." Shahero stated perking up. They headed out of the dorm, Amber hanging back just a second to shrug on her fleece.

0-0-0

Tala placed his cyber-CD system on a shelf above his bed and looked round his dorm. It wasn't so bad, he supposed, compared to other dorms they'd been forced to share on other school trips. This dorm actually reminded him of the room he and Kai had shared back at Clonmel, actually thinking about that made him remember Amber's little rumor and left him grinning.

"What's so funny?" Kai asked as he walked in and dropped on to his bed, throwing a packet of Pringles to Tala.

Tala shook his head as he popped off the lid and ripped off the seal. "Nothing much."

"We'll have sleet before evening."

"Yeah I figured as much. Hey, what do you know about anorexia?"

Kai sat up on his bed catching the box his red haired friend fired back at him. So this was what was troubling Tala over the past couple of weeks since Coach had announced the trip. The red head had been subdued and often headed off on his own and every time the two of them were alone, Tala would bring something up but it would die when someone else entered the room. "Not much apart from it's an eating disorder. Why?"

"I over heard Amber and Ozuma talking that night Coach told us about the trip, he wanted to know if she was having a relapse."

"You mean she was anorexic?" twin blue brows shot up. Sure Ember was skinny but anorexic? Then he thought about it, she was incredibly skinny, often she slept through breakfast, she was often tired at times and once nodded off on his shoulder in study hall, and she ate very little when she was down for study hall.

"I don't know." Tala ran his hand over his face in frustration. "I think so, but I just don't know."

"What did she say to him?"

"Who?"

"Ozuma." Kai prompted patiently; selecting a thin crisp from the pile in his palm.

Tala chuckled softly. "She told him she never ate much during her period..." he trailed off losing his smile. "But I know her, she could just have used something she knew Ozuma would never question to put him off."

Yeah, that was true, Kai thought. Ember sure as hell knew how to use people's own thoughts and peeves against them, it was why she was so good at getting under peoples skin and how she was so good at easing people's anger. He's seen her diffuse a pissed Bryan without so much as a blink of an eye or even Johnny who was known to be a hot head, quelled under her words. She could give people what they wanted to hear and what they didn't want to hear and make it work for herself, which was why he was so wary of her. She could manipulate everything to her own liking; it made him nervous of her at times. Too long in her company would possibly end up with him bending to her will like every one else, she'd already manipulated him once but dammit, he just didn't know what exactly he was to make of her. Better just to stay the hell away from her, she wasn't one to be trusted.

Troubled he looked over at Tala who was staring into nothingness. If she wasn't to be trusted, why did Tala feel he could trust her so much when Tala was probably the smartest person he knew and was a great judge of character? Then again he'd been around Amber for so long, he probably wouldn't see her as he saw others. She'd given him no reason to mistrust her, yet how easily she forgave Tala made him uneasy. Would she hurt Tala in spite... yet each thought made his stomach churn but he couldn't tell if it was in disgust of what she could do, or was it self-disgust that he could think those things.

"Well who would know for certain?"

Tala shook his head. "With Amber, no one. She can hide things from herself therefore hide them from others. I was the only one who could read her better than anyone, and I left her. If she was anorexic, it was because of me."

Auburn eyes rolled in their sockets. "You're being self pitying."

"No, I'm being honest. Emotional trauma causes anorexia, pressure causes it-"

"Girls thinking they're fat cause's it."

Tala raised a blood red brow and if it hadn't been such an important topic, he might have laughed. "Amber thinking she's fat? Yeah good one, Kai."

"Fine. I don't know her, do I?"

"No you don't." Tala shot back. "And you don't want to." he sighed and rubbed his forehead. "Give her a chance Hiwatari, you might be pleasantly surprised."

"So far all my experiences with Ember have been _un_pleasant."

"Ruin might know, if there's another who can read Benz better than herself, its Ruin." he got up and began to pace the room like a caged tiger.

Kai stroked his chin. "She probably would. If anything, Ruin's very observant. Where did she get the name from anyway?"

Tala grinned. "Benz and she got in a childish fight once, when Ruin being in one of her more bitchy moods broke something Benz was working on. When she asked Ruin why she'd done it, Ruin just shrugged and said that was what she did, ruin things so Amber called her Ruin. She flounced off and bitched to me about it, but Ruin became Ruin after that. It suits her much better than Morrigan."

Kai frowned; then shook his head. "Not really." at Tala's raised brow, he added. "Ruin's a cool name, no doubt but there was a goddess Morrigan in Celtic Mythology, she was goddess of war and death."

"Seriously?" A small smile of disbelief played over Tala's features. "Heh, maybe your knowledge of dead people and such is useful and interesting at times. Hmm, I wonder why Amber didn't know that. Benz use to read up on Gods and Goddesses all the time, use to have an obsession with the Greek gods, I suppose the Celtic ones didn't interest her."

"She's Irish."

"Her Father's Irish." Tala corrected quietly. "Her mother's Spanish."

"She... I guess her fathers neglect must upset her."

"Upset her?" Tala laughed bitterly. "It tore her up."

"She doesn't act like it."

"That's just it, Kai, Benny likes to act tough. Believe me; she was hurt when her father divorced her mother. Sometimes for her, everything's an act." he sighed heavily and sat down, his anxiety for his childhood friend weighed heavily on him. When the door opened, he snapped his gaze to it, ready to tell who ever it was to fuck off, but his words died in his throat as he looked on an old friend. "Zeo!"

The pleasure in Tala's tone had Kai relaxing yet left him feeling frustrated. Tala might have been the only one to help him figure out the Imp. God knows, no one else would be able to.

"Hey Tala, I heard you were back with the Tigers. I'm really glad. Amber's been missing you plenty. She hasn't been the same since you left. She was almost bouncing when she told me."

The words couldn't have had a better impact on him. The smile spilled over Tala's features. Zeo had always been good at knowing exactly what to say to make people feel better, even if he had no clue he was doing it. His hair was a striking mint green, long and tied back in a loose plait since it was too thick to tighten it. His eyes were a slightly darker color and were hooded by his bangs. Back in Bakuten he'd been the youngest member of their group and his innocence and his ability to make every one feel better about themselves made him a pleasure to be around. Then his skill at wielding a stick had made him a firm member of their little clique. Amber and he often found themselves at odds. It wasn't because she disliked him, but mainly because sometimes when he started whining, she got angry with him because she knew he was better than that. He'd become Tyson and Max's closest friend being the same age as them only for the fact that he was so clever he'd always been a year ahead of them.

"Yeah? Well it's nice to be back. So how are the rejects doing?"

Zeo shrugged. "Not too bad considering we're bottom of the league. But we're doing ok; we won against the Indians, though their big guy pretty much scared the wiggins out of me."

Wiggins? Kai raised a brow at his roommate then smothered a smile.

"I know what you mean." Unconsciously Tala's hand strayed to his ribs.

"Yeah we heard about your game. That was one heck of a sacrifice. We were listening on the radio, I really thought Amber had had it; Wyatt nearly threw up in his fear. Foxy was pretty much cursing the big git. But man, that was one heck of a move. You break anything?"

"No, and believe me I ain't willing to let you play doctor." Tala laughed at Zeo's face. "So what's the deal with Wyatt? I saw the way he blanked Benz, something going on there?"

Zeo nodded grimly. "Yeah. He worked up the courage to ask her out during the summer."

Kai, who'd tuned out the conversation, switched back on again at this announcement. He frowned as Tala winced. Now what was going on here? He'd seen the guy who'd blanked Amber and worried at it. A good looking guy, he remembered, and he'd seemed pretty much pushed around by their captain who'd been razzing him about something, probably Amber, he thought as he remembered how the petite Irish woman had inched closer to Arista who'd patted her shoulder sympathetically.

"Oh, so what did she do?"

"Well Wyatt said she cut out his heart and stomped all over it. But that has to be completely bogus, she's not cold."

Tala shook his head. No, she wasn't cold, but she was inexperienced in those areas and probably handled it badly, which would explain her reaction when she saw Wyatt in the corridor as he'd been talking to Foxy. Poor Benny. "So she blew him off, and now he's ignoring the fact she exists?"

"Pretty much so. I'm sharing a dorm with him and he's not too pleased about her being here. I'm guessing every time she goes near him, he's going to bail. It sucks; they probably would have made a good couple."

Both Tala and Zeo looked sharply at Kai when he snorted at the comment, then shrugged. Zeo didn't make much of the ex-Shark captain and turned to look out the window, while Tala gave Kai another considering look.

"I don't think so Zeo. Benz would walk all over Wyatt, he probably knows that himself. She did what she thought was best, he's just being childish."

"He's embarrassed. Especially because Foxy keeps getting on to him about it, while King says that he can understand why Wyatt's embarrassed because it would be embarrassing when someone like Amber won't go out with him." there was a glitter in Zeo's eyes when he said that and his voice darkened as well.

Tala's fists clenched. "And what the fuck would King know about anything? He would fuck anything in his path with a hole."

Zeo's eyes widened at the words; then he burst out laughing. "Oh man, that's a good one. And so true."

The red head Russian's anger drained and his lips twitched. "Don't say that to him Zeo, otherwise you'll get your head kicked in."

"I know," he managed in between snickers. "But I'm going to tell Wyatt you called King a man whore, he'll get a laugh out of it. I'm glad you're here Tala. You always were there for the team."

"Yeah I miss you little guys too. Tell Foxy to watch his back though."

Zeo sobered and nodded before leaving them. When he was gone, Kai turned to Tala. "Something going on between you and their captain?"

"Don't tell me you haven't seen the family resemblance?"

Kai's brows rose. "A cousin? You never mentioned any other than Miguel."

"That's because Foxy's a shit fuck. The bastard's always been jealous of me and picked on Miguel most of his life. He's an arrogant shit for brains, but Amber, she doesn't see it. She and Foxy get along pretty well, but I can't stand him. He wants everything I have, and I trust him as far as I can throw him. I'm just betting he's been muscling in on Amber while I haven't been there. After all, it's something he'd do."

The bluenette frowned; this wasn't the Tala he knew. He knew Tala never liked Brooklyn that much, but he'd never seen this ultimate disgust and hatred come from his friend before. Usually he believed he was better than they were and he understood most people where jealous of him, but this Foxy person got right under Tala's skin.

"If Ember's as loyal as you say, it's going to take more than some pretty words to sway her from you. Now come on, I want something to eat."

Tala nodded. Yeah it would take more to sway Amber, but funnily he got the strangest feeling that Foxy wasn't the one he should be worried about, but the teen in front of him. Then he shook his head. Amber and Kai hated each other, didn't they?

0-0-0

"So when are you going to tell her?"

Nicolai watched the woman opposite him and grinned. "Who knows."

She rolled her eyes. "She'll find out and when she does, she'll hit the roof. If you know James, you know exactly how she'll react, Nicky. She'll feel betrayed because you knew who she was and you used that knowledge to get close to her."

Nicolai nodded. He valued her opinion and had a genuine affection for her. Her hair was golden brown and softly fell to her shoulder. Her eyes were the same brilliant blue of James's and held intelligence and a hint of mischievousness she'd carried with her since her youth when she'd played pranks on him and James and done other things such as stealing their clothes when they'd gone skinny-dipping. If anything, she was like a younger sister and he was filled with warmth at seeing her again. Her book-worm-ish tendencies had led her to becoming a teacher, which he supposed, was a very good profession for her, she'd be good at it. She knew how to deal with rebellious children especially boys. He idly wondered why it hadn't clicked with him that Kirby Preston-Lee being after all Amber's cousin was Anne's daughter and why hadn't he even thought about Ozuma and Daichi being Seth's boys. He'd been so caught up in Amber that he'd neglected to look at her cousins. Yes, James had been his best friend, but for most of the time, Seth and Anne had been like siblings to him. He'd have to look at the others more closely. So would that mean Bryan was Rory's or Ciara's, probably Ciara's, he assumed. Why hadn't it hit him that with his team he was surrounded by his family, hadn't Molly said he was like another son? Why had he given up that family when he'd given up his own? It was foolish; he realized that now. He missed them fiercely.

"You're probably right."

"I am right Nicky, I'm always right."

He snorted and grinned into his coffee. "Sure Anne."

"So how's Jean?"

"She's great. We've moved in next door to Treasa, coincidentally, so they're reliving their youth again with my money."

Anne grinned. "Really? Wish I could join them, but I'm always busy with school and monitoring detention and with Treasa having to work night shifts at the hospital, it's awkward. I must call up to see them; it would be nice to hang out with them again."

It was good to see that since James and Treasa had gotten the divorce, the Benson's hadn't deserted Treasa, then again, it wasn't their style. "So what about you and yours?"

"Well I have three daughters, all grown up. Julia has a son, but her and Crane aren't seeing eye-to-eye. Alyssa is still at Bakuten High, she wouldn't go to that prestigious school because she didn't want to be on her own, but she's going to Harvard hopefully. And Kirby, well Kirby is her usual self. She's following in her cousin's footsteps and playing hockey at your school."

Nicolai nodded. "She's good. Vice Captain and she seems to take orders pretty well when she sees sense in them. She's a lot like Amber, I noticed, but she's more open to others. Very bright girl you have there."

"She is." the pride wasn't concealed very well. "And what about your son? Is he here? I've been hearing a lot about him from Kirby. She likes him and Ozuma respects him."

"And Amber Marie and Bryan dislike him." Nicolai finished; then frowned. "Here he comes."

Anne turned with a slight smile on her lips, wondering about the boy who'd got under her niece's skin and there the two of them were sniping at each other like an old married couple. She smothered a smile at the thought.

"I didn't stomp on his heart!" Amber scowled at him. How could Zeo tell Hiwatari, her mortal adversary, something like that? Now she'd never live it down because he wouldn't possibly understand. He'd just assume that since Wyatt was the only guy who'd ever taken an interest in her, she should have just snapped him up because there'd be no one else. Bastard!

"That's not what I heard." Kai replied easily, enjoying razzing the petite girl to the point where her fury rendered her incapable of speech.

She swallowed and opened her mouth to spew something back at him, but couldn't find any words. Instead, she made a sound of frustration and stormed into the kitchen, Kai following leisurely behind her, so that when she stopped suddenly, he had a chance to slow and look over her head at what was going on. A woman sat at the pine table in the kitchen with his father. She was pretty and had the teacher vibe about her, but the amusement on her face made it seem younger and more approachable. She looked very at ease sitting there with his father; he just hoped she'd noticed the wedding band on his father's finger.

"Oi, Ember, move!"

If she heard him she didn't say anything, instead she made a sound of surprised joy and rushed over to the woman and threw her arms around her neck. "Aunty Anne! I didn't know you were here, no one told me."

Aunty Anne? Was the girl related to everyone? There was Ozuma, Daichi, Kirby, Bryan, Robert Jurgen... it seemed the Benson's bred like rabbits and were everywhere. It wouldn't surprise him if she was distantly related to everyone on the team. As long as he was left out of it, that was fine with him.

He made his way into the kitchen and grabbed a mug out of the cupboard before pouring coffee into it. He settled down beside his father as Ember began to babble nonsense he wasn't interested in. "So how long are the rejects here for?"

"Oh we're just here for the weekend. Amber honey if you're getting yourself some coffee, would you refill mine please. And the milk is in the fridge, the third door from the sink sweet heart."

Kai smothered a smirk and cast a glance over his shoulder as Ember passed him, making sure to knock his shoulder as she passed.

"Kai this is one of the teachers from Bakuten, Anne Preston-Lee."

"Kirby's mother?"

"That's right."

Amber frowned as she heard the overly familiar way he used her cousins' name.

"You know Kirby?" Anne asked enjoying how her niece pretended she wasn't listening.

"Yeah for being related to the Imp, she's pretty nice."

"Kiss ass Hiwatari."

"Amber, behave." Anne sighed.

"Aunty Anne that was me being nice."

"You forget who you're talking to, now apologize."

Her dark slashing brows drew up in surprise then knitted in annoyance. She inhaled and crossed her arms in defiance. "No, I'm not apologizing to _it_. You've just fallen for his good looks and supposed charm, _I_ know better.

"Amber-" what ever Nicolai had been about to say was drowned out by Kai.

"So you think I'm good looking, Ember?"

"I've got eyes don't I?" she snapped and had him wondering how she could compliment him and at the same time damn him with just an arch of a brow and a tone of voice. It was frustrating and at the same time intrigued him. "And quit calling me Ember."

"That's your name isn't it?"

"I'll add deaf to my list of your disabilities, maybe when the list is long enough I'll learn some compassion towards your unfortunate self." she replied as she returned to the table and passed her Aunt her mug. Instead of letting Kai retort and she was sure he was about to because he was now glaring at her; she turned to his father. "Were you that idiotic when you were that age?"

She didn't notice the look that passed Nicolai and Anne, but Kai picked up on it and how Anne nodded subtly, before grinning into her coffee. "Supposedly I was."

"Hereditary, I thought so. I suppose I can't really blame Hiwatari if it's genetic for him to be a dick ass."

"Benz, give it a rest."

They looked up at Tala's resigned voice as he dropped down into the chair beside Amber and snagged her coffee.

"Ok, look Hiwatari I'm sorry." she said solemnly, but her gaze was on Tala the whole time. He looked fatigued and it had come out in his request. Tala never usually looked tired, and that worried her. So saying nothing, she laid her head on his shoulder and played innocently with his larger hand. It looked pure white compared to the gold of her own skin.

They were total opposites, Kai thought as he watched the two of them, he was so fresh and pure while she was darkly exotic, yet they looked good together.

"Tala, are you eating properly?" Anne wondered as she studied the young man.

"Yes Aunty Anne. I'm just tired. Didn't sleep much last night."

"Why not?" this came from Amber, the concern in her voice and her expression was genuine.

Tala smiled down at her, his whole expression softening. "I just couldn't get much sleep. Maybe it was the excitement of getting away from school for a while."

A wicked grin spread over Amber's features. "Or maybe it was the thought of getting to spend some more time with Ruin."

Tala shot a quick look at Nicolai and was surprised when he didn't show any signs of annoyance. Saying nothing, he turned back to the petite girl. "I don't know where you get these ideas from. Someone's corrupting you and I won't rest till I find out who it is."

She shrugged non-commitedly. "Good luck with that. I've been surrounded all my life with guys who don't tone things down when I'm around. I think most of them have forgotten I'm female."

Kai made a comment but wisely disguised it with a cough, but the fact that he'd thought something warranted her to glare at him.

"You just shut up. Ow!" she winced as a reflex as her Aunt cuffed her ear. "You know violence solves nothing."

"No but it makes me feel good. Your mother would do the same if she was here."

"I'm well aware of that," the Irish girl grumbled and made Nicolai chuckle, earning a shy grin from his God daughter that Anne picked up and wondered about.

"So what's on for today Coach?"

"Ice breakers in a few minutes when we round every one up and we'll merge the two schools when it comes to the chores." Nicolai informed Tala who rolled his eyes.

"Why do we have ice breakers when we already know everyone here, including the rejects?"

"Good point, yeah I've known nearly all off those guys since they were in diapers."

"Didn't you wear diapers?" Kai smirked catching her slip up.

"Nah Amber went around commando."

"Oh shut up both- ow!" she tsked and scowled at her Aunt.

"Leave her alone Tala." Ruin ordered as she stalked into the kitchen and smiled warmly at Anne.

"Ruin." Anne said getting to her feet and embracing the Goth. "I haven't seen you in quite a while. How have you been?"

"I've been good, nothing to complain about."

Amber frowned. Nothing to complain about, my arse, she thought. Ruin Mulryan ha quite a lot to complain about, yet she didn't. Her parents were socialite fools who didn't care about their one and only daughter and saw her as a failure. Nevertheless, Ruin just shrugged off their obvious neglect. Didn't Ruin ever feel lonely? She remembered the reserved girl she'd met in their first year at Preston and how she'd been intrigued by her outward show of no emotions. Every one else had just brushed Ruin off, but Amber couldn't. She just couldn't help feeling there was more to Ruin and she hadn't given up no matter how callous Ruin had been, and when Tala had told her about her parents, Amber had vowed never to leave Ruin alone again. Family was important. Ruin didn't have much of one, so Amber was hers and vice versa. They'd sworn that in blood in their second year, Ruin mainly doing it to placate the Irish girl. Amber knew it, that sometimes Ruin went along with her just to amuse her, but in saying that Ruin would listen to her when she was being neurotic and always was there for her no matter what. The others found her annoying at times, she knew that, but when Ruin felt it, she didn't show it as easily as the others did. Ruin was just always there for her and knew her as no one else did or could.

"You'll be staying at Treasa's for Christmas this year?" Anne made it a question even though she knew Ruin always spent each Christmas with Amber since they first became friends, it would be an insult not to stay with them.

"Of course."

"Yup, we can throw stones at caroler's."

Nicolai grinned but inside he realized she'd probably be throwing stones at him when she realized what was going on. Would she finding out about him turn her completely against him, would they go right back to the start? He didn't think he would stand for that. Even her feelings towards his son were changing, she wasn't looking at him with contempt and the baiting was much the same as her baiting for Ian and Kane who she didn't see as enemies, not really.

"Here." Ruin handed Amber a CD case, her brow knitting when she noticed Tala's fatigued condition and it concerned her. Tala wasn't one to look tired easily, in fact, he rarely got sick as far as she knew but he could take some very serious migraines, she remembered. They could leave him paralyzed for a whole day, make him blind and his hands, which were usually so clever and skilled, fumble over the simplest of chores. Usually if he got his pills in him, they'd be eased; Ruin just hoped he'd brought them with him. She hated to see him in pain, it churned her up inside.

Amber took the CD case and grinned with glee. "You got it, thank you so much."

"What is it?" Tala asked, turning it over in her hands. "You're Lost Prophets CD? The one I gave you?"

"Mmm-Hmm."

"Why did you have it?" he asked looking at Ruin.

"I had to steal it back from Wyatt."

"Why did Wyatt have it?"

Amber squirmed. _Not in front of Hiwatari_, she tried to communicate with Tala but the probing gaze was insistent. "Ugh, I tried to convert Wyatt and for a while he completely acted like he liked them until I realized that the only reason he listened to it was because, you know and then he was avoiding me like the plague and I never got it back. So I got Ruin to steal it back."

Tala rolled his blue eyes. He'd just keep an eye on Wyatt while he was here. Any guys that were interested in his Benz were to be watched carefully. She was naive when it came to the male species even though she didn't believe it. Being friends was one thing, add in hormones and all rational thought went out the window, he could vouch for that. However, he was a superior being compared to Wyatt and another difference was that he actually had a chance with Ruin; Wyatt never had a chance with Amber.

"Has anyone got a Discman on them? I haven't heard some of these songs in ages, and it's not the same listening to Shahero's CD. Mine is special."

"It's the exact same." Ruin pointed out.

"It's so not."

"I got it to her." Tala explained.

"That's not it either. It's mine, which means it's special." Amber gloated hugging the CD close to her chest.

"Fight later, ice breakers now." Nicolai said getting to his feet and crossing to the sink to rinse out his mug. He listened to the groans of his team and with a jolt; he realized that this was exactly where he wanted to be. He felt like he was finally home. If he'd had a proper family, this would be how he'd want it to be. Sibling squabbles, sniping, warmth, and ease. It was good and right.

0-0-0

That night the two teams sat in the mess watching '_10 things I hate about you_', a left over movie from another groups stay. It made Kai and Kane decide to get Coach Hiwatari allow them to head into the nearest town.

Amber was curled up in Bryan's arms, almost asleep. Arista and Shahero dominated the couch having thrown Ian off it. Tala and Ruin were curled up on the love seat. Miyami and Johnny had both feigned exhaustion and headed to bed -no one believed they were sleeping. Spencer was slouched in a threadbare armchair. Kane, Ian and Kai took the floor, Kai having grabbed a beanbag. Zeo had found himself an inflatable chair. Foxy, King and Queen were all snug and cozy on a moth eaten mattress, in a way that made the Tigers raise their brows. Rei was out on the phone talking to Mariah. Michael had gone to bed after talking to Beth and Enrique was getting some more food with Ozuma -more than likely they'd end up discussing Sonia and girl problems.

Kai had noted how Wyatt had entered the room only to spot Amber and leave again. No, in his opinion, Wyatt was certainly not the guy to handle the virgin Amber. It annoyed him that he was even thinking like this. The spitfire sure wouldn't appreciate it. She'd rather scalp him. Idly he looked at the other team; most of them didn't interest him at all. Most teams were all the same in his eyes, except for his team he thought with reluctant pride.

Their captain, Foxy, was as blond as Tala was red. His eyes were a darker blue and his skin was bronzed. They were probably along the same weight, though Foxy was just an inch or so shorter than his cousin. Kai could see the family resemblance between Tala. Foxy and Miguel but personalities wise they were mostly very different, but it was obvious that Foxy wanted to out do Tala. He made no effort to conceal his jealousy in the earlier icebreakers. Unfortunately Foxy was now in the red group, so he'd have to deal with him all tomorrow. However, Benson telling him to shut his dick hole when he'd begun to diss Nicolai had been amusing and confusing. The girl was so contrary and unpredictable. Why had she defended his father so firmly? Moreover, how did his father know her aunt? There was definitely something odd going on.

"Stop it, Hiwatari." Amber mumbled sleepily. She shifted in Bryan's arms as he stroked her back. "I can feel you glaring at me."

"Why would he be looking at you? He'd be more likely to be looking at me, wouldn't you sugar?" Queen drawled with a seductive smile from Amber's feet.

"No he wouldn't, he's got a girlfriend. And I said glaring not looking." Amber replied without any heat since she was too tired, instead, she nuzzled further into Bryan.

Queen shot her a look of disgust, then curled her lips into a female smile when she glanced at the dark broody Kai. There was definitely something going on between the Tiger Captain and the minx. She wondered if Tala noticed. Probably not, she decided, he was concentrating too much on the Gothic goddess. Though what their relationship was, Queen was having a hard time defining.

She cast glance at her bother and noticed his gaze was roaming around the room, settling on nothing in particular. Where Queen was dark and lush, King was light and dignified. She preferred the boldness of attack; he preferred the subtlety of planning. They matched perfectly.

She turned to Foxy and licked her upper lip slowly and deliberately. When his eyes darkened and he shifted closer, a foot appeared between them. She snarled and looked up into the cold lilac eyes.

"If you want to continue that, I suggest you get a room." Bryan said softly, but it still made her skin crawl. She didn't know how the girl in his arms could feel so comfortable and safe there.

"We have a room." She replied with a hiss.

"Queen prefers an audience."

The team grinned at Amber's mumbled comment.

"Shut up Benson, at least I've kissed a guy, can you even say that?" Queen demanded scathingly, her slender sculpted brow arching haughtily.

Amber eyes snapped open and locked with Kai's, who happened to be sitting opposite her, watching her intently. She turned in Bryan's arms to sneer down at the girl below her. "From what I've heard, it's not just _a_ boy, in fact it's not _just_ boys you've kissed and done a hell of a lot more with!" she snapped, her topaz eyes blazing. She heard some of the surprised gasps from the others and immediately regretted what she'd said because of her short fuse. It was none of her business who Queen liked or what she did and she probably wouldn't have said anything if it hadn't been for Kai sitting there. For a guy who didn't like her, and vice versa, he seemed to be there for most of her important and embarrassing moments.

"Watch what you say." King threatened; his voice low.

Bryan's grip on his baby cousin tightened. "Don't threaten Amber, or I'll break the finger you lay on her." Shahero stated sitting up straighter.

"I don't like threats from little girls."

"She's not making a threat, she's making a promise." Ruin's sultry voice out through the tension, calm and deadly.

"All of you give it a rest. Queen make out with Foxy, Amber keep that trap of yours shut." Kai told them wearily turning back to the film. He didn't see the flash of hurt in the ochre eyes that looked at him or how they hardened but Ruin did and she wasn't happy.

0-0-0

"Hey Rath, what's going on with you and Hiwatari?"

The two girls were getting ready for bed, Amber in her usual cotton pj. top and boxers and Ruin in a long black Nirvana T-shirt. Amber shot her a bewildered look. "Um, which one?"

Ruin thought about it for a moment running a hand through her hair, contemplating whether to take her make up off or not. Tala would be coming over in a little while -or so he'd told them- so keeping it on would be the best idea since she felt naked without it, but then she'd probably fall asleep with it on and that would leave her skin dry and her eyes black. She'd remove it.

"Well?"

"Both." Ruin decided.

Amber grimaced and shrugged, grabbing a brush to tackle her hair. "Not much to say on both counts. I like Nicolai; he's cool. His son on the other hand is a major brat on an authority high." Her expression turned harder and there was a certain bite to her words, which made Ruin's brow rise.

"So he did hurt you." Ruin surmised.

The younger girl opened her mouth to deny, then clamped it shut, clenching her jaw. She hated when Ruin saw right through her. "I hadn't done anything to him." She grumbled then added. "Or Queen."

"And you think he should have taken your side?" Ruin made it a question as she cleansed her skin, leaving it painfully naked and vulnerable.

"Over Queen?" Amber demanded as if it was obvious. "Any day. Tigers stick together!"

"And Kai's a tiger, is he?" her friend queried watching her pace the room through the mirror.

The Irish teen stopped and stared at her as though she were simple. "Well he wears the uniform, he plays in the games and he wears the captain's C, so you tell me?"

"Well it's just that if I were Kai, I'd be having some doubts."

Amber scowled darkly at her friend's nonchalant reply. "Is that a dig at me?"

"It's a dig at your treatment of him, since he showed up. You haven't just been cautious or unfriendly; you've been down right rude. And you've been encouraging the others to respond to him in the same way."

Rude? The word echoed in her head. She hadn't been rude, had she? She'd been childish, bitchy even, but that had been completely different to being rude. She could be vindictive sure, and even mean but she realized that she'd been all of the above to Kai before he'd even done anything to warrant it. Moreover, she treated Ian better and he was forever annoying her. Nevertheless, Kai was just so smarmy and full of himself, sometimes she just wanted to slap that know it all smirk off his face. And wasn't that just a part of her problem with him? That without doing anything to her at all he'd gained such a huge reaction from her. She didn't even want to acknowledge his existence but she always noticed him. She even seemed to find herself seeking him out just so they could have a fight or she could sneer at him so he wouldn't know how much he affected her. In addition, he did affect her, even though she didn't want it. All the same, he hadn't done anything to deserve her maltreatment of him.

"I've been a brat, haven't I?"

"Not so much recently, but yes." Ruin replied, turning to face her, her eyes warm and her mouth soft. "Want to talk about it?"

Sighing, the ochre-eyed girl flopped down on the bed. "I don't know. Ok." She turned over onto her stomach. "Yes. Kai's infuriating."

Ruin crossed to her bed and sat on it, crossed legged. "How so?"

"He always looks down on me, as though he's so much better, smarter and cooler than me. Bullshit! He's not better than me at everything; I got a higher mark in that last History pop quiz. I feel that I'm always competing with him; Tala was my best friend first. Now he's Kai's."

"And yours."

She smiled fondly. "Yeah and mine, and I would say yours, except I think friendships isn't what you want from him."

"Very perceptive." Ruin acknowledged. "But we're not talking about me."

"We should. You always listened to me. You know if you need to talk I'm here, I'm not as shallow or naïve as I sometimes seem."

"I know Ams, and I'm grateful for that. But right now, I'm more worried about you?"

"You know, I'm glad it's you Tala's interested in. You won't feel threatened by mine and Tala's relationship and I won't feel threatened by yours and Tala's."

"In other words you're not jealous." Ruin's words were measured. Amber had this little knack of evading questions about her personal life, and most times, she didn't notice it.

"Exactly. Girls like Clover or Kennedie would take Tala away from me or try to because they'd feel like they were entitled to more of him, which wasn't true. Hey Ruin?"

"Hmm?" Ruin looked up from chipping her black nail varnish. "Go ahead, I'm listening."

"If you feel I'm taking Tala away from you, tell me, ok? Cause sometimes I'm really selfish without realizing it." The words were uncertain and delivered in a small voice, causing to Ruin study her.

"Look Tala and I are really casual, I enjoy his company and talking to him, but you know that you're really important to him. If you feel I'm taking Tala from you, say so."

"What? I don't think that. Besides you don't see the way Tala looks at you, I do. He doesn't look at any other girl like that."

"Except maybe you." Ruin pointed out, climbing under the covers.

Amber made a face. "Goddess I hope not."

"You hope not what?"

Both girls snapped their gazes to the door where Tala had just entered and was now shutting the door with a soft click.

"Oh I forgot you were coming…" Amber trailed off amused when she realized Tala wasn't listening to her but looking at Ruin with a look of hungry adoration. She cast a look at Ruin who wriggled her brows as if to say -don't-ask-me.

"Tala."

Tala snapped his gaze to Amber as her lilting voice penetrated his very imaginative thoughts. He was glad he remembered to tug on a gray t-shirt and sweats over his boxers. He didn't want to make Amber uncomfortable, yet... "Sorry?"

"I said I forgot you were coming."

"Oh don't I feel loved." Tala muttered sardonically as he crossed to Ruin and made himself comfortable by stretching out on her bed, laying his head on her lap.

"So are you guys going to be talking all night?" Amber wondered as she stifled a yawn.

"Probably."

"We'll keep our voices down if you want to sleep." Ruin supplied.

"You're going to go to sleep? Why?"

"Because." Amber started patiently. "I get cranky when I don't get enough sleep."

Tala nodded. "Yeah I seem to recall that. Especially that time at my fourteenth birthday, you were pretty bitchy."

Amber glowered remembering how they all decided to crash in his dorm and she'd gone to sleep while they'd stayed up talking. She'd woken to Tala and Ruin arguing about the peanut they'd attempted to stick up her nose.

"I wouldn't have been so grouchy if I hadn't had a peanut up my nose."

Ruin smirked while Tala laughed. "Yeah that's right, I forgot about that."

"Hmm. So can you guys keep the noise down?"

"No problem. If you want, Benz, you can sleep in my bed."

Amber looked at him dubiously; then shrugged. "Sure, what number?"

"3." Tala replied watching as she climbed out of her bed, grabbed Joe, her teddy bear and headed out of the dorm calling out good night as she exited.

When she'd left, Ruin looked down at him as she trickled her fingertips over his facial features. He was stunning, intelligent and conniving. She admired all three. "Who're you sharing with?"

Tala opened his eyes and gazed up into the depthless brown of hers. Her delicate touches caused his body to react so that the wolfish grin he offered was strained around the edges. "Kai."

Ruin closed her eyes and curbed the urge to groan. "Tala do you want them to kill each other?"

"No. I want them to abide each other. They both matter to me and their fighting is getting on my nerves."

"Aw poor baby." she mocked, sighing when he turned his lips to brush them over her fingertips. Something sweet began to grow but she squished it before it had a chance. "So what do you want to talk about?"

Tala quirked a brow at her brisk, business-like tone. "I don't know," he admitted; then his expression changed to something wicked, he shifted until he was over her, his lower body pinned her to the mattress.

"What do you think you're doing?"

Tala grinned. Christ that tone and expression did him in every time. Was there anything sexier than that Lady-of-the-manner tone with her brow winged up in tepid fascination, deep brown eyes blurry, soft mouth parted and breathing shallow? Probably not, he accepted. That tone drove him mad, mad for her.

"Well, now Amber's gone we can..." he trailed off as he, finding a hole in the shoulder of her t-shirt, began to nuzzle at the supple and vulnerable skin right there.

Her breath hitched as flames of desire began to lick along her skin. His teeth scraping along the delicate flesh had her hips arching in sinuous invitation. Her brain was turning to mush again and she needed to think. She released her arms from where he'd trapped them under the covers between them. She pressed them against his chest feeling the warm muscles underneath. She tried to push him away so she could think freely. God she needed to think.

"Dammit Ruin." He growled before ruthlessly kissing her into submission.

She fought against him for dominance then with a groan of need, she fought for more of him.

He couldn't get enough of her. Gripping her hands, he locked them over her head pinning her effectively in a position that gave him complete control over her. Holding her there with one hand, his other hand streaked down the soft inside of her arm. She was so incredibly soft at the inside of her elbow even as her mouth was hot and restless against his. He swallowed her breathless whimpers and absorbed her demands for more.

He tore his mouth from hers reluctantly and nibbled over her jaw, before moving to that silk-like skin. Her eyes rolled back in her head in pleasure. Why... was it... so hard to... um...

With a growl, she shoved Tala off her.

He rolled until he lay beside her. "Shit what the hell's wrong now?"

She sat up, running a hand over her hair as she tried to think. Her gaze fell on Amber's empty bed. "What makes you think that when Amber finds out who she'll be bunking with, she won't come back here?"

Tala groaned, frustration leaking out of every pore. "If it was any other excuse Ruin, I'd have ignored it."

"Oh would you?"

"Don't start." he ordered sharply. "That tone will just shatter any control I may have left."

"Hmph." So he though he had control? Ruin took a cleansing breath, her heartbeat was still erratic, and her blood still flashed fire.

"So what do you want to do now?" he wondered, propping himself up on his elbow to look down on her visage.

She shrugged and muffled a yawn. "I don't know, I can't think." when she caught his smug grin, she schooled her features to appear bland. "I'm tired."

He sighed and got to his feet, doubly glad he'd had sense to pull on his sweats. "I'll go then."

"It's ok. You can bunk in here."

"Thanks."

She quirked an amused brow when he moved towards Amber's bed. "Tala you can sleep in with me."

He looked dubious. "Ah... I don't know Ruin. My controls not that good."

She smirked at the compliment. "I trust you."

I don't, he thought, but climbed into bed with her, spooning her body closely with his.

0-0-0

"You can't sleep in here." Kai stated stubbornly; arms crossed over a naked compact chest that Amber desperately tried to ignore.

"I don't have much of a choice." she replied with equal stubbornness, though standing there in an over sized pj shirt which was hanging off her shoulder and in a pair of loose boxers, no socks and holding on to Joe; she didn't think Hiwatari would take her too seriously.

"Why not?" he was grateful his expression and tone were annoyed and unsympathetic, despite the fact that she looked innocently appealing in the shorts and shirt. Every time his gaze met those large topaz eyes, his gut clenched almost painfully. Dammit, that wasn't supposed to happen. He shouldn't have been so attracted to a girl he could barely stand to be around. It was being so far from Miriam, he decided, trying to work up a sneer for the bear.

"Because Tala is over with Ruin."

"And?"

And! Did she have to explain it to him? He was doing it on purpose, she decided. Just because, in the warm glow of the deceptive lamp light, he looked gorgeous and beautiful didn't mean he wasn't the same devious shit fuck captain of hers. "And they're probably doing the mattress rumba!"

Kai blinked. "The what?"

"Mattress rumba." she repeated with an exasperated roll of her eyes.

"And what is that when it's at home?"

She groaned. "In other words, they're doing _it_! Idiot." she added under her breath, not noticing how his eyes flared.

"What? Sex?"

"Well the give idiot-boy a banana." she snapped with extra venom. She felt so naked and vulnerable in front of him without her sneakers and jeans. She had no Armour to defend so she attacked.

"You could have just said that they were having sex."

"Well I didn't think you were so thick. A boy and girl in the same room, you do the math!" she growled.

Kai smirked slow and maliciously making her itchy. "Me and you are in the same room, are we having sex? You wouldn't be a virgin, if that's how you think sex works."

Color bloomed on her cheeks as her eyes flared. "Ok, let's clear this up right now. I know how sex works, I'm innocent not naive or stupid. It's not rocket science, and it's none of your goddamn business."

Her breaths were coming in short gasps, her face was flushed, eyes bright, hair sleek and long. She looked amazing. His fiery Imp... was climbing into Tala's bed and had a cute butt from what he could tell as the thin cotton stretched over it.

"You're not sleeping here!" his rasped.

She looked at him steely. "Are you going to carry me out?"

The challenge was directed with a jerk of her chin and a defiant gleam in her eyes. Having seen it all too often, he could recognize it easily. Usually he met it, but the thought of carrying her, knowing how cruel fate could be made him uneasy. If he lifted her, he thought, the top would probably slide and leave him touching the smooth golden skin she was exposing as she stretched. Before he could stop them, thoughts of what it would be like to lay his lips on the smoothness of her shoulders plagued his mind.

Disgusted with himself, he shoved the covers off and stalked out of the room. He needed air, he needed a goddamn cold shower, and he needed to talk to Miriam. God what was wrong with him? Physical attraction could be understandable on first meeting a pretty girl, but he wasn't meeting Amber for the first time, hell the first time he met her, he hadn't been attracted and she was nothing but bitchy and mean tempered since he'd first came here. So what was going on with him? He was sick and missing Miriam, that's all. He'd go talk to her.

0-0-0

It was pitch black when he'd arrived back at his dorm. Not out of consideration but for his own sanity did he not turn on the light and he'd ended up rapping his knee smartly on the side of the bed. The girl in the other bed didn't wake just cuddled her teddy bear closer. He'd climbed into bed and eventually had fallen asleep. Which was why he was so disgruntled at being woken 5 minutes later; or so it seemed. He groaned and rolled over on the bed.

"What?" he demanded; voice gritty with sleep.

"I had a nightmare." was the whispered confession.

Against his better judgment, he opened his eyes. She was standing over him. Her eyes were almost luminescent in the dark, her hair was no longer sleek and she was trembling.

Frowning and rubbing a hand over his face, he sat up looking at his radio alarm clock. 2:59. Oh god!

"What?" he repeated, trying to clear the fuzziness from his brain.

"I had a nightmare."

"What about?" he asked resigned.

"Spiders."

"Spiders can't hurt you, go back to sleep."

"They were spinning a web from my chin to my nose. I couldn't breath. I don't like spiders." she whispered.

"What do you want me to do about it?"

She was dreading that question. The others always suggested, so she didn't have to. Nevertheless, she plunged ahead. "Can I sleep in your bed?"

"With me?" It could almost have been squeaked and almost made her smile, if she wasn't dreading his answer. She bit her lip and nodded. "What? No. NO!"

"Fine! Can you at least walk me over to Bryan's room?"

"Why can't you go?"

"It's dark and I could walk straight into a spider's web. Besides, I don't know which room he's in." her cheeks were burning with humiliation, her voice no more than a whisper. She wanted Bryan, she wanted Tala; she wanted anyone who wasn't Kai Hiwatari. Tears of self-pity rose like a tidal wave but she forced them back.

Kai groaned then cursed. He shoved off the covers and got out of the bed with barely contained violence. He nudged her out of his way and stalked to her bed. As he pushed her bed over to his, Amber had time to admire the subtle muscles in his smooth back, which was punctuated by a small mole on his left shoulder blade. Some rippled under the phoenix tattoo and made her finger tips itch to trace it. Furious with herself, she clenched her fists. Amazed at the sheer strength, she stared at her bed, which now pressed against his.

"Get in." Kai commanded and numbly she obeyed. "Now you go to sleep and stay on your side. I don't want to wake up with you latched to my side."

"Oh drop dead. I wouldn't dream of going near you."

"Humph." he muttered getting in and pulling his covers up, shutting his eyes tight, hoping to shut out her. Now he knew where that scent he always caught wisps of in S.H. came from.

Her.

"Hey Kai?"

He grunted and turned. Away. He heard the bed shift and figured she was giving up. Or he did, until something cold brushed his leg. "Dammit Benson, I thought I told you to stay on your own side."

"I _am_ on my own side."

Reluctant he rolled over and groaned. So she was. However, she was just beside the damn boundary line. He sighed.

"Hey Kai?"

"Just go to sleep Ember."

"In a minute. Kai?"

"What? Have you got an obsession with my name?"

"Can you stop living and breathing jerk-ogen for a moment?" she demanded, sitting up in her bed and looking at him.

"Fine. What is it?"

"Do you think I've been rude to you?"

He sighed heavily, and pillowed his head on his folded arms. "No, I don't think that." he said, then paused. "I know it."

Her face fell. "Oh. I didn't realize I was that bad. I'm sorry."

He'd seen her apologies before, thank you very much. "Whatever."

"No listen. I know I'm often bitchy and childish, and that's fine with me. However, I don't like to be out and out rude. So I'm sorry."

Kai sat up and looked at her in the quiet darkness, it seemed to intimate for their conversation, yet sleeping beside her would just make it seem more so. "I've seen you apologize and not mean it before, how do I know that you mean it this time?"

She gaped at him surprised. Giving him a bogus apology had never occurred to her. "I've never faked an apology to you before. I don't apologize to people I don't like very often, generally because they don't deserve it. You do. Therefore, I apologize. If you throw it back in my face Hiwatari, you'll never get another."

He had to admit, he liked it better when she called him Kai. "Just go to sleep Benson."

"Fine." she bit out.

"Look I'm not throwing it back. I just need to think about it." _and everything else_, he silently added. Why was he even trying to explain to her? Why was it so important to him that he didn't push her away now? "Ok?"

"Yeah sure. Night." she slid down the bed and pulled her sheets up to her chin, and curled up in a little ball as far away from Kai as possible.

"Sweet dreams." he murmured and felt her smile.

**Sappy ending or not, that's all you're getting for me from this episode. I kind of like this chapter, my fave parts being the stain that looked like Ian, the jerk-o-gen comment. And the Ruin/Tala moment. Oh and Kai and Amber at the end was kind of fun to write too. So hope y'all enjoyed it.**

**  
Now to respond to my reviewers:**

**  
Miss Wright: **Wow, another Johnny and Miyami fan, there's so many out there even though Tari doesn't get to write much be blade stuff anymore. And yeah Amber and Kai are getting there, slowly.

**Chiharu-Chan: **I haven't seen G-rev yet, though by the looks of it, I'm really looking forward to it. But alas, I'm stuck on V-force reruns which is why I'm using mostly the first and second series characters. I just pick up the names as I read about them on websites or whatever. I like Tala better than Yuri and I prefer Rei to Ray, now, lol. I don't know about Ming-ming, I figure she'll probably pop in one of the chapters once or twice. She'll be in the sequel more, as will Mathilda, Rick, Aaron, Claude, Raul and Julia and the like. Hey if you could, could you email like little bios on the personality of BEGA and some of the other new characters since I probably won't see Beyblade for a while. Despise how they've made Tala look and worse, Kai looks as though he's being engulfed by his mutant scarf.

**Grand Admiral Chelli: **I suppose if she had really just upped and left the team they'd have been a little pissed but the girls would have understood and stuck by her and the same with the boys.

**Midnight Insanity: **Sup? I'm pretty pleased with this chap, don't know why. But anyways… how's you? Is life treating you grand? I'm glad you enjoyed the last chapter, I can't listen to that Lost Prophets song without thinking about how it ended but I doubt I'll bother with the sequel, too much bother.

**Smiley-Joe: **You suffer from lack of Gems storiness and I suffer from withdrawal from Coors fic, lol. I don't know if there was much trouble but hey, the ending was sweet, no? I think I'm neglecting characters all the time, I always forget Rei, all the time. And Michael and Enrique too but I suppose I'm use to dealing with a close bunch of people since my class that I was with all through school only amounted to 30, so you just… I don't know they weren't main features in my life but they were always there in the background so I suppose that could be why I barely forget them. Spencers' another I forget. Must give him more, he's in the next chapter lol, but he goes quiet after that. Oh I think I can organize for Miyami to scratch some bitch's eyes out for looking at her Johnny, but I couldn't keep them apart for much longer, they're made for each other. So are you sleeping better now? Hope so, missing sleep makes me cranky.

**Spazzy's Girl: **I don't know if 11 was one of the best chapters but it was close. But if people keep saying the chapter is good, it'll inspire me to write more.

**Werewolf of fire: **Jeez, would be very weird for me to see Ian with anyone, but I was thinking about someone for him. As for Spencer, if they don't have one in this story there'll be someone for them in the sequel, ok? I honestly like Ian and Spencer, so I wouldn't let them be lonely for long.

**G--b-S-t-E-r07: **I think you meant Nicolai, but I adore him too so he'll always be in the story. Yeah I've written some HitoshiXHero scenes so no need to worry about that, lol. They're hard to write since I'm not Coors, but they're bloody addictive. I think we see the beginnings of Amber and Kai in this chapter. It was fun to write. Sonia is a little insecure and a little bit in a world of her own where romance in concerned but it'll work out. Just need to tweak it. I promise to try and upload the last chapter of L/H really soon, if you want, give me your email address and I'll email it to you. I did that for a few others since I haven't been able to upload it recently.

**KaieshaKai: **Yeah Kai and Amber are developing something, just not sure what it is yet. An understanding of sorts, I think. I kept Johnny and Miyami apart for how long? A good while but that was how long it took to get them together again, they're so… proud and stubborn. But I adore them both.

**Lala: **I'll make a note to try and block out the middle names, it's just in Ireland we tend to use Middle names a lot, or so I've noticed. Sorry about that.

**Darkwolf-of-Night: **I have no idea where I get this stuff, I just sit down and it comes out or I'm doing the household chores and a scene will play out in my head which will have to be written down quickly otherwise it'll push out more important stuff.

**Kaze ni Tenshi: **I don't think this was much of a wait, was it? If it was, I'm sorry, I had a lot going on. I'll try to update again soon.

**Unknown:** Dammit, I meant to email you that bio. I had it written and everything. Growls Lol, yeah Hillary got a hard time for just opening her mouth but she seriously rubs me up the wrong way and I can't pinpoint why.

**Mike-X: **I wouldn't' say Amber's the best, but I like her a lot and Ruin is wicked. I don't know how she came to be but I'm glad she did.

**Grandsummon: **Sup. I recognize South Pacific, I probably saw it when I was really young but the songs are pretty cool. Must have been fun doing it. My teacher got obsessed with Grease… It wasn't exactly the best thing in the world but we didn't do it in Transition year, in fact we missed out on a lot in that year because of Foot and Mouth. So how's the work experience going? We did ours in March and I went to the National school for lack of anything better and got home every day at 3:00, XD. I'll prolly get 'The Incredibles' on DVD or something, that way I can watch it whenever I want and without people telling me to shut up. Ugh. Lol, guys do get really weird when you mention anything about periods… it's so fucking odd, so I thought it would make some amusement by putting Ozuma in the hot seat. Well that was a little fluffy for the ending no? Hehehe, it doesn't last unfortunately so you are warned. There are some mentions of Kai's childhood but I'll probably slot a little in soon enough. Yeah that pic seemed cute. OH god, I saw this little girl and little boy who reminded me of Amber and Bryan, they were about five, the boy may have been older and the girl looked like Amber and everything and she was sitting there bossing the boy about, it was so funny. I think Amber probably would have been really bossy as a child but in an adorable way, lol. True, Johnny isn't meant for sulkiness, leave that to Kai and Bryan, the brooding buddies.

**Arcada: **Hmm, my comps suddenly started blocking pop-ups recently, and it's being really nice. I'm a little worried. But I don't want to jinx it either. Oh I saw Soty's cd in HMV today but I already had bought a whole lot of crap so when I went to buy that, I realized I didn't have the money for it. Mou… I know Raphaels' side burns are mucho scary, like any minute now you think they're about to wind out and grab you around the throat and strangle you… shudders I think Kai always notices things, just doesn't bother doing anything about it most times but it's because she's on his team and for the most part they need her. Lol, chica you're very cool!

**Armith-Greenleaf: **It is pretty cool to have readers all over the world, most are from Canada or America, some from Ireland, one from France, that I know of and some from Mexico which is really cool. I like Linkin Park a lot but Lostprophets are very high on my list as is Evanescence and I like anything of the Rasmus that I've heard, only two so far, Guilty and their first British release. I've already written a Kai fight scene for chapter 15 you'll be glad to hear.

Buttercup: Yup Ruin's all mine and I'm very proud of that fact. She's cool, no? I hope you like this chapter.

**Paris Super Girls: **Hey. Ah no worries, you're uni works much more important. Ouch after the holidays you go back for Exams, that is harsh! Yeah Miyami and Johnny do fit together very well. Oh no worries, Beth is very cool person, it's nice for her to get a little recognition despite my very obvious neglect of her in this fic. Rei will always be with Mariah from now on, I promise. I like those too together and Mariah's looking very cool in the G-rev pics I've seen so far. No worries on the Hitoshi/Hiroshi front. I'm constantly getting their names mixed up too when I write them. That's so wrong, every country should have Beyblade. They deleted it from the Irish Televisions for a few months but they brought it back again. Yay! As well as the new series of Yu-Gi-Oh which I also love and Kai's voice is so much better in English, grins

**T.k-Kon: **Aw thankies. It was hard actually to decide how Miyami and Johnny could get back together without it seeming too fairy tale like, I hope I got it done like that.

**Obs3ssi0n: **Thank you so much for the email, that was really sweet of you. Knowing me, if the comp refused to let me review, I'd have gone screw you and just forgotten it. So I appreciate the email. Sounds like your day was really crap. Meh, my days aren't brilliant but at least I don't have to spend hours around shops, ugh… well despite working in one but that's not the same. Lol, well I'm pleased that you're happy about Mimi and Johnny being back together. Shit…it was hard to work on them getting together, but I'm pleased with the results. Did you get Rancid? I think that's one band Tari would never be able to convince me on, though they're on the soundtrack for Need For Speed Underground. Lol, I forget Rei all the time. I'm not a big baby fan either, but I thought that pic was cute. So hope this chapter hasn't found you on a bad day.


	13. Spider Webs

Disclaimer: It don't change much since the last 12. I only own Amber, Nicolai and Ruin. Coors owns Shahero. Miyami is Unlucky-Stars. ArcadaAvalon owns Arista. I don't think there's anyone else to disclaim. Oh and I don't own Beyblade naturally.

**AN. **So I hope that each of your had a good Christmas and a happy new year. Well I had a great Christmas. Got the DVD's I wanted and my Xmen game, clothes and all that crap also came with Santa's visit. I met up with my eccentric family which means chapter 16 should be a right laugh. My family are bona-fide nut jobs, I wouldn't swap them for anything. Well maybe Smelly cause I could do without her and her monosyllabic boyfriend 'the sheep'. :snickers: So I hope you enjoy this chapter. It's weird. I'm writing the Christmas seasonal chapters now but I can't post them until well after Chrimbo, but oh well. You'll have belated seasonal cheer from me, but I hope it'll be worth it. I like this chapter, not my best but it sure ain't my worst.

**Dedicated:** _This chapter is dedicated to Obs3ssi0n for Gay Bob's screw up!! (see the bottom review replies)_

Chapter Thirteen: Spider Webs

Tala rolled over and reached for her only to find the bed was empty bar for him. That for some reason struck him as wrong. Fighting against the sleep that struggled to drag him back, Tala opened an eye warily and looked around as much as he could before opening another. He wasn't in his dorm, he wasn't in the room he was supposed to share with Kai and he wasn't alone. He opened the other eye and reached over to turn the clock so it faced him. 8:02. They didn't have to be up for breakfast until 8:30. With a groan, he flopped back onto his stomach.

"Might as well get up." Ruin told him as she puckered her lips.

"If you'd been in bed, I wouldn't have woken up." his words were muffled, as his face was squashed into the pillow.

"I'm an early riser."

Tala pushed his head up from the pillow and using his elbows, propped his upper body up. He swiveled his head to look at her over his shoulder. "Since when?"

Ruin studied his disheveled appearance in the mirror under the pretense of fixing her bangs. "Since I realized there's not much point of trying to sleep once you're awake."

"Ugh early risers annoy me."

"You used to be one," she reminded him.

"Not anymore."

"Since when?"

"Since I started Clonmel. Getting up early gives you a longer day to face. In Clonmel, the days are already too long."

The bleakness in his tone worried her. Silently she put down the wide toothed comb and went to him. She settled on the bed, tucking her legs underneath her. "How bad was it there?"

"Pretty bad. It was nothing like Preston. Preston's like a bubble that nothing bad can penetrate. The students have respect for the teachers and more importantly, the teachers have respect for the students. For the most part Clonmel's ok, you do the crime; you do the time, like at Preston. Nevertheless, they're stricter, you know? Then there's Balkof..." he trailed off and ran a hand over his suddenly dry mouth. "He's cruel."

"Did he abuse you?" she asked quietly, tonelessly even as her heart ached for him.

"No, no, not the way you mean. Sometimes I think he wanted to. I could have taken him anyway, even with his military training; I would have been able to fight him off. I also had the Hiwatari's looking out for me. He despised Kai. He saw true talent in him that his own son never had. He used to make Kai do all these stupid yet harsh punishments, like military hazing. It was cruel Ruin. I hated every minute I was there."

"Then why did you stay?"

"Because my parents wouldn't let me leave. They paid good money for me to go to Clonmel or so they said. After a while I convinced Mom to let me go back to Preston."

She listened silently offering no words of comfort but her being there was comfort enough.

"It wasn't too bad with Kai there. We got in trouble together; I guess that pissed of Balkof further. No one in the Sharks sticks together. You forge alliances against other team mates but not against Balkof, when it comes to him it's everyone for themselves."

Ruin silently stroked his hair; something she found out from Amber soothed him. "You're not there anymore and neither is Kai. You got out of there."

"Yeah. It's just some mornings I wake up and I can swear I'm back there, and then Ian says something and I know I'm not."

"Is that what you thought this morning?"

"Yeah, the quiet dorm and the two beds, no Ian. Of course sharing a dorm with you would be much more enjoyable."

A black brow rose amused. "Oh would it?"

He grinned and a wicked gleam appeared in his not so sleepy blue eyes. His arm encircled her neck, dragging her mouth down to his and he thoroughly showed her how much more enjoyable it could be.

0-0-0

Amber was warm and comfortable as she began to float lazily to consciousness. Something rough brushed her leg and her eyes snapped open, blinking a few times. Wide-awake, she began to shift in the bed onto her back, so she could relish in the warmth of the bed and in her daydreams, when she realized that there was a strong arm around her waist pinning her to the mattress.

Who...? Oh.

She tensed unsure what to do. Hiwatari was wrapped around her like a second blanket. His warm, firm chest was pressed against her back; a subtly muscled arm locked securely around her waist, holding her to him; his strong hair roughened legs tangled with hers, which had been the cause for her waking so fast, she realized. Now what was she supposed to do? After angling her head and sweeping the bed with her gaze -admirably ignoring his hot breath on the vulnerable flesh of her neck- she soon gathered that she was at the very edge of _her_ bed. So close, in fact, that if he hadn't been holding her, she would have fallen for sure. Joe was already lying on the floor, staring blindly up at the ceiling.

Behind her Kai murmured something unintelligent and pulled her even closer. Her eyes nearly popped out as she was forcibly reminded of when Ian told her that guys woke up with their brains in their boxers.

Oh, shit!

Not waiting for anything more embarrassing to happen to her, Amber began to untangle herself, preparing to slip discreetly away out of the bed and escape from the room. However, fate was cruel and just as she'd been prepared to do her mental happy dance, Kai's hand snaked out and tugged her back into the bed and snuggled closer to her. Amber's eyes widened comically as her skin prickled where his brushed it.

What the hell was he doing?! Why was she reacting like this?! What the hell was going on? This was Kai Hiwatari! The pain in her ass, the guy who spent more time fighting with her than anything else and he was cuddling her? He wasn't aware what he was doing, that was it. And that was fine, but she, she had a clue what was going on! Still what if...

"Miriam." he mumbled as his hand slid over her stomach causing her to suck in a breath at the sensation of his rough skin coming in scalding contact with her softer skin.

The slash of disappointment was so quick, she barely acknowledged it, but she felt him slice her heart with his careless words. Then she sighed pulling away. It wasn't his fault. He probably wasn't used to sleeping in bed on his own and she should be glad he was so faithful to Miriam; it showed he wasn't just using her. Nevertheless, dammit, it felt good to wake up in someone's arms, someone who wasn't just her friend and it was exciting...

She was sick!

She slipped out of the bed, and looked down at him. Sleep robbed him off his cynicism and the authority he usually had cloaked around him. His lashes swept over soft ivory skin, flushed faintly with sleep and warmth. His mouth was full, not quirked sardonically or in a grim line, but curved in a slight smile. The lopsided smile made his face more human but still unbearably handsome. Swallowing the lump that had suddenly gathered in her throat, she shook her head. Bewildered and scared with her thoughts, she turned silently to leave the room.

0-0-0

He was having one of his usual dreams involving Miriam. At least he thought it was Miriam. She didn't really have a face and the hair was just dark but sometimes he'd get a flash of blue or green. Her body was long, slender and creamy white. He thought she was naked, but in the dream, she didn't have any details besides, they were just messing around on his bed. Moreover, she tasted like Miriam, not really a taste but he liked it well enough.

She broke away, but he gathered her closer, feeling the softness of her curves against him. He didn't know where this sudden tenderness had sprung from but he just wanted to hold her and inhale that intoxicating floral scent. Something nagged at him, something about musk but he squashed it. He preferred this subtly fresh scent to the heady essence of Musk.

"Miriam." he murmured and she laughed as he slid his hand over a flat stomach as soft as rose petals, punctuated by a raised beauty spot.

He frowned as he had to slip his hand under a purple cotton top. He pulled back to look down at her. She was wearing a P.J. shirt and boxers, but he didn't mind. Long, limber, golden arms slid round his neck pulling him closer but he braced himself over her so he wouldn't crush her lithe form. Bronzed silky smooth legs glided against his causing him to shiver pleasantly. One hand traced tentatively down his chest but he couldn't feel it, just see it. His lips curved as small, full cherry lips came down on his. He found himself looking into molten topaz eyes...

He snapped awake at the quiet click of the door to see the subject of his dream leaving through it. When the door closed, he rolled onto his back and inhaled deeply then groaned. He could detect that floral scent clinging to the sheets.

Why the hell was he dreaming of her? It had to be her closeness. Her scent was a punch to the gut. He had no choice. If he had a choice, he'd choose to dream of his girlfriend. He ran a hand over his face. That sounded terrible. He had to force himself to dream of his girlfriend? What on earth was going on with him? He wasn't a hormonal teenager. He was eighteen, most hormonal urges had died down or he had control over them.

He sat up in the bed and clenched his jaw. He was lying slap bang in the middle of _her_ bed. Which when he rolled over onto his side as he often did when he slept, would give her very little room to sleep. God knows how close they'd been sleeping. He just hoped he hadn't done anything that would make them both uneasy.

It was the unknowing that bothered him. He had been dreaming and had woken aroused. Would she have noticed? If she had, how would she react? Would she gloat? He squeezed his forehead twice. No, she wouldn't do that, he knew. She was petty but last night she'd made herself vulnerable to him by showing weakness and revealing one of her fears. She wouldn't risk her own humiliation. Well he'd let her make the first move, she didn't know he'd dreamt of her and he had an ace up his sleeve.

The hammering at the door startled him before he growled and strode to it, just as it swung open almost grazing his face.

Bryan stepped into the room and nodded at him, sweeping his gaze over the room. Kai felt a slight trickle of ice roll down his back when the burly teens' gaze locked on the two beds pushed together. Shit! Had he seen his cousin leave the room? Did someone tell him she was sleeping in here? Had she told him?

Bryan eyed the beds bemused. It seemed Hiwatari had an interesting night. Since Ruin and Miyami were faithful, he doubted they were helping the bluenette cheat on his girlfriend. Therefore, that left Arista and Shahero. It sure wasn't his cousin. She hated Hiwatari with a passion. As for Shahero, he was more concerned about Hitoshi Kinomiya and the way he looked at his cousin as if he'd like to slurp her up in one big gulp. And Arista just wasn't interested in boys at the moment. She'd given them up after Tala had betrayed them. So, Bryan asked himself with some amusement, were Amber's rumors about Hiwatari and Tala true? He smirked turning back to Kai not knowing where the blunette's thoughts were running.

"Your Dad sent me to wake you and Tala up. Where is he?" he was pleased to notice the barely concealed fear in his captains' eyes though he had to give the guy credit for covering it well in his tone and expression. The eyes, of course, never lied and they were exceedingly hard to cover up unless you were tall enough so no one could see into them.

"Tala didn't sleep here last night."

"Oh?"

"He went over to Ruin's room. Probably still there."

Bryan figured this was probably the truth, Hiwatari showed no signs of lying. "So you invited someone else then?"

"No, I figured I'd use both beds and have some room to turn for a change." Kai lied glibly.

The lilac haired boy grunted. "Breakfast in twenty minutes, about long enough for you to have a cold shower and calm down."

Kai growled and slammed the door shut behind Bryan. The Imp had a lot to pay for.

0-0-0

Shahero grumbled under her breath, kicking the lino half-heartedly. Why her?! Why not someone else? She'd been causing no trouble. Telling King she'd hang him by the seat of his pants from the flagpole was not causing trouble! And even if it was, what kind of punishment was making her wake _him_ up?! Huh? It wasn't punishment, it was torture. She should have let Miyami go after all. Curse her brain for not switching on.

She squeaked her shoe over the lino and growled, then screamed as she rounded the corner only to have a sheet of water come crashing down on her head. She blinked and spluttered. Furious, she swiped the water off her face with her hand. She heard the impish cackle from above her just as she saw the ladder in front of her and following it, she caught sight of Ian standing against the top of the stepladder, hands resting casually on the rim of the tan plastic bucket.

On catching sight of her below him, Ian gulped. Oops, that wasn't supposed to happen. Shit!

"Kaeto? I... uh... shit..." He trailed off lamely.

"Ian." she hissed. "You're a dead man."

Crimson eyes widened as she lunged forward and violently began to shake the ladder. He wobbled dangerously before releasing his grip on the bucket to grip the ladder. The hollow steel legs began dancing as if on hot coals. Shit! Shit! Ian groaned and swallowed thickly, his heart raced and his vision became blurred. The soles of his feet prickled, alerting him to his predicament. When he called out Shahero's name, his voice was unusually and embarrassingly high.

"Twice Ian, not once but twice. This time you'll pay."

"I didn't..." the words died on his curiously thick tongue and the blood drained from his head as he made the mistake of looking down. Though he wasn't high up, the ground swam below him and his fingers went limp.

"KAETO!"

The sharp delivery of her surname had her pausing momentarily. It was enough for Ian to wrap his fingers round the steel, tight enough so the cold metal bit into his colder fingers. Never in his life had he been so glad to see Hitoshi.

She shot a dark look over her shoulder with blazing sapphire eyes. "What?"

"What the hell do you think you're doing?"

"What does it look like? I'm trying to shake a midget off of a ladder, got a problem with that?"

Hitoshi nodded. "Yes, considering you'll probably do more damage to yourself."

Ian glared at him. "What about me?"

"What about you?"

"You threw water over me." Shahero yelled.

Hitoshi ran his gaze over her and realized she was soaked. Her white t-shirt was drenched and clung to her rather curve less form. With the water, it had turned translucent so he could see her pale skin not much darker than the cotton and white bra. Something she probably hadn't noticed.

"Ah Kaeto?"

"What?" she snarled turning to him.

He quickly shrugged out of the jacket he was wearing and draped it over her form, deliberately drifting his fingers over her damp skin, feeling the slight quake it induced. "You might want to dry yourself off and get changed."

Shahero groaned suddenly realizing just what he was implying and a hot flush began spreading over her face. Dammit, the only reason she was wearing the white T-shirt was because they didn't have it in any other color and usually it was only to sleep in. Damn Hitoshi, damn Ian, and damn Coach Hiwatari! Someone up there must have despised her.

Clutching his jacket around her, hoping it would soak in as much water as possible, she shot them both a look of infinite doom, before storming back to her dorm.

When she left, Hitoshi stepped up to the ladder and casually rested a hand on one of the rungs preventing Ian's descent. The big nose midget scowled down at him as Hitoshi smiled up. The smile was deadly; one a spider might offer a fly. Oh, Ian thought, this was going to be bad.

"Ian, what are you doing?"

"Standing on a ladder, what does it look like?!"

"What were you doing?"

Ian rolled his eyes and sneered down at the bluenette. "What did it look like I was doing?"

"It looked like you were dumping water over Kaeto."

"Aren't you smart?"

"Ian, if I adjust the angle of this ladder, would it hold your weight?" Hitoshi asked, idly gripping the legs as though to test his theory.

"No! Don't! It wasn't her I was after! It was Kane; he kicked me out of the dorm this morning for snoring. I thought it was him, not Kaeto."

"Ian, you're a shit head." Hitoshi said with an amused grimace. "Have I ever mentioned how glad I am for that fact?"

Ian blinked at him. Was he taking medication? He watched the older boy walk off whistling to himself and decided that Preston had to be a lunatic's asylum. It was the only plausible reason for Benson and Kaeto being there. It certainly wasn't for their academic prowess. Rabid dogs used more brains that they did.

He groaned. Now Kaeto would be after his blood. Usually she believed he was too small to give any real attention to, but he'd soaked her twice, this time without provocation and he'd humiliated her. He was a dead man. Shit, how was he to have known she'd be wearing her hoody? Why was she even in their wing? These were all valid points but he doubted Kaeto would even care if he tried to explain. She'd just want to hurt him. It was ok when he was dealing with Benson. All you had to do was outwit her, Kaeto was pure vicious! All you had to do was look at the window incident to see how bad she was. Aw shit. He'd better think up something soon otherwise he'd be limping for a whole week like Miguel or any of her other victims. Damn, he thought with feeling, climbing down the ladder and gathering it and the bucket up. He headed back to return his tools before he'd head to breakfast.

0-0-0

"So?"

Arista looked up and grinned at Zeo as Miyami tried to fruitlessly to get Amber's attention. They were sitting at one of the long laminated tables in the large dining room. All around them there was the buzz of conversation and the clink of cutlery off delph. The adults were off to the side discussing the day's upcoming events. Hitoshi was laughing at something Dr. Kay had said. Though he wasn't actually blood related to her, Arista looked to him as though he was family and she had to admit him flirting with the enemy was annoying and disappointing to her.

Miyami slicked on some gloss and leaned back in her chair to study Amber. Something was definitely bothering her best friend. She wasn't brooding, exactly; not the way she usually did because her eyes were solemn and she was worrying her lip. And that worried Miyami. Not only would she risk bruising her lips, she'd also make herself sick. She'd barely touched her breakfast, just played with it for a while to appease them, and then given up the pretence. Now she was ignoring Miyami, which was quite a feat. It had nothing to do with her sleep last night, but maybe it had to do with where she slept. She actually looked refreshed, as though she'd had 12 hours sleep. She didn't look like she could curl up in Bryan's lap and nod off at any moment as she usually did these past couple of weeks.

"Amber?" still no reaction. "Arista hit her for me! I wonder where Shahero is." she murmured after a brief scan of the hall.

"Well Ian and Hitoshi are here, so she can't be in any trouble." Rei commented from her left.

"Ow! Why did you do that?" Amber complained rubbing the spot where Arista had pricked her arm like a sausage.

"Miyami wants you." The silver haired Russian shot back motioning with the offending weapon, her fork.

"I told you to hit her, not stab her."

"Oh gee, that's so different." Amber mumbled grumpily.

"It is. Now as I was trying to ask earlier while you were so rudely ignoring me, where did you sleep last night?"

"In a bed." came the sulky deadpan reply.

"Whose?"

The ochre-eyed teen stared at her as though she'd finally jumped off the deep end. "Whose do you think?"

"I know it wasn't yours! Yours was unslept in."

"How do you know I didn't make the bed?" Amber retorted, her eyes narrowing as her table roared with laughter.

"What's so funny?" Spencer wondered as he and Bryan joined them.

"Amber... said she... made her bed... this morning." Zeo wheezed.

Spencer chuckled while a smile quirked Bryan's lips.

"So much for family loyalty, thanks a lot Bryan!"

The burly teen merely grunted and patted her head.

"Sorry Ams, but in all the time I've known you, you've never once made your bed." Spencer said with a shrug.

"Oh my god, is your hair pink?" Amber exclaimed; grinning evilly as Spencer's hands went to his hair.

"Now, now, children. Behave. So you didn't sleep in with Tala, because he was sleeping in with Ruin." the silver-eyed girl grinned and waved as Ruin gazed at her; then smirked. "Hey Bryan, did Amber sleep in your bed?"

Bryan's head jerked up, keen lilac eyes alert as a falcon's. "No, why?"

"She didn't sleep in her room so I'm trying to eliminate all possibilities since she won't tell me."

Amber groaned wishing for the ground to swallow her as her cousin looked at her sharply.

"Where did you sleep?"

"Um..."

"Don't lie to me."

"Shit, fine. Tala came to our room to talk to Ruin and I was tired, so he said I could sleep in his room. So I did." she was looking down at her fingers as she spoke, so she didn't notice her cousin tense and murderous intent flash through those frosted purple eyes.

"Isn't Tala sharing with Kai?" Arista wondered then winced when her cousin kicked her. She glared at Miyami, and then followed her gaze to Bryan.

"Yes." Amber mumbled feeling her cheeks burn.

Bryan watched her reaction and his insides burned with rage. Hiwatari was going to pay for putting his hands on his baby cousin, and for lying to him. He caught how Amber flinched when Kai laughed aloud. He was going to kill him. He looked round and pinned the captain with a hard look.

0-0-0

Immediately as though he felt the dark menacing rage, Kai stopped laughing abruptly and raised his gaze to meet Bryan's. He froze and felt his blood ice over as the burly teen drew his thumb over his throat. For a moment everything came to a stand still, then sound roared back and everything seemed normal except for the occupants of Bryan's table shooting him nervous looks, excluding the Imp, of course.

"Hey man, you ok?"

Fuck no. Malkovich is going to tear me limb from fucking limb; screamed a little part of him, running around like a headless chicken. "Yeah, yeah. I'm fine."

"So what are you going to do?"

"Well, if I can find out something that truly wigs them out, then I should be fine. I know loads of things that they say freaks them out. But I know that when faced with them, they'll be like 'So what?' you know? I want them to be really freaked."

"Put flies in their dorm." Kane suggested.

Ian shook his head. "No, that wouldn't work."

"First they don't share a room. Second, how would you get flies in there?" Tala reasoned.

"It wouldn't freak them. I just want to see them crack. They're always sarcastic, they never freak. Benson barely ever raises her voice."

"Leave my cousin alone." Ozuma said as he joined them to collect Kane.

"I pity you being related to her."

"Please don't."

Kai waited until Ozuma and Kane had left before making a decision. "Spiders."

Ian gaped at him. "What?" Great now Hiwatari's nuts.

"Amber's afraid of spiders." Kai clarified feeling Tala's surprise turn to annoyed disbelief but before he could say anything, Nicolai stood up and tapped his glass for attention.

"Right today we're going to be working on trust exercises so if you'll assemble in your groups, pair up and head outside. Remember this isn't a competition."

The teams got to their feet and headed out the main door before departing to their dorms to change.

0-0-0

Kai had only just come out of his door before he was grabbed from behind and slammed up against the wall hard enough to jar his bones and rap his head. He winced.

"Shit Bryan, go easy on him."

His vision blurred then focused on Spencer who was standing over Bryan's shoulder, hands shoved deep into his pockets, his feet shuffling nervously. Obviously Spencer had only tagged along to keep Bryan from hurting him too badly.

"Have you got a problem Malkovich?" he bit out.

"Yeah, I have a problem Hiwatari. A big one. You."

He flinched as Bryan shoved him harder against the unforgiving hardness of the wall. "What's new?!" he ground out against the biting pain.

"You think just because you're the coach's son you can get away with just about anything but you messed with my cousin. Big mistake."

"Look Bryan, you don't know the whole story." Spencer pointed out running his hand through his hair, looking around for some extra help.

"I know enough."

"Just want exactly did Benson say?" Kai asked trying for some diplomacy.

"Not much." Spencer answered resigned.

"She didn't need to. I know she slept in Tala's bed. And this morning I saw the two beds pushed together and he's got a hard on."

"Most guys wake up with one." Kai said with a slightly smug smile. "Especially if they were dreaming about their girlfriend."

Malkovich was grasping at straws. Benson hadn't set him on him, Kai realized guiltily, yet he'd set Ian on her. Great(!)

"So why were the two beds pushed together?"

"Because Benson had a nightmare."

"A nightmare?" Bryan echoed.

"Yeah about spiders spinning their webs on her."

Bryan nodded knowing his cousins' dislike of the arachnids with their webs, long legs and their ability to move too fast. "And?"

"And she wanted to sleep in my bed, but I said no. She wanted to go to you and again I said no."

"Why?"

"Because it was 3 in the morning and she wanted me to walk her, so I pushed the two beds together and told her to sleep on her side and I'd sleep on mine. I don't know what happened after that, because I fell asleep and when I woke up, she'd gone."

"Then why was she blushing?" Bryan asked more to himself than anyone else as he began to realize just how wrong he'd been. He let Kai go.

"I don't know." Kai sighed exasperated. He'd long given up trying to work the girl out. She was just plain contrary, more than that she was unpredictable. There was no way in hell to work out what was going on in that head. He couldn't for the life of him see how Tala could. "Maybe she has a crush on me-" at the look that Bryan sent him; he rolled his eyes. "More than likely she's ashamed that she came to me for help."

"More than likely." Bryan agreed. "She despises you, can't say I like you much myself but I suppose you're not too bad."

"High praise." Kai muttered sarcastically in an attempt to cover the sting of the previous statement. He hadn't known how much her gesture last night had meant. Her coming to him last night had meant she finally accepted him as a member of the team. Now in the cold light of day, she'd taken that gesture back and it annoyed him how much that gesture had meant.

"Fine you ready to go Spence?"

"When ever you are Bry. See you later Kai, good luck with your group, you're going to need it."

"Yeah thanks." He waited until they were both gone before he headed out himself.

0-0-0

It was bitchin' cold when Amber made her way outside bundled in the thick nylon coat of the Team, light blue, white and navy, with a navy woolen collar and trim. Her fingers were delved deep in the pockets to prevent them from becoming numb and thick. Her hair was pulled up high on her head, so her ears could become frost bitten, she thought sourly. Her nose resembled Rudolph's and cheeks looked and felt as though they'd been pinched by too many doting Nana's. The wind blew up and caught wisps of hair. Her hair was longer than this time last year, longer still since she cut it just after she'd come to realize that Tala had left her for good. She'd chopped if off figuring that it wouldn't take the streaks long to grow out of short hair, of course this was before Miyami reminded her that she could have tried dying them black. She grinned remembering her horror.

Maybe she should consider getting them done again, like to celebrate Tala coming back. She was almost certain he was back for good, but still at the back of her mind, she knew he could leave her again. And if he did, the second betrayal would be twice as bitter. Maybe she'd shave it all off if he left again. She chuckled. She could threaten him with that, he'd never leave her.

She looked up at the dark bare trees, stark against the fluffy swells of the silver clouds. Before the end of the weekend they'd have sleet and next week snow. Her stomach gave a nervous swoop, as though the world had dropped from under her. After the exams, she'd get to be home to see her mother. The last time she'd talked to her mother, she hadn't been about to give up work or walking, no matter how much Hiroshi wanted her to. In addition, she'd had weird cravings for grapefruit and mayonnaise.

Her mother had said she wanted grapefruit smothered with something thick, creamy and tasty. Amber had balked at the various thoughts that had sprung to mind.

She tilted her head to feel the breeze. She wished she were in Tala's group, then again with Ruin there; he wouldn't have been her partner anyway. Miyami had Johnny, and Shahero had Hitoshi whether or not she wanted him. All her friends were coupling up and she was -yet again- left behind. Why couldn't someone need her more than anyone else? What was so repellent about her?

Everything, she realized dully.

She was intimidating to most guys. She was annoyingly childish, sarcastic, and naïve, she constantly needed assurances about her worth... Goddess she must get on her friends nerves so much.

Then she scowled darkly. Why was she in self pity-ville? Because Hiwatari hadn't turned out to have a super secret crush on her? Goddess was that pathetic. She was so desperate to have someone be attracted to her that she'd settle for that pain in the ass. Jay-sus, she thought rubbing her temple. And what would she do if he did turn out to like her?! React the same way as she did with Wyatt, no doubt.

…_"Amber, I really like you." _

"That's good Wyatt."

"No, I mean, I think I love you."

"Oh... um... How the hell did that happen?!"...

It had just gone down hill from there on, but still it was amusing thinking back on it. However, she doubted Wyatt had found it so. Nevertheless, it wasn't her fault; she hadn't been attracted to him. His whining got on her nerves more times than enough and she constantly had to be careful in case she hurt his feelings with her cutting remarks. The only time she'd found him truly bearable was when they were with friends and he wasn't continuously asking her questions, gushing over her or complimenting her. It had gotten old very quickly. She'd only been trying to be nice, it was her friends and his that had been adding in subtle meanings and not so subtle hints.

She jumped as a weight pressed on her shoulders, and she snapped her gaze up to look at Foxy grinning down at her. "Hey Ams, wanna partner up?"

Amber looked uneasily away from him. He was a friend and everything, but... it was his attitude to Tala and his wanna-be personality that put her off him sometimes. However, she'd been perfectly happy to use him so she could bitch about Tala without being told off. Moreover, he was dating Queen, who she'd barely got on with when they run into each other over the summer, though she hadn't actually recognized Queen as the bitch Russia had beaten up. That memory made her feel a pang of guilt, she'd crossed a line with the girl last night and everyone including Hiwatari knew it. She had no right to make that girl's sexuality public knowledge. How did Amber know she wasn't a lesbian, herself? She hadn't a boyfriend yet, maybe she was. Who knew? So who was she to cast stones? She had no right especially as she'd never seen herself as being prejudiced.

"Sorry but you're about to be rejected, Reject, Amber's partnering with me."

Amber blinked in surprise at Ian. "Uh...?"

Which was the lesser of two evils? She looked around for a third option and spotted Wyatt. Oh great! Where's D? She wondered frantically. Where's the none-of-the-above option?

"Right." Kai said coming up behind them, his hands shoved deep in his pockets. The wind had tousled his hair and his cheeks were faintly tinged with pink. He seemed more alive and perfectly confident with himself. And why was she noticing?!

"Ian you're with Wolfie-" Kai broke off as he caught Benson's muffled snicker and his lips twitched. "Benson you're with me and Michael can be with that Wyatt kid."

Amber spun and stared at Michael. Mikey was there the whole time? Aw, shitter bugs! If she'd known that, she could have chosen him as D, instead of Hiwatari. _Though technically_, the little evil voice in her mind countered, _he'd chosen her._ She ruthlessly squashed the annoying voice.

"Bollocks."

"Too bad, Ams." Foxy said regretfully as he lengthened his stride and left her behind.

Ian glared at Kai before storming off to where Nicolai stood. Michael slung an arm around the reluctant Wyatt and started giving a pep talk about how they were the dream team.

"Ok, in these trust exercises, you and your partner -you'll number yourselves, one and two - are going to catch each other and not let your partner drop. Number one, you will stand in front of number two, and he-"

"Hey!"

Nicolais' lips quivered at his goddaughters' angry exclamation while the rest snickered. "Or she, will drop back and number two will catch them. Ok? Good."

Amber frowned. Ok, so she had to trust Hiwatari to catch her? The thought of trusting him full stop was at bit unbelievable. In addition, having his hands on her after this morning was making her itchy. And she catching him? Ha! He'd knock her to the ground easily. Then again, at least he wasn't Ian. With Ian, she'd be either stabbed in the back by that stupendous nose or crushed! Poor Shahero, she thought, her eyes popping wide; she'd probably partner up with Bryan... oh goddess!

Kai watched the play of emotions of Benson's face, doubt, disbelief, embarrassment, uncertainty, disgust, and then sheer horror. Idly he wondered what she was thinking about. Could she be thinking about this morning? Damn, if only he could find out what he did, if he even did anything? However, that was the problem, he didn't know if he did or not. Benson was treating him differently that was sure. She'd laughed at his comment to Foxy instead of sneering as she usually did and she wasn't sniping at him. Though to be fair he hadn't really been around her long enough for her to have anything to snipe about, but she hadn't complained when he'd ordered her to be in his team. He'd only done it to make sure she wasn't paired with Ian and Tala wouldn't want Foxy near her. He still had to consider her apology as well. It had seemed sincere, but the girl could ooze it at a moments notice. He just couldn't work her out, which was why he preferred simpler girls like Miriam; you didn't have to question her motives. Yeah, Miriam was a much better bet.

"Benson, you're number one, I'm number two."

She smiled at him and it was lethal. "I always said you were a shit."

He tucked his tongue in his cheek; he'd left himself open for that. "Give it a rest."

"That's like telling the rain not to fall in Ireland. It can't, I can't." she said with a simple shrug. "It's just me. I have no control." Then she sized him up. "Well, at least you're not Bryan."

He frowned over that for a nano second, and then smirked. So that was what had been bugging her. She felt she'd be flattened. Typical, she'd be thinking about herself. Even as he thought that, his conscience kicked him in the ass. He was being unfair to her because he was uncertain of her, just as she'd be bitchy to him when he first came because she was uncertain of him and now she couldn't stop. That's what she'd been saying, he realized sharply with sudden clarity. Well shit.

"Stand in front of me, I'll catch you."

"Pssh, sure you will." she muttered sulkily moving to stand in front of him.

"Now go limp and fall back."

"If you drop me-"

"Just fall would you?" he growled and watched as she tried to relax.

The first couple of times, she only stumbled back, she didn't fall. Finally, she relaxed enough to go limp and fell back. He caught her easily, too easily. He'd braced to catch her weight, but she barely weighed anything. Shit, was Tala actually on the right track? Was Amber anorexic?

"Benson, how much do you eat?"

She struggled out of his arms and righted herself before turning to snarl at him. "Don't even think of calling me fat, I'm anything but!"

"I wasn't going to say you were fat, I actually meant that you should probably weigh more than you do. You're almost skeletal."

"I am not." she retorted, her voice becoming impish.

He stepped forward, expression grim and gripped her waist with his hands. "I can feel your ribs through your coat."

She shoved him back and sighed heavily, her heart was fluttering, but she pressed a hand to her forehead, a clear sign that she was agitated and unhappy about what she was about to do next. "I... had an eating disorder a while back. I'm naturally thin and I often get wrapped up in things. I forget to eat a lot, I was depressed when Tala left and eating just annoyed me. I just couldn't stomach food, the thought of eating made me nauseous, or sometimes I just couldn't be bothered actually making anything. I ate, just very little. It took me a while to admit it to myself when everyone could see it so clearly. I'm recovering, but you never recover completely and I often sleep through breakfast and on Saturdays because there are no actual meals, I often go for hours without eating. I'm not proud of it, but it's just taking me a while to put the weight back on, since I'm burning up everything when I'm on the ice and my metabolism is abnormally fast. Physically though, I'm fine. There's nothing wrong with me, and the guys are always looking out for me. It doesn't affect my playing on the team, so please don't tell your dad."

Kai squeezed his forehead twice. "I'm not going to tell Dad, just eat more ok?"

"I'll try." she said, then looked round as the others had gotten bored and had wandered off when Nicolai had disappeared. "Don't tell Tala either."

"He knows."

Her eyes widened. "Shit. How?"

"He overheard you talking to Ozuma about it."

"Well bugger! If he's blaming himself..." she cursed viscously enough when Kai nodded to make his lips twitch. "Great. I should probably talk to him, set him straight on the fact that it's not his fault. It was my own." she bit fretfully on her lower lip, drawing Kai's gaze to it, before he could control it. "Hey Kai?"

"Yeah?"

"How thin do I look?"

He heard the nervous self-consciousness in her voice and realized that his blunt, tactless comment probably had added to her insecurities. "It's not all that noticeable. For your height and body shape, you look normal. I guess I only noticed it since I'm used to holding Miriam and she's probably more..." he trailed off, unsure how to phrase it so he wouldn't call his girlfriend fat. He looked helplessly at Amber who grinned.

"I get what you mean. She's curvier and got a fuller figure than me. Well, so long as I don't look like a freak or something out of those third world adverts, then that's ok with me."

"You don't." he answered.

"So, how's everything going between you and Miriam?"

He looked at her sharply. "Good." he replied shortly.

"Good?" she gazed levelly at him. "Just good? Jeez, very romantic Hiwatari. You do know you're the first long term relationship Miriam's been in where she hasn't gotten bored within a week."

He let that sink in, then noticed she'd begun to head into the house. He quickened his pace, and fell into step beside her. "Is that so?"

She smothered a smirk all thoughts of being uncomfortable suddenly fleeing her mind. "Yeah. Boys bore Miriam really quickly."

"She have many relationships before?"

She made a show of thinking, then shook her head. "Not really. A lot if you're comparing her to me, but nah not that many. And the ones she did have, didn't last long. Like there was David, he was nice and all, but he kept quoting his three commandments, thou shalt not drink, thou shalt not curse and thou shalt not smoke."

"Miriam doesn't smoke."

"She used to. However, she got fed up with our constant nagging of her. And Salima wouldn't let her in the dorm and Mariah kept spraying deodorant over her side of the room. Therefore, she gave it up. David wasn't pleased when he heard about that. And when Miriam goes out, she likes to drink, so that was another strike against her. The fact that she's got a great personality really passed him by."

"She doesn't curse much."

Amber looked down at her feet sheepishly. "She doesn't, but I do."

"So they broke up because she used to smoke, she occasionally drinks and you curse. Interesting guy."

"Well yeah, I thought he was a dick head. I don't drink or smoke, but I don't preach or not about drinking anyways. Smoking just annoys me, because passive smoking can kill you. Tala used to smoke and I snubbed him for about a month before he gave it up."

"Harsh but I can see your point." he forgot how easy it had been to talk to her; she was resembling the girl he'd met after the match again.

"Then there was James and he was an easy target. I picked on him, quite a lot and that pissed him off and Miriam got bored with his whining. Mark tried to make a pass at Miyami but she shot him down and reported him to Miriam and she dumped his ass. You're actually the only guy who's lasted more than three weeks, she doesn't look at all bored with you, and she hasn't complained about you. We didn't like you, but she didn't care about that and usually she asks our thoughts." Amber pondered that for a minute. "Maybe she asked Miyami, she likes you in a platonic way." she added the last three words quickly when his brow winged. "She's probably the first one who did, after Ruin but Ruin doesn't give in to my whims. She tries everything out for herself first. That's one of the things I like most about her, she doesn't follow. Neither do the others I suppose, but they're loyal. Ruin is loyal to a degree."

"She's loyal to you."

"But she's equally loyal to Tala, and I'm glad she is because I don't know if anyone else could have gotten through to him." she went quiet for a moment and had him wondering if that was the end of their conversation, but he heard her sharp inhalation as though she was preparing for a dive. "What was it like at Clonmel?"

"Different. Very different. Everyone here is so laid back and there's no politics because everything is so open. You know who your friends are and who your enemies are. In Clonmel, you have to watch your back. Someone is always there to stab you in the back, they don't support each other and they don't like each other. That's not the way Balkof runs it. He trains us to compete with each other so we'll play better on the ice."

She nodded silently but she never stayed silent for long, he mused. "I noticed that, when we were playing them. They hog the puck a lot." she could have no idea how much her words and how she used the word 'they' instead of 'you' to refer to the Sharks could have pleased him. She didn't see him as a Shark anymore, even if she didn't yet see him as a Tiger. "Always looking for glory but they never celebrate their goals or even congratulate another. They have no respect for each other. Even if you don't like someone on your team, you should respect him or her. Ian and I have been fighting for a long time, but on the ice, he's looking for the same thing I am: victory. Therefore, if I can help him, then I'd do it in a heartbeat, just like he does the same for me. We unite against a common enemy, with the Sharks; they do it too but to a lesser degree. As though they're always expecting one of their own to turn on them."

"Sort of. They want to be the best individually, so they fight to be the man of the match each match because if you're the best on the ice, Balkof will leave you alone."

She bumped against him by accident and their wrists brushed, sending a flurry of tingles up her arm. Shit. "I thought your Dad was the coach." she said quickly feeling her cheeks heat. She couldn't walk in a straight line; she was used to bouncing off Shahero or Miyami because she trailed her feet when she walked casually. "How does Balkof come into this equation?"

He swallowed his pulse; her hand had felt so hot against the cold skin of his. "They shared duties, I suppose. Dad was just an assistant for the most part. He worked out the plays, practices and Balkof was in charge of us. We were isolated from the rest of the school as the elite. Good grades and sporting prowess. We brought the school its greatness. Balkof gave us our punishments and took care of our daily schooling. He was technically the only person we had to deal with, he made sure he was and he treated us like shit. Dad despised him and his way of treating the team, but he could do nothing because Balkof was revered."

"More like feared. He's an evil creepy git. I don't know why the Sharks just didn't go to the head master and tell them how Balkof treated them."

"Because we didn't... It's hard to explain. You're very secure in your school. You know that if one teacher treats you wrong, you can go to someone else and they'll probably get that teacher suspended but Clonmel isn't like that. All it cares about is how it achieves greatness and that's what Balkof, with his military tactics, does. Dad tried to plead to the alumni about it, but they wouldn't listen, just dismissed him. So when the job here came up, he gladly took it."

"Even if we weren't as good?"

"He'll make you good."

"Dan was a good coach." she said defensively, then withered under his scrutiny. "Your Dad's better." She looked round and breathed in the fresh air, listening to the tranquillity only fractured by the laughs or cheers of the other groups. "This was a good idea of his. Might be better without the Rejects."

Kai nodded, then folded his arms. "What's the deal with you and Foxy?"

"Foxy?" she bit her lip, and then shrugged as though having an internal battle. "You know he's Tala's cousin, right? Well, he has always been jealous. He looks a little like Tala, but he's not as striking or whatever. Tala attracts people more than Foxy. And when Tala left, I turned to Foxy because he was the only one who would let me bitch about Tala's behavior without reminding me of my friendship. Actually, that was because he wanted me to adore him and not Tala so he kept trying to turn me against him. Couldn't remind me of my friendship because that would ruin everything, right? After a while his attitude before I went back to Preston, started to get on my nerves so I started avoiding him. I don't think he actually noticed. Seeing the real mean part to him, I just don't feel comfortable around him. I never did, not really," she went silent for a few moments. "Oh hey, do you think your Dad will let us head into Bakuten for a while?"

He thought about it for a moment, running a hand through his hair. "I don't see why not. If you ask, he'll probably say yes. He likes you, I don't know why. But more than the others, he likes you a lot."

She shrugged. "It's weird. We had a talk and he's really nice and understanding. I just feel connected to him, can't figure why. But, meh, whatever. He's decent and genuine and he cares about the team. Oh Bryanny!" she grinned and jogged over to her cousin leaving Kai behind.

He watched her go and let out a long breath. Now what on earth was happening? He'd just had another one of those strange conversations with her where they didn't snipe. He wasn't sure how he felt about the change between them. However, before he had a chance to dwell on it, a hand clamped on his shoulder, and he glanced over it at his father who was smiling smugly, pleased with himself.

"Let me guess, you orchestrated that?"

"What?" Nicolai asked with a slight shrug. "I had to talk to Anne."

"How do you know Anne, father?"

Nicolais' brow winged up in mock fascination. "I just met-"

"Don't. I want the truth Dad, there's something going on here that I'm not aware of. If you think I haven't noticed your abrupt swing of feelings towards Benson, you have another thing coming. So why don't we head to your office and you can explain it to me, and you can show me the pretty picture you keep hiding when I come to talk to you."

Nicolai didn't quite conceal the wince. He'd figured he'd been keeping Kai out of the loop pretty well, but Kai knew him better than most, not quite as well as Jean but Kai was with him all the time she wasn't, so they often spent time together. They had a bond and it was going to be put to the test when he confessed everything to his son. He didn't know why he felt so guilty. Amber wasn't an illegitimate daughter, and he'd had no choice on being her godfather, then again he'd had no qualms with it either. He just wished he'd been around her more than he'd been able to be. Coaching in the minors meant being away from his family a lot, which was part of the reason, he'd switched to coaching Clonmel. He wouldn't be traveling much then and Jean had been able to live quite close, a good deal for all.

"Fine, let's go to my office."

0-0-0

"Goddaughter?" Kai stared down at the picture he was holding. He'd seen it once before, but it had never occurred to him that the girl in the picture could possibly be the girl he'd just spent time talking to about nothing in particular. How could it? She was, what, two in this picture? He was certainly young; he couldn't even remember her or this picture. Goddaughter. The word rang in his head. What did that mean? How did that change anything? Did it even change anything? He knew her father, he realized. His godfather James, her father. "Jesus."

Nicolai watched his son, wondering what was going on in that keen brain. "She doesn't know. I don't think she even remembers she has godparents."

Kai looked up and met his father's similar dark eyes. "She does. She mentioned you to me. Well not you, but her godfather, which is you." the surprise was making his tongue thick, his brain fuzzy. "She mentioned that you once brought her medicine at 6 in the morning because she was sick."

Nicolai frowned, then his eyes lit up as he remembered. "She'd been coughing all night and tossing and turning. Someone had to stay with her because Treasa was at her father's wake, staying with her own mother."

"The one that disowned her."

"Who?"

"Her maternal grandmother disowned Amber. I don't know why. She doesn't care, she just brushed it off."

"I opted to stay with her because I had the week off work. Jean would have come too, but you were angry with her. You refused to go to... you couldn't pronounce her name. You called her Ember."

Kai frowned puzzled. "Amber has to be easier to pronounce than Ember." But that would explain why he felt so at ease calling her that. He never put much thought into it, it just tripped off his tongue and it had annoyed her, it stuck.

"Possibly but Ember pissed her off more and you got a perverse joy out of annoying her and pulling her hair. After that summer, I got a job elsewhere and we moved further away so that we couldn't just drop by for a visit. Your mother often travelled, but after a while, it just became more difficult with her work. We just all drifted," he took the picture that Kai passed back to him. "To be honest, I forgot about her, not completely. But I didn't recognize her. I just thought she was a bit of a pain for a while but part of me remembered her, I suppose. It wasn't until I was talking to your mother a while back that I realized who Amber was."

"Your goddaughter." Kai said simply, still unsure how this changed anything, if it even did.

"Yes. I don't suppose that'll mean much to you. Nevertheless, she's James' daughter. Seeing her grown up is... she's changed so much and yet, underneath it all, she's still the same. I'm proud of her. I don't suppose you remember her, or her mother Treasa."

Kai shook his head. "I don't think so, maybe I do. But what does this mean?"

"Nothing much. It just means that if anything should happen to her mother, or her father, that we would be her legal guardians. However, it's very unrealistic that anything would happen to them. It won't change your opinion on her, Kai. It doesn't change anything. She's just my goddaughter and I'll protect her as if she was my own daughter, just as your godparents would do for you."

Kai nodded numbly, before getting to his feet. He needed to talk to someone, Miriam. He couldn't risk telling Tala, it would just make this awkward. He opened the door and almost groaned as Amber stood there, hand raised to knock.

She looked up at his pale, strained face and caught a flicker of something in his eyes. Concern bubbled up and she had to push it down forcefully. Kai wasn't one of her friends, no matter how much he'd seemed so normal earlier, and he wouldn't appreciate her worry. All the same. He wasn't that bad, she could understand why he was one of Tala's best friends. You could talk to him and he'd listen, and he had a sharp mind that latched onto even the smallest details. He had good leadership skills, wasn't a push over and he worked for what he wanted. And he had some sense of humor locked away under all that seriousness. She was unsure how to react to him, had anything even changed for him? Would he still look at her as if she was nothing but a hot coal in his shoe? She opted for flippant.

"Hey, did you ask him?"

"What?"

Her brow furrowed at his absent tone. If it were Tala or heck, even Ian, she'd be asking them if they were ok. Feeling their forehead or something, but this was Kai. He looked lost and a big part of her wanted to comfort him, which annoyed her. Things hadn't changed that much in that conversation. She'd opened up to him in a big way; he had barely told her a damn thing. The realization made her tone chillier.

"I said, did you ask your father about going into town?"

He blinked and it was as if he was seeing her for the first time. "Uh, no."

"Jeez, lie down Hiwatari, you look like you've been hit by a double-decker bus." she said with an exaggerated roll of her eyes, pushing past him and into the office as Nicolai shoved a drawer shut so hard it rapped his knee causing him to curse. "Are you ok?"

"Yes, I'm fine. What did you wish to see me about?"

Formal or what? "Uh..." were they both struck by lightning? Maybe Shahero was right and there were aliens and they'd come to leave the real Hiwatari's back again. "What's up with you and Ka- Hiwatari junior?"

"Ah nothing. Nothing that should concern you. Now what was it you wanted?"

"Fine. Can we go into Bakuten this afternoon?"

"Actually, you still have a few more events to do here today. However, this evening for dinner, we can head out to Bakuten and go for a meal. Tomorrow you can go into Bakuten for an hour or so."

"Oh, can I go visit my mother?"

"Amber, you're still at school. You'll see her in a week."

She let out a puff of air. "Fine. You're right. But can we please rent out a movie or something tonight?"

"Sure. Someone can run over and get one while we're eating. If you compile a list, I'll send Hitoshi over."

"Ok. Oh and Tala's got a migraine, so he's gone to bed. He'll be good in a while because he took his medication and all, but he won't be taking part in the... what will we be doing?"

"Orienteering."

"Oh, that thing where you use a map and shit to find the end."

He couldn't help the way his lips quivered at her very casual way of speaking. Shit seemed to be a very valuable word in her vocab, used for just about everything. "Yes, and you'll have to mark a piece of card with the markers on the route, so we know you took the right route and didn't follow another group or use a short cut."

"Woot, sounds like fun." she bit off.

He smiled showing his teeth. "It will be, now off you go."

"Sir, yes sir."

He watched her go and sighed. Would Kai knowing how she was related to their family change anything at all? It shouldn't, yet he had a funny feeling it had taken his son back to square one.

0-0-0

Nicolai wasn't completely correct. Kai wasn't quite back to square one. He didn't know how to feel about the girl. She was wandering slowly beside him, her head bobbing to the music coming out of her earphones. Sometimes she'd sing along, but right now, she was silent. She was carefully not looking at him, and she'd barely spoken a word to him after her casual dismissal of him in the office, which he supposed he'd deserved. He'd probably hurt her feelings because he wasn't begging for her friendship, he thought snidely.

Ian and another member of the Rejects, Webster or something, they called him Webb for short had disappeared a while ago. Foxy was walking up ahead of them while Wyatt and Michael were rooting around for another stamp to make sure they were on the right track. Around them the trees speared up to shoot the hard blue sky, golden leaves crunched under their feet as the sun strobed through to light up various parts of their path. Somewhere he could hear the echoes of shouts from the other teams as they raced to finish their course to get back first. He was in no hurry, though he wanted to check on Tala. He wondered if Amber knew about his migraines. Probably, he supposed. She knew nearly everything about Tala... and why was he envious of that and their friendship? This whole trip was digging up feelings he didn't want to have, didn't need to have.

"Switchblade, do what I got to, vacate I'm coming right at you... this is a test of the bumps and bruise that you know you get used to... yeah yeah..."

He looked sharply at her and realized she was rapping again, probably didn't even realize she was doing it out loud as she twirled the lush green blade of grass in her fingers. Her gaze was far away with her thoughts. She tended to daydream and could be lost for minutes at a time in them. He often had to hit her to get her attention in class or in Study hall, where he always had to sit beside her.

He'd talked to Miriam before on the phone, but he hadn't told her about Amber. Confiding in her just wasn't in his nature, so instead he'd settled for very mild phone sex that he'd stopped sharply when Anne Benson had caught him. He liked the Rejects English teacher; she was fun and fair and treated him like a human not an idiot juvie as most teachers did.

"Because if you could live like me, underground. Lonely sights and lonely sounds, could you fight the darkness all around, no way up and always down, for me this is the only game in town..."

Somewhere he found himself murmuring the song silently with her. He recognized it, loved the chorus, just the melody and the lyrics, it had been a favorite in Clonmel because it had suited his situation perfectly. He caught the way her face softened and the smile curved her lips with the chorus. He wasn't the only one who loved the song, obviously and her voice did it justice.

"Action everything is set to, explode... shot down you're covered in dirt now... yeah, yeah... I'ma teach you, class in session..."

"Found it!" Michaels shout cut through the quiet of the forest.

Foxy crossed to him and the three boys crouched around the small pole hidden in lush wild grass with what looked like a plastic red stapler attached to it. Punching the card, they clambered out and headed down the path, being careful not to slip.

"Hey Amber, you're not going to get down this." Michael shouted back.

"Why?" Kai found himself asking.

"Those sneakers are ancient and the treads are worn, she'll slip and fall on her ass if she's lucky, if not she won't stop until she hits the bottom of the ravine."

Kai growled his eyes flicking to the sheer drop to his side. "Well what do we do now?"

"Because if you could live like me, underground. Lonely sights and lonely sounds, could you fight the darkness all around, no way up and always down, for me this is the only game in town... do you want this, break it down now..."

Completely oblivious Amber continued singing.

"I'll carry her." Foxy offered.

"No."

"Fuck Hiwatari, do you want to win or not?"

"Michael, can you carry her?"

Michael rubbed his chin and looked down the steep path. "If she holds onto my hand she should be fine."

Kai caught Amber's shoulder roughly so she looked at him, her eyes blazing as she paused the song. "Problem Hiwatari?"

He inclined his head and watched her face blanch; her eyes go glassy and her breathing shallow. Swallowing thickly, she shook her head. "I can't go down that. I'll slip."

"It's ok; you can hold Michael's hand."

She shook her head and pointed at his shoes. "If I go, I'll bring him with me."

Unsteadily, her legs feeling like jelly, she tiptoed to decline and from a safe distance, she looked over the edge, then stumbled back, eyes wide and nostrils flared. "Uh... oh boy. That's high."

"It's a straight drop." Michael commented quietly as he came to her side. "But the path is safe and it's solid, just a little steep. You'll be fine. I won't let you get hurt, too many people would skin my ass and Beth would dump me."

She managed to quiver a smile. "Mmm, I'll be fine."

Her voice was shaky and her body was trembling, Kai noted looking round for Ian and Webb. Michael was right; the path was sound but just a little too steep for her. However, if someone held her hand and kept her mind off everything she would be fine. Besides, they had to complete this. He rubbed a hand over his bone-dry mouth as she caught Michaels' hand.

"I wish Bryan was here." he heard her distinctly murmur. "I could tie myself to him and it'd be like having my very own portable tree trunk."

Michael snickered. "That's sounds wrong Amie."

She frowned puzzled then her face scrunched up. "Michael, you're a sick, sick little boy."

"Hey less of the little please, I'll have you know I'm very well endowed."

She covered her face. "You're an ass."

"A cute one though." he said as he led her towards the bray, but suddenly she dug in her heels.

"Ok, I don't think I can do it. Give me a minute." she inhaled unable to take in enough oxygen. She hated revealing weakness but the ground was swimming in front of her, and she felt dizzy and light headed.

Kai came up behind her and swept her up. "Come on, let's go."

She gaped at him mortified. "Put me down, I can walk."

"Not while I'm carrying you, you can't." he growled as he tried to negotiate the path riddled with roots and at the same time ignore what an appealing handful she made. She fitted perfectly in his arms, light and soft and she smelled incredibly good.

She scowled and cursed him viciously, turning her head from him trying to hide her burning cheeks in what she wished was mortification, but it was more to do with how easily he'd picked her up in his strong arms and was holding her very close to his body, a hard, tautly muscled body. Tsking, she switched her Discman back on again.

"Could you live like me, underground?" Someone was singing with her. "Lonely sights and lonely sounds."

She was surprised when she noticed it was Kai, he wasn't singing out loud or anything like that, but being so close to him, she could hear his smooth melodic voice mixing with the CD in her ears and with her own voice. She couldn't fight the grin, though she tried; something about this chorus had her smiling and singing along even when she was in public.

"Could you fight the darkness all around, no way up and always down, for me this is the only game in town... for me this is the only game in town... Cause if you could live like me, underground. Lonely sights and lonely sounds, could you fight the darkness all around, no way up and always down, for me this is the only game in town..."

In no time at all, she was back on solid ground, on her not so solid legs. With a breath, she sat down on a rock. "Can we take a rest?"

"Aw did I make your knees weak?" Kai taunted before turning to Michael. "I forget the effect I have on women."

"Kiss ass!" she ground out. "Someday I'll find out your weakness, I swear it!"

He smirked at her, glad she didn't see how pale his face had been on going down that slope. Heights were probably his biggest weakness, but you had to face your fears. Going down the slope, his vision had turned gray a couple of times, but focusing on her scent and voice had been enough to get him through it. He winced as something sharp hit his leg. His shoulders slumped as a stone hit his leg; he rolled his head to look at her. "Benson, stop throwing rocks at me."

She merely stuck out her tongue, and then rested her head between her knees taking long, slow, deep breath not even bothering to look up when Ian and Webb strode down to them.

Ian looked at her. "Hey what's wrong with Benson?"

"She's not feeling well." Kai said quickly.

The midget frowned then patted her back. "Hey, you'll be ok until we get to the clearing, right?"

She nodded. "Yeah I'll be fine. Thanks."

Ian smiled then moved away. It took a second or so for Kai to notice it, when he did, he whipped his searing gaze to Ian who was grinning manically. You bastard, he thought viciously. Its legs were long and black, thin and brittle looking. Its body was slightly hairy and was stationary for the moment. Then slowly it began to move towards her neck. Kai froze. Shit.

"Shit, Amber there's a spider on you!" Michael called out before Kai had a chance.

Her reaction was immediate. She screamed short and sharp, jumping to her feet, a look of sheer horror on her face as she began do a jittery dance on the ground to shake it off. Kai cursed, then strode to her catching her by the shoulders as Ian laughed hysterically and Webb grinned saying something about how it wasn't poisonous and that girls overreacted.

"Amber!"

His sharp tone made her eyes snap to his. The whites of her eyes were prominent and there was a wild look in them. "It's gone. Ok? It's gone!"

"Got it!" Michael said stomping on it, silencing Webb's mournful complaint with a withering look.

Amber looked over her shoulder at him until she was sure that Michael was speaking the truth, then everything that had happened weighed down on her and she collapsed into a bewildered Kai's arms. His arms banded around her unconsciously cradling her as she buried her face in his chest seeking comfort. He looked over her petite head directly at Ian, and his expression promised vengeance.

She dragged in a shuddering breath, inhaling Kai's scent of sandalwood and earthiness. It soothed her frayed nerves and gave her a chance to reign in her emotions. His arms encircled her but didn't imprison her. Warmth radiated off his body and comforted her, chasing away the chill that had settled inside her. She wanted to curl up beside Tala or Bryan, but neither of them were there and Kai was handy for the moment, or so she reasoned for herself.

Finally, when she was sure her face was dry and she was reasonably calm, she pulled back from his embrace, surprised at how sounds assaulted her ears. In his arms it was as though everything else faded so it was only them two, now she realized that it wasn't just them two and much more witnessed her break down. Well wasn't that just fucking dandy?!

She growled and rounded on Ian, a fierce smile on her lips, an evil glint in her eye. "Well Ian, That was a good one. Spiders, how on earth did you think of that all by yourself?"

Ian grinned triumphantly. "I didn't, Kai helped."

Her blood ran cold and her body tensed. Hiwatari had helped him? The same one she'd just sought comfort from a moment ago. Oh yes, that would be right. I bet that was an added bonus to his evil little plan, she thought sourly. Serves me right for trusting that manipulative little bastard. She looked over at him, his face was expressionless but there was a glint in his eye that confirmed Ian's accusations.

She turned to him fully, so he could see the hate in her eyes. "You hateful piece of shit!"

Without another word, she whirled round and fled. It didn't take long for her blue coat to disappear from sight. Kai watched her go, feeling something inside him crumple and wither and because it did, he schooled his expression to be as sheer as the drop behind them.

Michael gaped at him. "You didn't, did you?" when Kai never answered, he sneered. "What am I asking; you're a Shark aren't you? Go for the weakest and take them out! You sicken me."

"You're her captain, and you are her team mate. You're pathetic; I hope you both rot in hell." Wyatt spat at them chasing after Michael.

Foxy watched them go. "So, does this mean we lose?"

Kai snarled at him, before stalking off in another direction completely. He needed to be alone to figure out just what the hell had happened and to untangle the emotions warring inside him. If he didn't sort them out, they'd just end up spilling out all over the place.

Ian sat down stunned on a near by rock. He was supposed to feel good after getting her, but why did he feel like shit? Because he'd exploited a weakness. But, she'd done the same to him; still it felt bad, worse. She did it for a laugh; he did it to hurt her. Damn, he was feeling guilty. On an oath, he stormed to his feet and headed off on his own way.

0-0-0

He's evil! Manipulative. Hateful! Mean!

With every thought, tears sprang into her eyes. She hated Kai Hiwatari with every fiber of her being. She despised him. How the hell could he tell Ian something like that? She trusted him. God knows why, but they'd been making some progress today, or so she thought. Maybe she'd been the only one putting in the effort. Oh, that wouldn't surprise her. He wouldn't dare show any weakness, the almighty Kai Fucking Hiwatari was perfect and superior to everyone. Bastard!

She sucked in a breath and hunched her shoulders. She didn't know how long she'd been walking around the forest. At first, it had just been to get away from everyone laughing at her for being such a baby. Now she was making her way to the shrine. She always went there when she wanted to get away from everyone. It was so peaceful there, so quiet and tranquil, like it was surrounded by a bubble. Nothing could penetrate it. It calmed and soothed.

She dashed her fingers under her eyes, brushing the tears off her lashes.

However, she wasn't ready to be calm and soothed yet. She wanted to be bitter and angry. She wanted to think up various painful ways for Hiwatari to die a miserable and lonely death that would suit his petty demeanor. Fumbling in her pocket, she ignored the way her pinkie toenail bit into the toe beside it, and kept walking pulling out her Discman carry case. She stopped long enough to insert her Inme CD and then pressing play continued on her brisk march to burn off her emotions.

When a day comes along,

I can feed it, make it go away

Feed it, make it go away,

And it is all the same,

I am seeing everything again,

Seeing everything again,

She winced. This song left her feeling somewhat soothed. The intro with its crashing chords and the smash of the cymbals coordinated with her mood but the melody was soothing as was the verse.

My own stupid fantasy,

I can drink it and wash it all away,

Drink it, wash it all away,

And I don't need to breath,

Because I'm tasting everything again,

Tasting,

"Stupid fucker!"

Dammit, she'd trusted him and he'd gone behind her back and told Ian about her fear of spiders. Ian's biggest fear wasn't of Gnomes, not really. At least she didn't think it was as bad. However, spiders were living insects and she didn't fear them she just really hated them. Moreover, they could move so fast and they could bite! Gnomes just looked creepy. Oh, Ian would get it, and he'd get it bad. She'd have him paralyzed with fear for this and Hiwatari; she'd make him pay...

You know we hate it all in here,

You know we hate it all in here,

You know we hate it all,

Because the times that we have are so hard

The only problem with that was that she really didn't want to. What had happened? What had changed so drastically that she no longer saw him as her mortal adversary? Nothing except she'd opened her eyes and saw that she'd been acting childish. She'd begun to trust him and wasn't that where everyone let her down in the end? Trust no one, she thought. That should be her motto, but she'd tried not trusting him. He'd just gotten under her skin in a way that Ian never had. It was different. She couldn't quite ignore him.

My life feels 2D,

I just swim through my aquarium,

Swim through my aquarium,

Licking all my wounds,

I am bleeding eternally for you,

Bleeding

She groaned. She didn't like him, did she? Well not that she knew what having a crush was like. She'd figured it had something to do with wanting to see the guy all the time and going gooey every time he spoke to you. She didn't do that. She didn't want to see Hiwatari, she just happened to see quite a lot of him. Sometimes it was a pleasant encounter where she didn't leave wanting to kill him but most times it was definitely unpleasant. And when he talked to her -sniped she corrected, she retorted with her own. She didn't get tongue-tied, she didn't go mushy at his nearness, though there was the weird jolt she got to her system when his eyes locked with hers. And the tingle when their hands brushed. She could admit to herself that she liked the look of him. He was smart and he held his own against her. He liked history almost as much as she did. Lived hockey and despised French though he was good at it. His wit rivalled hers at times, and sometimes she found what he said amusing. He could be caring in a very brusque way, she added nibbling on her nail. But what did all that mean?

You know we hate it all in here,

You know we hate it all in here,

You know we hate it all,

Because the times that we have are so hard

She might very well be attracted to him, but that meant nothing. Good-looking guys were everywhere in this school, you had to develop some immunity. He despised her, she found him to be arrogant, obnoxious and confident in everything he did. He was never off balanced when faced with anything. She was always off balance with him. Either she was incredibly hostile or she found herself blurting out her life story. She moaned and covered her face. This was all so confusing.

I don't want to be in this life,

Because the times that I have make me throw it all away

I don't want to be in this life,

Because the times that I have make me throw it all away

Beside the over all riding fact was, he was with Miriam! Moreover, he was happy and she was happy, so she couldn't like her friend's boyfriend. That would be wrong and goddess she was thinking that far too much for her own liking. She cursed as she lost her footing on a patch of dew-laden grass and stumbled before catching herself.

Slave to my addiction,

Close my eyes and meditate my death

Have I anything left?

The wound has left a scar

But still I breathe just to be with you,

Still breath,

Still he'd been really nice to her last night, ok now she was prettying it up in her own mind. He'd been an asshole, to be honest. Still it had been a sort of nice gesture. Her whole emotions were churned up because he'd been wrapped around her this morning. She was a teammate and he was civil to all the team because he was the captain and he had to be. He'd talked to her this morning because unlike every other time, she hadn't sniped at him and had actually treated him like a human. She was just building fantasies, like a little girl with a crush.

You know we hate it all, in here,

You know we hate it all, in here,

You know we hate it all,

Because the times that we have are so hard

Oh, she couldn't have a crush on him. That would be too unfair and humiliating for her. She was obvious and people could read her like a book. He'd know in a heartbeat, as would Tala, Bryan, Ruin and Miyami. Bollocks, she thought with a scowl. That would more than suck; that would be terrible. They'd never let her live it down. It'd be worse than it was with Wyatt, where they'd make kissy noises and all that horrible shit that made her crazy.

I don't want to be in this life,

Because the times that I have make me throw it all away

I don't want to be in this life,

Because the times that I have make me throw it all away

I don't want to be in this life,

Because the times that I have make me throw it all away

I don't want to be in this life,

Because the times that I have

Maybe if she just admitted that he wasn't such a bad person then she'd feel better. Dammit, he'd still hurt her. She wanted Tala and Bryan, she decided. She could just be with them and ignore everything else. Then she grinned, if she told Shahero and Arista what happened they'd probably come up with a pretty cool idea to get pay back. Yeah, she'd do that. They'd do that; she could forget everything then.

She turned off the Discman and looked around her. Now where was she? She'd been sure they'd come this way when she was a child to go to the shrine. She shivered as a sudden gust of wind swept through the trees around her and she moaned, as she knew what was coming next. Water flecked against her cheeks as the rain began spitting down, and then she heard the soft roar as raindrops began to hit off the trees surrounding her. She scowled as she realized that it was more sleet than rain. She was so not in the mood for this right now, though it matched her mood, she supposed with a wry smile.

Hunching her shoulders she began to walk back the way she'd come, head bowed so that her vision wouldn't be affected as the sleet continued down. She felt the droplets of water trickle over her scalp, down her forehead to drip down in front of her face.

The rain and sleet was coming down thicker and turning the forest in front of her dark and hazy. She kicked a loose piece of scree in front of her and climbed over a log that had fallen in her way. She hissed as her foot slipped and she fell flat, scratching her hands, wrists, and knees on brambles and briars. Cursing she scrambled to her feet and marched sulkily down a slight slope managing not to trip over her own feet.

She didn't know how it happened. One minute she was walking, and the next time her feet went from under her and she was falling. She hit the ground hard enough to jar her bones. Whimpering in self-pity, she turned and examined her ass, then realized she wasn't at the bottom. Looking down she realized she'd crossed the whole way over to the Bakuten side of the forest and was looking out over the sea. Shit she thought miserably, looking back up. She was too far down to climb up, and the ledge she'd landed on was too high for her to get down onto the miserably small shore strip and the tide was coming in.

"Oh shit." she scowled.

She was cold and wet, and her shoulder ached, as did all the minor scratches and cuts, she'd received and through it all, she didn't see how anyone would find her. She hadn't meant to walk so far. She'd wanted to go to the shrine, but she must have passed it or something. She fumbled in her pocket to find her cell to phone Bryan. Her shoulders slumped.

"Oh typical!" she snapped at the lack of reception she was getting.

She was stuck there until someone came to find her.

0-0-0

Shahero tilted her head to the side as she stared out at the miserable weather feeling her anxiety go up another notch. She hated worrying but since meeting Amber Marie Benson, she seemed to be worrying more and more. Her sister of sorts hadn't returned yet, neither had Hiwatari for that matter and Ian. Michael had filled them in on the fact that the three had had a fight. He hadn't gone into details but it had to be bad for Amber to run away to be on her own and not look for retribution. Shahero just hoped the girl had found herself some shelter; otherwise, she could be very sick. She looked to Miyami. "Where do you think they are?"

The silver haired Japanese girl shook her head. "I don't know. I mean, Amber knows the woods like the back of her hand. They spread out into Bakuten don't they?"

Or she hoped her best friend did. What had happened out there? Amber had seemed happier at lunch today as though she'd lost a burden on her shoulders; she'd seemed lighter. Then she'd gone to Nicolais' office and had come back confused more than anything else. As she thought about Nicolai, Miyami suddenly remembered the photo she'd seen. Kai never mentioned his family much when they talked, he was a very private person, but something struck her as oddly familiar about that picture, but she'd have to see it again in order to figure out what was annoying her about it.

Arista nodded. "Yeah, they'll be fine."

She was almost certain of it. The silver haired Russian sighed and looked back outside. The boys were out there, hoping to figure out where the others were. Nicolai was frantic, but that was natural, his son was missing. Nevertheless, he seemed equally worried about Amber. That was nice, Arista decided, he cared about the team. She caught sight of Enrique and a very pale and strained Ozuma walking over. Quickly she got to her feet and went to fetch them both something warm, they looked freezing.

"Still no sign?" Miyami asked gripping her mug tightly.

Enrique shook his head, running a hand through his wet baby blond hair. "Bryan, Kane, Rei, Johnny, Hitoshi and the Bakuten guys are out there looking but nothing so far. I'm getting worried," he admitted, smiling gratefully when Arista handed him a mug of tea.

"I should be out there." Ozuma said harshly. "I'm her cousin."

"Yeah and your ankle's still acting up." Shahero pointed out. "Listen Ozzy, the best you can do is stay here in case she comes back."

"I'll go phone the school. Daichi and Kirby should know."

"Better not tell Miriam." Miyami said, unsure why she had. "She shouldn't be worrying unnecessarily. Daichi and Kirbs are family. It's different."

Arista looked at her cousin with a furrowed brow. "Yeah, maybe your right. Has someone told Tala?"

Enrique sat down with them. "No. He was sleeping when I went up there last. Ruin's with him anyway."

The door opened and Johnny with a drenched Ian walked in. Ian looked as white as a sheet and cold. His lips were almost as purple as his hair and he had to be supported by the red head Scot. He led the midget Russian over to their table and sat him down at one of the seats before moving over to seek comfort from Miyami.

"Any word about Amber or Kai?"

Johnny held her a moment, then stepped back tenderly pushing a strand of silver away from her eyes. "Not yet."

"Ok, I'm going out. If I hear one more sexist comment, I'll beat them with Bobby!" Shahero announced getting to her feet clutching her beloved hockey stick to fend any one off who tried to stop her. The door swung open again.

Bryan strode in, hair plastered to his face and pearly drops clung to his neck and lashes. "Amber's in trouble."

Shahero frowned. "How do you know?"

"The usual way." Bryan answered. "I always know when she's in trouble, don't I?

Johnny nodded. "Where, man?"

"I don't-"

"She's at the Bakuten side of the forest on a cliff or something." Ruin interrupted, breathless as though she'd just run the whole way from Tala's room.

Bryan stared at her, and then nodded. If Tala said she was there; then she was there. The two of them were in tune with each other. He always knew where she was, that was why the two of them had been able to find her when she'd been lost before after going off with Foxy when she'd been younger. Not waiting for another word, he turned and strode off.

"Hey Bryan, wait up."

He looked over his shoulder as Shahero rushed up to him. "You can't come."

"Why not?! She's like my sister! You can't stop me."

"You can't stop any of us!" Arista added with Miyami coming up to her side, Johnny flanking her.

"No, he can't but I can. I'm not risking all of you." Nicolai said approaching them, his face grim.

"That's our friend out there. She could be hurt; your son could be hurt. It would be better if a group of us went, instead of just one or two." Miyami pointed out exasperated enough to gesture wildly with her hands.

"And if you all go out and get lost, then what? It's much safer for Bryan to go because he knows his way. He can meet up with the other boys and find them. I want Kai and Amber back safe as much as you all do." His son and goddaughter were missing, and it had happened after he'd told Kai everything. What if Kai had confronted Amber about it? Was it his fault they were missing? "I'll go with Bryan. You'll stay here with Judy and Anne. Don't go into the forest, not in this weather."

The remaining members of the team scowled. Spencer stepped forward and handed a remote radio to Bryan. "You can use that if you need any help."

Bryan nodded. "Thanks." he turned to Nicolai. "We better go, she's scared."

"Be careful Bryan." Anne said stepping up to hug her nephew. "Find them both."

"Sure." he grunted.

They'd only just got into the forest when they caught sight of the figure that was Kai coming towards them, shoulders hunched and head bowed. He looked up and caught sight of the burly teen and his father. "What's going on?"

Nicolai strode to his son and caught him close, before stepping back and resisting the urge to shake him. "Did I teach you nothing? You don't go walking off in a forest. Didn't you realize we'd be worried?"

Kai suppressed the desire to roll his eyes. "I sat out the worst of the sleet at this old abandoned shack. I was fine. I didn't realize you'd be so worried."

"Well go back to the house and get dried up and warm." Nicolai said, looking deep in the forest as though trying to spot his goddaughter.

"Aren't you going back?"

"No, my cousin's still out there."

Kai stared at him. Oh, shit. "Ember, what... Didn't she come back?"

"No." Bryan bit out. "She did not. What the hell happened out there? What did you do to her?"

"I... Ian played a cruel trick on her. She was hurt and she ran off. I thought she'd come back." He really had thought she'd go back. That was why he'd stayed away so long, so he wouldn't have to see her so soon after coming to terms with what he'd come to realize.

"What kind of trick?" Nicolai questioned concerned.

"We don't have time." Bryan growled. "She's cold."

"You know where she is?"

Bryan didn't bother gracing the bluenette with an answer. He knew there was something involving him that made Amber run away instead of coming to her cousin as she usually did. So instead he kept walking, ignoring the rain.

"Go back Kai, Bryan knows where she is."

"I'm coming too." when his father gave him the look, he countered with his own. "I'm coming. It's partially my fault and I have to apologize."

0-0-0

"Could you live like me, underground? Lonely sights and lonely sounds. Could you fight the darkness, all around? No way up and always down, for me this is the only game in town... for me this is the only game in town... Cause if you could live like me, underground. Lonely sights and lonely sounds. Could you fight the darkness, all around? No way up and always down, for me this is the only game in town."

Finishing the song, Amber looked up at the darkening sky. Maybe they'd be having snow sooner than she thought. She rubbed her hands and blew on them, trying to find some heat. Her bum was numb as the biting cold seeped into her butt. She felt so sleepy, she just wanted to curl up and sleep.

A roaring fire... a large bed with thick covers that she could slip under and sink into slumber... The moon fat and high in the sky... stars beginning to peek out... sparks flurry up the chimney as a log breaks and the embers flare... the thick comforting weight of darkness... the steady heartbeat to keep her company... Tala murmuring to her... stroking her hair... an arm holding her close, keeping her safe... hot breath on the tender sensitive flesh of her neck... warmth... safety... darkness... the scent of sandalwood... soothing male voice calling her name...

"BENSON!"

Kai looked to his father as he stared down at the tiny figure lying curled up on the stone ledge looking down onto the cold gray sea. She looked so vulnerable and fragile. Had his carelessness done that to her?

"AMBER!" Bryan called down to her, cursing inwardly when she never reacted. He stalked back to a nearby tree and began to tie the rope he had the foresight to bring with him around the trunk. Just as he was about to loop the other end around himself, Nicolai stopped him.

"It would be better to send Kai down. He's lighter. The two of us would be able to pull them both up easily."

Bryan thought about it. He didn't want to entrust his cousins safety to someone he didn't trust. Especially when he'd done nothing but hurt her. He growled. "Fine, but if you hurt her..."

Kai was unsure what he was doing when he nodded. He hated heights, absolutely hated it when he didn't have solid ground beneath him. It made him uneasy, dizzy and sometimes nauseous but part of the reason she was down there, was him. So saying nothing, he looped the rope around him, tied it and tugged it to gauge its strength. He took a deep breath, filling his lungs with crisp, cold air before he shimmied back to the edge, closing his eyes, he went over. He'd abseiled before, when he'd been younger to try to get over his fear of heights and the feeling when he was swinging down was freeing just as long as he didn't look down.

His feet hit the face of the cliff, before he boosted himself back and fed the rope through his fingers. Another two goes and he had reached the ledge. He knelt beside her, feeling the deathly cold skin of her cheek. Her pulse, when he could find it, was faint and thready and worried him more than he believed possible.

"She's not doing too well."

"Will you be able to bring her up?"

"If she complies." He answered his father, tapping her cheek gently to rouse her. "Come on Benson, come back."

She muttered something groggily, but was too weak to bat away his hand. He scanned her face. She was scratched, bruised and so very pale that the shadows under her eyes looked like bruises and her lips were blue. Shit.

"Come on Ember."

She groaned and tried to open her eyes, but her head pounded and she wanted to sink back into the darkness with the warm fire and bed. It was so...

"Cold."

He heard the murmured word and noticed she was beginning to tremble. He needed to move her now, but how the hell was he going to do that and climb up the rope at the same time. If he could lift her, then they could pull him up. Frowning with concentration, he gathered her limp body into his arms. "Hold on Ember, if you don't your cousin's going to kill me."

She grumbled, and her eyes opened, dazed and confused. "Kai?"

"Yeah."

"What happened?"

"You had a fall. A bad one. How do you feel?"

"Like I've been run over by steam roller, twice, then stuck to the thingy, wheel thingy and rolled right along."

Kai chuckled. "Well at least you're speech is coherent." He looked at her eyes, trying to work out if she was concussed. "You're pupils are responding to light."

"And I'm cold!"

"How many fingers?"

"Before or after I break them? Look, I landed on my butt, that's the only thing that hurts."

He smirked. "Well since you don't have much of a butt, I'm surprised you didn't break something." Her smile when it came was weak and her eyes were barely staying open. "Come on Benson, I'm not that boring."

She opened her eyes and focused on him after a few seconds of swimming vision of blue and beige. "Sorry?"

"OK, come here." he murmured, lifting her up off the ground, even limp as she was; she wasn't much of a strain to lift. "How did you fall?"

She rested her head on his shoulder and when she didn't answer for a while, he began to think she was asleep until she cleared her throat and made a sound, as though she was making an effort to think through the exhaustion. "Slipped, couldn't see. Didn't know where I was."

"Right. Bryan and Dad are going to pull us up, ok?"

She nodded sloppily, her head pounding and her body was shivering so violently she was afraid her bones would shatter and her teeth fall out. Slowly she felt them beginning to inch off the ground and her arms locked securely around his neck, and despite what she'd just gone through, the strength in his shoulders and the warmth comforted slightly.

"Look, I want to apologize. I shouldn't have told Ian something you'd told me in private."

She groaned as she raised her head to regard him. He wasn't looking at her, but looking at the wall of the cliff as they moved slowly up, his feet keeping them from hitting the wall. He looked sincere, but she knew how easy it was to fake sincerity. So was he faking it, or was it real? "Do you mean it?"

He looked at her now, and the piercing look shot through her like an arrow, her chest contracted sharply almost painfully as her stomach jolted. He was so close that she could see the flecks of black in the deep warm reddish-brown. There was a long thin scar under his jaw that she wanted to trace with her fingertip, though she couldn't fathom why.

"Yes I mean it. I don't apologize very often either."

She nodded and silently looked over his shoulder into the tumultuous gray water of the sea as it crashed against rock eroding and devouring with its waves crested with white looking like ravenous jaws, opening wide to take a mouthful out of earth. "I guess if I were in your position, I'd have down the same thing. I guess being on the other side and seeing what you can be capable off, it's scary and horrible to know it. I never thought of myself as vindictive. I just found picking on Ian, fun. Sounds incredibly naive."

"Yeah it does."

"Oh now you decide to agree with me." she remarked wryly, idly playing with his hair but on catching herself, she immediately stopped embarrassed at herself.

"So does this mean you're going to stop picking on Ian?"

She leaned back to look at him and quirked a brow. "Oh hell no. You, I'll leave alone. Him, oh no. He's a dead man walking."

Kai sighed and it fluttered the loose strands of ebony framing her face. It really was a striking face. He'd never really paid much attention to it. Her eyes held traces of gold and brown. There was a dimple in her left cheek when she moved her mouth in a certain way or her lips quirked in a lopsided smile. He noticed simple things like that. Her smile wasn't perfect, it quirked upwards on the right side first before it evened out but still it lit up her face. The face was expressive, you could read her like a book and her mouth... he snapped out of his thoughts and shook his head to clear it from all thoughts about her mouth. The only mouth he should be thinking of was Miriams'. Hers was top heavy but apart from that, he couldn't seem to remember much.

"Almost there." Nicolais' voice pierced their thoughts as he leant out to grasp Kai's hand. As soon as they were on terra firma, Amber was immediately in Bryan's protective embrace. Tension that she hadn't realized had been there leaked out as she nestled in her older cousin.

"You ok?"

His voice rumbled in her ear as it pressed against his chest to hear the rhythmic soothing sound of his heart. "Mmm-hmm, I'm fine. Bit tired though."

"I'll bet. Jumping off cliffs must take a-" he broke off when he felt her hand snag his chin. He could have broken her grip easily, but he let her force him to look down at her.

"Don't even start on me. I'm an invalid. You should be asking me if you can do anything to ease my pain."

He lifted a brow indulgently. "Your pain? What about mine?"

Kai fell into step beside them and grinned slightly when he heard her concerned voice ask: "What pain?"

"He means you!"

She rolled her head to look at her captain, and yes, he was her captain. She was about to make another witty comment, when she caught sight of how pale he looked. "Uh, Kai, you ok?"

Bryan blinked. Since when had his cousin been calling Hiwatari, Kai?

"Yeah I'm fine."

"You don't look fine."

"I'm insulted, I always look fine."

"Sorry pea brain, I didn't fall on my head."

"I thought that's what you said you landed on?" Kai asked, his lips twitching.

Her shoulders slumped, dammit. She felt Bryan's shoulders shaking, and she seared him with a look. "Put me down so I can kick his ass and give him a brain hemorrhage!"

"Children." Nicolai berated as he joined them. "Amber, we'll need to get Judy to take a look at you. Until then I'd much appreciate it if you didn't try to do anything stressful."

"No I think kicking Kai's ass would be a stress reducer. Like one of those stress balls that you squeeze."

"You want to squeeze my butt?"

Nicolai looked at Bryan and nodded. Didn't matter if those two were enemies or not, they'd forever be wise asses.

"No I do not want to squeeze your butt. Get Miriam to do it! Eugh." she grumbled resting her head against Bryan's chest. "Hey, can we have ice cream?"

"As soon as we get back we'll get you all the ice cream you want."

"And then to punish you, we'll make you eat it." Kai added flashing a grin when her eyes opened and glared at him.

"Oh you just wait until I'm better. You'll not be able to sit for a week."

"Please, be realistic. You probably can't even reach that high."

"I'm willing to try."

"Ok both of you, that's enough!" Nicolai snapped. "This week was supposed to be about team bonding, so that you can all work on the ice. Obviously you two don't respond to that method, so you'll be spending an extra half hour on the ice practicing together!"

Amber struggled to sit up in Bryan's arms as she exchanged a surprised look with Kai. She hadn't meant it. Most of her barbs had lost their sting. She didn't really dislike Kai anymore. He wasn't all that bad. He was now bumped up to tolerable Ian status. Which didn't mean she couldn't work on the ice with him. Dammit! She didn't want an extra half hour on the ice.

"But-"

"Not buts."

"No but ser-"

"No buts."

"She didn't mean-"

"Kai!"

"Hey why are you blaming me?"

"Amber!"

"Because, naturally, you started it."

"Did not."

"Did too."

"Did not. You called me a pain!"

"Both of you be quiet or you're spending tomorrow in your dorms!" Nicolai bellowed stopping their bickering and they settled to glaring at each other, shooting daggers occasionally at their coach while Bryan merely pursed his lips and remained silent.

Nicolai shook his head. Well the weekend hadn't achieved anything. What a waste of time.

0-0-0

And yet another installment. I must ask, was it worth it? I don't know, I think the fight at the end was funny, but that's just me. They're slowly making some kind of progress in their weird sort of relationship. This is the beginning of the end for these two, lol. It'll make more sense later. But I think this chapter was pretty damn good, anyone can beg to differ, you'll be ignored of course. :grins: Anyways, review my comrades and I'll post chapter fourteen soon, and because I'm feeling wonderfully generous, I'll give you a sneak preview of chapter fourteen:

"So what was this lingerie like?" Hitoshi asked with genuine interest, running his heated gaze down Shahero's form, feeling slightly disappointed that the skirt wasn't longer and that she wasn't standing up. Nevertheless, Miyami had done good work; the skirt would cling sleekly to the subtle curves.

"Enrique don't answer that or I'll hurt you."

"So you want it to be a surprise Kaeto?"

"It'll be a surprise if you're not limping in another moment." Amber quipped while Shahero gave a look that told him that she agreed with her stepsister.

However, it didn't bother Hitoshi. What bothered him was that he wasn't getting over his slight infatuation with her, but he supposed that would just be something he'd have to live with until she was out of his life for good and he could get over her.

"Oh I think Maye's looking for you, Kinomiya, better not keep her waiting. After all she has mistletoe."

"Well I'll get it from her and bring it back for you then."

"Yeah well if you want her to shove it up your ass, all you have to do is ask. She's in great humor, I'm sure she'd oblige."

"Benson, fuck off and get your own life." Hitoshi growled; then winced when something flickered over her face. He hadn't meant to snap at her, but Shahero had his nerves frayed. He liked having control over himself, but he didn't have any when it came to Shahero and when he was around her, he didn't like being interrupted.

Shahero shot to her feet and snarled at him. "Where do you get off talking to Amber like that? Who the hell do you think you are?"

Hitoshi stepped closer to her and looked down at her, eyes tracing her features. Her eyes glittered with anger, like the darkest sapphire and her cheeks flushed with temper. Her hair fell silkily around her shoulders where the silver caught the light. Her mouth was snarling and he just wanted to tug her close and cover it with his. He shouldn't, but the girl got under his skin. His eyes darkened as he stepped closer.

She knew he was trying to intimidate her, she was well aware of it. And normally it didn't work, but today he was standing so close that she could feel him like a line of heat against her. His eyes were hot and unmistakably dangerous, luring her into their depths.

"You don't scare me Mr. Kinomiya, so go back to the staff table and leave us students alone."

Johnny raised a brow at Michael who shrugged while Enrique just grinned like a fool. Amber shifted in her seat to lay a hand on Shaheros' arm, keeping her gaze on Hitoshi.

"Shahero it's ok. I shouldn't have gotten involved."

Shahero flicked her gaze to her friend; then snapped them back to Hitoshi. "You have the right to speak your mind. If Kinomiya can't deal with that, then that's his problem. Maybe he should go play with people his own age."

Hitoshi seethed as his insides boiled in annoyance. Her scent curled around him and lust curled in his belly. He reached his limit with her. Every single time she pushed and poked at him and expected him to back down like a meek little puppy. That was something he sincerely wasn't. He was fed up of her attitude and he was fed up wanting something so desperately and being denied it. His hands gripped her elbows and drew her to her toes.

Shahero's eyes widened at the violence and frustration that shimmered off his toned lean form. His eyes sparked with temper and his mouth was in a thin hard line. She tried to drag her gaze away from him but found she was lost in him.

"Mistletoe!"

**Now who could possibly have shouted that last line? First person to answer that question correctly (excluding my cyber sister Coors and Arcada) gets the next chapter dedicated to them. It's really not that hard, you just have to be quick with your review. Now for my reviewers:**

**WindWitch: **I doubt I could make a living out of my writing, it's just something I do for fun and I really enjoy it. Something to do on the rainy days when there's nothing else to do. My mum always says everyone has a book in them ::shrugs:: But where I can write, I can't draw to save myself, so that's where you out do me. I really can't draw at all, though my match stick men are amusingly horrifying.

**FearlessDranzer: **Yeah the actress who plays Tara is named Amber Benson, which never clicked for me until someone pointed it out and then I saw a rerun and I was like, woah… Actually Amber Benson is a common enough American Name, I once did a run on it on a re-unite friends site type o' thing and saw it listed several times. Funny enough though, I can remember all the people who play the characters in Buffy, like their names, but Tara still doesn't click properly. I don't know, it's just one of those things, I suppose but I didn't name my character after her though.

**Grandsummon: **You rang in the new year on your own? Dude, that sucks. I had a great New Years Eve for a change, my friends came up from Dublin which was nice. But at least you didn't have to work which my other friend did, when we rang him he was slightly tipsy and that was around 10 or so…Well there was slight fluff in this chapter, it'll get better next chapter, I promise. I know what you mean about the relatives, every time I turn around my mom's pointing out a new one to me. It's so bad, that I actually know a girl who's going out with her cousin… and they didn't know that until a few weeks into the relationship… They're still going out though. How's your mom? I hope it's nothing serious. I hope you liked this chapter, I thought some parts of it were more amusing than others.

**Alex: **Hey it's nice to see you're finally back to yourself. You were really beginning to worry me, chere. There are quite a lot of couples in this fic, it's hard to deal with them all but I'm trying. Wow, that's one heck of a rant you had there. And most of it was very true, I'm afraid to say. Lol, I'm agreeing with you, the world as we know has ended!! :screams: The Queen's dead? How come no one informed me off that? :mutters: I can't get on to MSN, I'm so pissed off.

**Chiharu-Chan: **Tala doesn't look better in G-rev, I've checked. :Big sigh: In fact all the original guys look crap in G-rev and hello, the series is about them, technically. And all the new guys are uber drool worthy, how did that happen?! Huh? Oh and thanks for the email, mucho appreciated. I will include more Mystel, I have a good story line for him, and for Dicklyn too, but have to think up something for Flowers. Dicklyn, Sunshine and Flowers… :snickers: I love those names, don't know where they came from but they are very cool. Well I do know Flowers, came from Garlands name. And Sunshine came from Mystels' hair and Dicklyn came from Arcada. I hate the Mutant Scarf, it makes Kai look like something out of the Muppets. I now need to think up a story line for Joe the Teddy Bear, he should have a starring role somewhere…:ponders:

**Miss Wright:** Yeah it was sappy, but well, they definitely needed it. If anything, it should make them progress towards some sort of friendship. I can tell you they do somewhere get a defined relationship, though I don't know how long it lasts though.

**Moi: **Hehehe, yeah it does give us slight hints as to what the future may hold, of course I could then completely go off tangent and break everything apart as well. I'm mean like that.

**Arcada: **You didn't fall down the loo did ya? I hope not, you got a lot of posting to do, sugah. Lol. Dane said I sounded like I was from the Bayou last night, but we were looking at all those quotes and stuff, it was funny. I personally adore the rejects as well, they're so amusing and stupid. Lol. You need to have some people like them in the world otherwise it's not really real… did that make sense at all? Yeah poor Kirby's having man trouble, the kids are growing up so fast. Yeah the apology to Kai… I don't think she likes apologizing but she realizes that it's a necessary evil. Ya know? Oh well, I'm off to find more ROMY!!!

**Observaant-not mean: **Welcome to the club, I'm a lazy reviewer too. Lol. My writing's detailed? Wow, I'd say that Unlucky-Star is more detailed than I am, I'd suggest to read her stuff but she hasn't updated anything in yonks!!! :scowls: Ah the ending was sweet, non?

**Coors: **Pssh, liked you'd ever harm your dear sweet Hitoshi…:grins: Tamara does suck fuzzy monkey balls, but she's only in here so that Kirb's can have a reality check. She needs it big time, ma amie. :grins: I don't technically think anyone wants to be bumfucked by Ian, it's just one of those unfortunate incidents. (When I tried to write Bumfucked, the comp immediately corrected it to bemused, lol.) Yes I agree that both Kane and Enrique are very sick sick boys, but alas that's the way the world is.

**Starlight HBT: **No worries on the review front, chere, though I'm glad you're loving this fic. Personally so am I, it's so much easier to write and so much more satisfying and rewarding. So how was your Christmas and your New Year? Mine was good, have to admit.

**Bookie1: **I think Amber would be irked to read that she was the one suspected of latching to his side. Technically the reason she didn't was because, like myself, once we lie down in a position on the bed, we rarely move especially if someone else is in the bed because subconsciously we'd be aware of them. My reasoning behind it anyways, :grins: I'm glad they finally have found some sort of middle ground of sorts, because they're so hard to write at times. So comfortable with sniping at each other, them being nice is just odd… in a good way though.

**Mike: **I'm glad you like this fic and Amber for that matter. That means an awful lot to me. So here's chapter thirteen, hope it reaches your standards.

**KaieshaKai: **Nah Nicolai's secret isn't that they're related, cos that would be wrong, so very wrong. And yeah they should go out, shouldn't they. Alas they're just stubborn teenagers.

**Kaze ni Tenshi:** Lol, I know that feeling when you desperately need something really good to take your mind off things and then someone updates and it's like they did it just for you. Lol. I love Author Alerts, they'd be the best. Dammit, gotta put some ROMY authors on my alert list, the Xmen: evolution Ff writers are stupendously talented.

**Armith-Greenleaf: **Lol, I'm glad you liked that chapter. It definitely was one of my fave chapters since it basically wrote itself. I also like Start Something and American Idiot, they both really good. They removed V-force from the TV schedule again, but I guess they'll bring G-rev in very soon. They have the new Yu-Gi-Oh eps already which is really cool.

**Achava: **:ponders: Um, I probably would have gone with Amber's thought then with Tala's. But out loud I would have said Ian, because it's more to embarrass the poor wee fella than anything else. Lol.

**Paris Super Girls: **So how are the exams? Almost finished yet? Amber's not an OC anymore, huh? That's sweet. I work hard to get my characters to relate to each other naturally, so that means a lot. I think the reason Mariah/Rei are so popular is because there's hints of them in the show itself, if there was a female in the show for Kai then there really wouldn't be a need for OC's. The same with Serena and Darien ( I love Sailor moon, may even write a fanfic with them too) Seiya's a prat! And he turns into a girl. O.O; I think Tuxedo Mask was like the perfect prince when I was young too, he just always turned up in the nick of time and was dashing and barely said anything. Though when he spoke it often went very sappy in the English version. Lol, yeah every guy will be compared to the anime guys, they're perfect. Syaoran, Lantis, Kai, Tala, Darien, and more.

**Alexis: Digital Survivor:** Aw, I'm glad you liked the end part. I thought it was maybe too sappy, but people seemed to like it a lot. I'm so pleased.

**Kai's little Angel: **I'm not dead, I'm sick and was attacked by a fire work, but I'm not dead. Look!!

**T.k-Kon: **Ah I like making Amber fight with people, it's one of her hobbies to start an argument, though later she regrets it of course.

**Settican: **You liked? Yeah I think Slow and steady does win the race, though when they get together it's like a nuclear bomb. It explodes immediately and takes a long time to leave. Ruin and Tala parts are always good, of course.

**Midnight Insanity: **I liked the talk between Nicolai and Anne, just made it more believable that he was linked to the family since James doesn't appear much, just sort of mentioned a lot. The squabbling on the bus, it's just such a team thing to do or what a huge group of friends do. You're could be talking to one person and be dragged into a completely different conversation by others. Me and my friends set out to see how many people we could draw into our conversations, I won using the 'dancing naked around the garden' phrase, one guy sat up so fast he hit his head of the shelf above him, too funny for words. This story is so long!! I could seriously write so much for it. Not just evolving around Amber and Kai but about the team themselves. So many ideas keep popping in for tea with my brain. Supposedly I've grown one now that I've lost my voice. What the hell do I need a brain for?? Give me my voice back please, it so much more useful!

**G--b-S-t-E-r07**You like me now for the Hitoshi/Hero bits? There was extra in the sneak peek to? Come on, say it, you love me! :grins: I still like the Tourists should be shot idea. Why call it tourist season? And why do they say Happy campers? Do you know any happy campers? Most complain about the lack of electricity, warm weather, toilets, showers and that they can't get their tents up! Hmm, she might be pissed. Naturally she should be, but things… ah never mind you'll find out when you read chapter 15, which will be coming soon. Did you get the chapter? I sent it, but I don't know if I sent it to the right address, are you under hotmail? Cos I sent one to hotmail anyways, I'm sure.

**Smiley Joe: **No way am I gonna be that horrible to poor Ian, that's his nose you want to stick up Queens… ugh, let's just leave that subject well alone. But the thought did occur to me, and I figured Amber would be the best to broach the subject, lol. Ugh, I despise Spiders, really and truly hate them with a passion. Couldn't watch anything with them in it, though funnily enough, after Xmen, Spider man was my fave superhero… Something definitely wrong there. Lol, Both Ruin's names are uber cool. I def liked the way she got her nickname though, very cute. Everyone's bitchy without sleep, Amber is definitely bitchy without sleep and I'm a total potty mouth. Should of heard me on New Years Eve, it was bloody ridiculous. I'm surprised my friends didn't duck tape my mouth shut.

**Dark Destiny2: **My boss sort of fired me without firing me, I think. She said I wasn't needed to work yet the shop was open and everyone was working…Something odd there. As for everything, well I'm not going to stop writing. It's my one passion in life and I'm not going to stop it. Foxy was in V-force as one of the guys who got a bit beast from that super cool stone and fought Ray with his Nine tail Fox. Hence the name Foxy, you can just see the guys in the studio concentrating hard to come up with that name… I had planned to write the ice breaker but I just couldn't think of what to do in it and I just had that one piece in it to write, so I forgot about it and just mentioned it and I think it was more effective that way.

**Obs3ssi0n: **Ah, I'm so sorry, my comp deleted your email. It's so annoying and I can't access it through the computers history since I have to use the new computer. The old one finally fucked up once and for all. I'm so pissed about that especially since you took the time out to email me and everything. Stupid Gay bob, he'd been so nice recently. So I can't answer any questions, sorry. Please don't hate me.


	14. Complications of a dangerous mind

**Smells like Team Spirit**

**By:** Zadien

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Beyblade and I only own Amber Benson and Ruin Mulryan. Miyami belongs to Unlucky Star and you can see more of her exploits in 'Kinomiya: File one'. Arista Belyaev was invented by ArcadaAvalon who's wrote 'On the swords edge'! And Animerle owns Aspin who's the star of 'For the love of Kane' While Sonia belongs to SpitfireSae and Kirby is the creation of Kindred Insanity.A.N. Well here's chapter fourteen, and we're only just starting to hear about the teams Christmas… :sigh: I've been trying to write chapter sixteen but it's taking a while and it doesn't help when I'm getting distracted by certain Final Fantasy games. But I hope you like this chapter, it's not my best but it's hardly my worst. Oh and if you want the last chapter of L/H, email me guys cos I'm not posting it.

On to the story

Chapter Fourteen: Complications of a dangerous mind

The Christmas spirit had hit Preston Academy to an unusual extent. Everywhere any student looked in the halls, mistletoe hung in clumps thanks to the cheerleaders' desperate campaigning. Not just happy with that, they were rushing around the school holding their own bunches and trying to catch half the male student body unawares. One male who was carefully out of their way was Kai. The azure haired captain was cursing his father and his petite opponent for having to spend their last night in Preston before going home, on the ice whilst the rest of the team had gone back to the school to hang out before the Christmas supper.

He skated backwards on the ice, watching as Benson deftly handled the puck, though her sluggish movements gave away her exhaustion. The past week they'd spent every evening down on the ice with Nicolai trying to improve on their team playing capabilities. It wasn't so bad. Since last week, Benson seemed to be making a genuine effort to be nicer and to get to know him. It just made him wonder how long it would last. And that cynicism was unfair if she really was trying to improve on her character.

Mariam had been slightly off with him since he'd come back, though he couldn't understand why. She wanted him and Amber to get along, didn't she? That had been what she'd asked him to do near the start, to be nicer to her. It had taken them a long time to get there, but he felt they were genuinely getting somewhere. In addition, if he had to be honest with himself, he actually liked Benson's company. She wasn't so bad, once you got to know her, she was actually pretty friendly and reluctantly he could admit, if only to himself, she was somewhat cute. She had a great smile, one that lit up her entire face, though one rarely saw it. Well that had been the case, now she was much livelier. He supposed her break down last weekend had been a stress relief valve for her.

Nevertheless, whatever it was, she seemed happier and in better health. She was even eating more, he noticed, and the thought made him smirk. She wasn't too happy about him making her eat. She felt he was mothering her, god knows someone had to. Her friends just found it amusing, though he caught the subtle looks they sent each other when he did. Though it didn't annoy him as much as he'd have thought it would. It did bother Mariam; he realized.

Her jealousy was getting a tad bit annoying. She should know he was faithful to her. He hadn't shown much interest in any other girl and yet she was behaving as though he was Enrique, he did have his own standards and morals. Fidelity was something he strictly abided to.

"Oi, Hiwatari, you wanna join this game any time soon?"

He looked round at Amber's taunting and he grinned. "You should have taken the shot when you had the chance."

She looked up at him from under her bangs and smirked. "Bring it on."

She cradled the puck, balancing on her skates as she faced him down. Then she turned and glided furiously down the ice towards the nets. Kai watched her go for a second, then chased after her.

"Whoever scores the next goal wins."

"Then prepare to lose Benson."

"In your dreams." she muttered as she broke away and took the puck down the ice.

She could hear the scrape of skates behind her and, hunching her shoulders, she urged herself to go faster though the prickle along her skin told her that he was gaining. '_Bollocks_', she thought viciously. Losing to Kai would be humiliating. They'd been competing with each other steadily every time Nicolai's back was turned. Now their coach had disappeared to sort something out for next term with Hitoshi. Probably the JV vs. Varsity exhibition showdown, which would take place in January -on the open day. Neither team wanted to lose, but it was usually Varsity that pulled through due to their experience. However, this year JV had the edge. They had Tyson and Max, former Varsity players; they had a fully co-operative team; and Hitoshi their coach was Varsity's assistant coach! He knew their plays their strengths as well as their weaknesses. Shahero had mentioned banning Hitoshi from their practices; it hadn't gone down well with the bluenette especially when his cousin Miyami and Arista agreed.

However, Amber had to admit Varsity's main disadvantage was her and Kai's rather fragile relationship, which she supposed, was Nicolai's' reasoning for keeping her and his son back. They'd formed a rather tentative acquaintance. Not quite friends exactly but certainly not enemies. They enjoyed razzing each other, some more than others, she admitted but that was just part of their personalities, she supposed. The whole thing was making her see the teen in a new light, something she wasn't entirely comfortable with.

She knew he was gorgeous, she'd come to that conclusion already. Moreover, he was decent when it came down to most matters and a good captain needed to be. She was pretty sure he was ruthless when he wanted something bad enough. His dry wit balanced out his intensity. His ego was healthy enough that he didn't feel he needed to prove he had a dick, as Foxy did, so he didn't feel threatened by the girls on the team. He tried to offer them advice where and when he could, leaving it up to them on whether they'd take it or not. He didn't get hurt or wounded when she verbally slapped at him, he mostly put her in her place when she was being an idiot, as she tended to be. He'd only put up with her childishness for so long which she admired, strangely enough. Somehow he made her want to earn his respect, she didn't want to impress him but she just wanted him to like who she was.

Kai slipped up beside her and easily stole the puck before turning to face her. She'd stopped and was currently blinking dazed ochre eyes.

"Hey where did you go?"

She scowled and sighed heavily. "Nowhere."

"Really? Well why did you skate past the net?"

She looked around and with complete bafflement realized, she was almost on top of the boards. If she'd gone much further she'd have ploughed directly into them and humiliated herself in front of him. She groaned and hid her face by resting her brow on top of her stick.

"Bollocks."

"Excuse me?"

She snarled, raising her head to shoot daggers at him. His hand unconsciously went to his stomach to rub the knot there.

"I said bollocks!"

"Well I guess that would distract you."

She bared her teeth ferally and had him flashing a grin in return, causing her to sigh. "So what are you doing for Christmas?"

He raised a brow. Recently she'd been doing that, backing down from fights when he baited her and switching to a neutral topic as though she actually wanted to converse with him in a friendly manner. He wanted to question her on it; just to see if it was for real but he was certain that would only put her defenses up. And like it or not, friendly Amber was a lot more pleasant to be around even if he did miss her fire. There was also the fact that she had a mouth that looked amazing when in a snarl. He didn't try to understand exactly why he felt that way.

"Probably spend it at home with Mom and Dad. My grandfather will no doubt turn up and spoil everything." His tone grew dark at the mention of his grandfather.

Amber studied him and the fine trembling in his bunched muscles. "What's he like?"

"Cold, heartless, fucked up."

She tilted her head to the side. "What did he do?"

"It's what he does every singly time. He comes over even though he disapproves of my mother, makes snide comments every time he has the chance. He didn't want Dad to go into coaching because he says it's a job for commoners, not people like the great Hiwatari's. And since I'm 18, this year his whole speech will be about me joining Hiwatari Corp."

"What about what you want?"

"What about it!" he asked bitterly, surprised that he'd even told her since the only person he'd ever told had been Tala and he'd had to pry it from him.

"Oh." Amber said softly, comprehension dawning.

"Oh indeed."

"Well, tell the auld fart t' get a life and let y' live y'rs."

Kai stared at her, then grinned again making something in her gut flutter. "Your Irish is showing."

"Aye, well, it tends t' do that when I'm pissed."

An azure brow winged up. "And why are you pissed?"

"Because your grandfather is a controlling, manipulative shit-fucker. You should be able to do what you want. You're good enough to play pro-" she trailed of as she noticed his painful grimace. "What?"

"Hmm? Oh sorry, just got a disturbing image of my grandfather and shit." he paused to let his words sink in then smirked at her expression.

"Oh, oh, me too. Thanks a lot Hiwatari."

"Love to share." he replied easily passing her the puck, which she stopped with no great skill.

"What type?"

"Huh?"

"Cow pat or dog shit?"

She grinned impishly. "Neither. Horse."

Kai's smirk deepened and he chuckled. "Oh definitely."

"You're weird. No wonder Tala likes you."

He glanced at her to see if she was hinting at something but her expression was impassive, then he looked at her eyes and caught the twinkle of mirth. She liked her little subtle innuendo's, he knew, and liked them better if someone was quick enough to catch onto them. Though there were only a few that hit him in the dead of night and made him chuckle. It was just another of her quirks he was growing accustomed to.

"Ha, ha." he muttered dryly. "So why does Tala like you?"

She thought about it for a moment. "Well he once said it was because of my wicked tongue." she gave him a second or two to process that then exploded with laughter at his expression. "Ok, I'm stopping now because it's beginning to disturb me."

"Only beginning?"

"Yeah. So why don't you tell your grandfather to fuck off?" she asked rubbing her cold nose.

"Because you don't tell Voltaire Hiwatari to fuck off."

"Meh, I told my Nona Del Areece to fuck off."

"Is that why she disowned you?"

She shrugged. "Well let's just say it was the last in a long list of things."

He studied her now. All traces of amusement had fled her tone and expression though both remained flippant as she skimmed the puck back to him.

"What did you do?"

"I was born." She said simply. "And I'm not exaggerating."

"Do you want to tell me, if you don't, you can tell me to fuck off."

She could, she agreed silently but the fact that he gave her the option earned him the male equivalent of brownie points. "No it's ok. It's not a secret. Rosa's a devout Catholic and brought her children up under that religion. Mom was always a free spirit and got away with a lot more than her other siblings including her twin sister Louisa, because she was Rosa's favorite. Therefore, that's why she got to move away to go to college, met Dad etc. Now having a child before being married is a big no-no and that's exactly what happened to Mom and her mother flipped her lid starting talking about dragging mom back home and shit like that."

"But your parents were married before you were born." he stated matter of factly.

"Well yeah, but that doesn't matter. To Rosa, I was a Bastard child. She never liked Dad, especially when they moved to the other side of the country to get away from her and then mom changed her religion to Protestant. Rosa sure as hell wasn't best pleased and was even further angered when after my parents divorced, Mom wouldn't move back because it would uproot the Bastard."

"Is that what she called you?"

"Yeah, pretty much every time she had to refer to me until Mom had a big fight with her and so now she just refers to me as 'her' or 'she'. But that wasn't what led to the disownment."

"What did?" he inquired softly, his deep smooth masculine voice sending a shiver down her spine.

"Um, well I had a mind of my own. I spoke it often enough and took god's name in vain way too many times to count. I was tomboyish, put off church to play hockey and my best friend was a boy who could've posed for a magazine or something to that extent and the fact that I often spent nights over with him, well it embarrassed Rosa. However, the last straw was when my cousin Harley told her that I was Wiccan. Rosa really went off the rails and came up to Bakuten to try to force me back to Church! Harley had her convinced it was a devil worshipping cult."

"It's not." he countered casually, casting the puck from one side to another with his stick. Looking up, he caught her look. "My Grammy on my mother's side is one."

"Kewl. Well when Rosa tried forcing me back into the church, I told her to fuck off. In the politest way I could, so she threatened to disinherit me, and I said fine." she finished with a shrug. "She later went on to officially disown me and cut me out of the will, which sucked cause it would have been nice for college and it now means Harley and the rest of the idiots get most of my lump sum!"

"That's harsh."

"Not really. To be brutally honest, I care very little about the Del Areece family and vice versa. It's mom I feel sorry for. She doesn't have much contact with her siblings, but I suppose she has Auntie Anne and Aubrey, Keiko -Tyson's mom, our next door neighbor, and Jean, my god mother."

His gut jolted at the mention of her mother. He'd pushed the information he'd absorbed last week to the back of his mind. He was still unsure how to deal with it, knowing that tomorrow he'd be forced into having to deal with it, since she was his next-door neighbor, and since Treasa his godmother and neighbor was her mother.

"So what are you doing for Christmas?"

"Um, I'm spending a few days with Dad and his slut of a new hussy who I have so far avoided and whose name I do not know."

Kai winced. She couldn't blame him for James being with his aunt Pricilla could she? It was hard to know. Benson was hard to figure.

"Then back home on Christmas day to hang out in Bakuten, see the family and exchange gifts and stuff. We'll probably celebrate Shahero's birthday on New Years Eve and invite everyone."

By the glint in her eye he could tell she was excited to be going home but not to her father's. Would him being there spoil it on her and why did it bother him if it did?

"Don't you like going to your dads'?" he wondered; rolling his eyes as she tackled him and took the puck away, so he had to turn to watch her.

"Yeah, he's my Dad and his house is pretty cool. Usually we hang out together, go to the cinema and listen to music. He's more like an older brother than a dad, but it's this new woman. I guess I'm jealous."

Kai thought about it and glided over to where she was playing with the puck in one of the circles. "If my Dad and mom separated -touch wood they don't-" he amused her by rapping her head lightly with his knuckles before slipping the puck from her, rolling his eyes good naturedly when she snickered. He could almost tell what she was thinking. "Grow up Benson." He told her mildly. "As I was saying-"

"Before you touched wood."

"Yeah, well I think I'd be bitter if Dad found another woman or if Mom found another man."

"I suppose I am bitter. Though Mom's pregnant with another's man's baby and I'm fine with that, even happy, though the baby's scary."

"Understandable."

"I guess. So you're superstitious?" she asked, passing him the puck.

"Not especially. Just when it comes to my parents or things I don't want to happen."

"You care a lot about your parents, huh?" this wasn't the boy she remembered or the one she'd made up in her head, the cold, calculating one who didn't give a shit about anyone. Kai obviously did care and it made her feel crap to have misjudged someone so completely.

"Of course. If I didn't have them to bring me up, I wouldn't be the same."

"Yeah I can understand that. Without my family and friends, and my uniqueness, I might have turned out an anti-social reject."

Kai smothered a smirk. "That wouldn't be much of a change."

She jerked her gaze to his and stuck out her tongue in response.

"Oh very mature and sociable, Benson."

"Kiss my perky gold butt."

Kai tucked his tongue in his cheek and cursed the baggy shorts she wore over the protective padding. "Any particular spot?" he asked; as another part wondered at the golden skin, not pale like every other girl.

She glowered, then casting her stick back; she sent the puck whistling down the ice in a black blur. "Game on!" she declared, shooting him a challenging look, before racing after it.

His eyes darkened and focused, accepting the challenge, he chased after her. "You iced the puck Benson. It's mine."

"Finders, keepers. Losers, weepers." She tossed back over her shoulder as she crossed the red line, then the blue line into the opponents half.

"You knocked it in the wrong direction, that's the net I'm using."

"Yeah, and it's where I'm about to shoot my goal and win this showdown."

"Changing the rules mid game, how typically Irish."

"Not knowing how to adapt to change, how typically Russian." she retorted through gritted teeth as she attempted to retrieve the puck from where it'd lodged in the curve of ice by the boards. "Come on stupid puck." the prickle was back and more noticeable than before.

"Problem Benson?"

"None what so ever." she muttered seeing his skate appear beside her own.

"Really, you look like you're having some trouble. Maybe you need a hand," he murmured in her ear, sending a shiver through her and her skin prickled in a wave over her body.

She was suddenly aware of every part of him pressed against her padded body, though it was ridiculous how she was reacting when not a part of him was really touching her.

Nevertheless, his hot breath against the cool moist skin of her neck made her eyes want to roll back and her limbs turn to water.

His arms came around her, so his stick could battle hers for the puck. The fact that her slender body was fitted snugly against his was just a bonus.

Her stick cracking against his, snapped her out of her trance. "Dammit Hiwatari."

"I'm just trying to be helpful."

"Hn." she shoved her elbow back and regretted it, when his breath whooshed out onto her vulnerable neck.

"Benson." he growled, suddenly feeling the urge to sink his teeth into that pale gold neck.

"My hand slipped, sorry."

"Bullshit!"

"Whatever you say." she supplied distractedly.

She'd almost worked the puck free when Kai changed the grip on his stick, locking the puck between the two wooden rods. His hand skimmed hers and he felt her flinch under him.

"I did it, you prick." she scowled. She had loosened it. "Why did you lock it again?"

"Maybe I like the position we're in." he drawled.

"Girlfriend." she reminded him primly despite her cheeks flaring with heat. "Now move your bloody stick."

Kai chuckled at the trace of frustrated annoyance in her tone. She was adorable, he thought, and so easy to irritate. He buried his face in her neck to prevent himself from laughing out loud when she growled and attempted to stomp her foot, only to succeed in unbalancing herself and if it wasn't for his arms around her, she would have fallen.

"Careful Benson." he mumbled against the soft satin of her neck, breathing in the subtle floral scent and the fruity undertones of her hair. He felt her tremble and realized he'd taken it too far. It should have been harmless flirting but this was Amber. She was unused to this kind of treatment from guys, and it was unfair to play with her like this. He shouldn't toy with her, not after the way she'd been trying to be friendly with him. It was mean. Not to mention he had a girlfriend. All the same, it felt right.

He sighed then groaned as she wiggled against him. He closed his eyes, snapping them open again when he felt her move in his arms. He pulled back quickly to give them both some space and distance. She turned to face him, cheeks flushed, eyes dark and wary with a hint of pissed off and her mouth in a firm line… she was beautiful.

She winced and hissed as she stumbled over her stick. His hands instinctively caught her but she didn't notice as she scowled down at the death trap stick.

Then it slowly began to sink in that if she was still standing… her gaze traveled up over the Tiger emblem; up the smooth column of beige skin faintly tinged with pink; over the firm and fully shaped mouth, straight nose and looked straight into intense dark reddish brown eyes. Something inside fluttered nervously causing her skin to tingle violently.

'Buggershit!' the curse flashed in her brain. How did this happen? She'd dodged falling for any guy for seventeen years, yet here she was in the time line of a half hour, thinking about how her friends' boyfriends' lips would feel against hers. And judging by the way his gaze continuously dipped to her own, his thoughts were running along the same lines. A strange thrill shot through her.

Goddess what were they thinking? Mariam! A small part of her shouted while her head tilted upwards slightly.

Kai couldn't take his gaze of her mouth. He couldn't understand this sudden attraction to her. The more he seemed to try to fight it, the stronger he was drawn to her. Half of him wanted his father to come back or anyone to interrupt them yet the other half wanted to just taste that mouth. He realized he probably only wanted it because no one else ever had the chance but a small voice argued with him.

"Fuck it." he growled, gripping her arms tighter, drawing her up onto her toes as his mouth dipped to hers.

"What's going on?" Hitoshi demanded, genuinely fearing Kai was seriously going to hurt Amber. Wouldn't Shahero and Miyami just love him forever if he stood by and did nothing!

Amber's eyes flew open and locked on Kai's. _Oh, shitter bugs_! She cursed silently in her head. She swallowed thickly, her mouth dry and her heart racing.

Kai cursed Hitoshi colorfully, as he released her. Dammit, he wanted that mouth, should be entitled to it for all the headaches it had given him.

"Uh…" Amber began wracking her brain for a plausible excuse, and then her expression turned dark, as did her tone. "Kai said I iced the puck, then wouldn't let me get it out and he tried to trip me."

Damn, should have called him Hiwatari, she berated herself.

Kai searched her face and when her eyes bore into his imploring him to follow her lead; he nodded, making a mental note to corner her later. "You _did_ ice the puck, Ember. And you tripped over your own goddamn stick."

She cast a look over to see if the older man believed them but it was too hard to read him.

"Well practice is over."

"Good." Amber said with feeling, grabbing her stick and heading off the ice, tugging off her gloves.

Kai followed her more slowly after collecting the puck. He glided thoughtfully over the ice, tossing the flat black circle into the air and palming it again.

"Good thing I came when I did, huh?" Hitoshi stated from his position by the wall of the corridor.

The two toned bluenette snapped his gaze to him. "I guess."

"I have to say you have questionable tastes Kai."

Kai growled, temper sparking in his eyes. "What are you hinting at Hitoshi?"

"You and Bensons' compromising position. I'll give you some advice, Kai. Being alone with someone as irritating and intriguing as Benson will drive a man to do something crazy, but you have a girlfriend and despite how tough and careless Amber acts, she has a big heart that's bruises easily and has been broken in the past."

"Just what are you trying to say?" Kai asked softly.

"I'm saying, no telling you, not to play with her. She may be annoying but she's a good kid, don't hurt her. Bryan already wants your blood; don't give him a reason to spill it. You're her captain and your best friend is like a brother to her. Moreover, Mariam's a sweet girl, she may act mature but she'd still just a teenage girl. Don't ruin your life and theirs by doing something stupid."

Kai studied him. "You're overreacting but the speech was nicely melodramatic."

"Isn't that what all teenage lives are?" Hitoshi asked with a small smile.

"I guess."

"Just remember, every action will have a consequence, especially when Amber Marie's involved."

"I'll bear that in mind, but why do you care so much about Ember?"

Now Hitoshi smirked. "I don't, but if _Ember_'s upset then that'll knock Kaeto out of the Christmas spirit."

Kai snorted. "I'll bet," he muttered, before heading down the tunnel to the changing rooms.

He found Amber slouched on a pale blue slatted wooden bench; head leant back against a bar and tilted towards the ceiling. Her eyes were closed, striking black lashes rested on her flushed gold cheeks like spiked crescents. She'd stripped off her padding so he could see her small chest rise and fall with each slow, deep breath. Her hands hung limply beside her body. He gave a half smile. He felt how she looked.

Shuffling over to her, he dropped down beside her.

"I don't care what anyone says, I'm not moving until I can feel my toes again."

"You have to," he said with a groan as he leaned forward to tug off his skates. "We have that Christmas supper to attend."

"Fuck it." then she moaned. "Oh I suppose I'll have to go, last one this-" she broke off, eyes snapping and her body tensing. Her breath shuddered out. "Ever." she whispered, stunned. "Oh."

Kai surveyed her pale skin. "You ok?"

She nodded slowly. "Yeah. It's just, I never thought… It never hit me, this is my last year and after this, I'll be leaving everyone and everything behind."

Kai remained silent, unsure what to say. Here was the difference, he thought, he never felt anything but grateful to be leaving Clonmel. Amber would mourn leaving Preston.

"Sorry." she apologized with a laugh. "That was the sentimental Irish coming through. We tend to look back at everything through really thick rose-colored glasses. But at least I have all my friends here tonight, well apart from the ones who were too lazy to stay, and most importantly Tala's back." then she turned to him, eyes like molten amber, drowning him in their warmth and light. "Hey this is your first and last one. Believe me, it's an experience. They don't have anything like this at Clonmel, do they?"

"No, we had a turkey dinner, of course. Can't have Christmas without turkey, but they didn't decorate the main hall and they didn't make a big deal of it. We certainly didn't have a secret Santa."

Amber grimaced. "Ugh, the students came up with that, and it's something I could do without. So who did you get?"

He smiled enigmatically. "Secret. What about you?"

"Ian." she grinned wickedly causing Kai to chuckle.

"What did you get him?"

She smirked. "I swapped with Shahero, so she's in charge of him. After all, he has been relatively nice to me since my fall."

"Great, so we'll be having fireworks for Christmas?"

She smiled lopsidedly and had his eyes dipping to that tempting mouth. He couldn't understand what it was about her that hooked him in, but something did. For a while, he'd convinced himself that he'd only had a sisterly affection for the bright whiskey eyed nymph. After all, she was his god sister, the daughter of a man who was like an uncle to him, which was more than he was to his daughter, he thought sourly, surprising himself. He'd known James nearly all his life and genuinely liked the man. He could understand why he never saw his daughter that often, but he also saw how it affected Amber. In addition, he felt protective of her.

Something about her pulled at him. He wasn't quite certain what. Maybe it was her strength or her very real weaknesses. Her vindictive streak which showed she could take care of herself or her vulnerable side that exhibited her need to be looked after. Her annoying traits which made her human or her ability to show kindness to everyone, not just the people she adored and cared about. Her determination and her loyalty. Her sarcastic nature and her ability to poke fun at herself. In the end, he realized it was a combination of all of that and more; and he was beginning to accept it. It was just her. Just last month he wondered what it was about her that inspired everyone's loyalty, now it seemed obvious. She inspired it by being herself.

Poor Wyatt never stood a chance, he thought sympathetically. Now it seemed he was being ensnared. He needed to straighten things out, and fast.

"Look about earlier-" he began catching the flicker of panic and self-doubt in her luminous eyes before her expression became amused.

"What? You want a thank you or something?" she asked, her voice an octave higher than usual.

"A thank you?" he repeated baffled.

"Yeah for catching me when I was a klutz and tripped over my stick? It's lucky you did catch me, I might have sprained my wrist or worse."

He looked at her steadily while she babbled. So, she was going to pretend it never happened, which was probably a good thing. He had to think of Mariam but if Mariam was out of the picture… He stopped before he went further. Mariam was his girlfriend. She was sophisticated, sexy and had great legs as well as a sharp mind. He wanted Mariam, not his Ember.

"Right. Well, come on, we better get changed."

"Ugh, yeah." she stood up with a groan. "The hell I'm dragging my carcass over to the main building."

"It's not much of a carcass." Kai commented earning a dark look, even as he couldn't help but run his gaze over her.

She scowled, and averted her gaze as he stripped off his over shirt and tugged off his pads.

"Anyway, I'm taking a shower in here, because we still have no hot water in the girls changing rooms."

Unable to resist, since he noticed the way her eyes lingered on him when he removed his t-shirt and stood before her, Kai smirked. "Is that an invitation?"

She flushed and scowled deeper. "Sorry, but no. If I even feel you about to peep on me, I'll take away your right to be a man."

"It'd be worth it."

Amber sighed and resigned. "Kai please."

"Ember, do I look like a pervert?" When she opened her mouth, he narrowed his gaze at her. "Don't answer that. Look, I never even thought of it until you mentioned it."

"So you did think it." she accused.

"Red blooded male." he pointed out flatly, then sighed at her suspicious expression. "Look, take the last shower that way I won't pass it and be tempted to look and I'll take the first shower cubicle and the closest changing one, you take the farther one. Ok?"

"Sure, sure." she agreed, gathering her towel and stuff from her duffle bag.

0-0-0

"Jingle bells, Batman smells. Robin laid an egg. The bat-mobile lost its wheel and Joker got away, hey!"

Sonia giggled at Arista's boisterous singing as she and the others decorated the Common for lack of anything better to do. Most of the school had headed home as soon as their exams had ended but the others who had exams on that day as the History and the Chemistry classes had, decided to stay until the next day where they would head home after the carol service. For Sonia, this had become a tradition. She liked celebrating Christmas with her friends, she didn't get to see them when she went home to Willows Vale, and it was quite a distance away. However, she loved going home to see her parents and brother. She just hoped she'd get a break from training, but it was unlikely. Her parents really wanted her to succeed as a runner and that sort of pressure; well it was hard to cope with at times.

Especially when it came from loved ones, she just didn't want to disappoint them. However, Steve was really good when it came to distracting their parents from her. She adored him, even if he tended to be an ass most of the time.

She glanced at her watch. Technically, she thought as she wrapped a short strand of tinsel around the computer modem behind the desk, the dinner should be starting soon; but as per usual, every thing was being messed around because of practices having to be fit in every which way. It was no surprise that the Sharks won so many games if coach Hiwatari had them practicing twenty-four seven.

Her big blue eyes picked out Ozuma from the group and she sighed. What was she going to do about him? He'd been on the point of ignoring her ever since he came back from that stupid weekend. She couldn't understand it, and she wouldn't analyze just why she felt disappointed by his lack of interest. Honestly, what could happen in four short days? Then again, look at Amber and Kai. They still zinged each other constantly, but there was a bond being forged between them and though, under other circumstances, it would be nice to see; it made Sonia bitter.

Heck, she didn't want to be such a girly girl, but excuse her for wanting some romance in her otherwise mediocre life. Why couldn't Ozuma pick up a 'Mills Boon' and damn well figure out what she wanted? Why were guys such dolts? Why didn't they understand about white chargers and the like? Then she frowned. Ok, so it might be a little hard for him to know what she wanted when she wasn't quite sure. When she was little, her Ken doll had changed from being the hero who saved her Tory (she wasn't going to call every Barbie, Barbie, it was stupid when there were so many nicer, prettier names out there) to the mean guy, who ranged from a man after her money, an evil grotesque sister (played by the doll Steve had melted when playing with a magnifying glass) and a vampire. (She had a big imagination.) Then the next week, he'd be a Count who was in serious lust with his maid and would take advantage… she trailed off with her tongue in cheek.

Yeah she really shouldn't have watched those soppy romantic chick flicks.

It had screwed up her life; she was now an idealist who believed a guy would know what she wanted… No, that wasn't right either. She knew most guys weren't interested in girls' dreams of true love but this was Ozuma. There was something between them. She had always felt a connection with him. In addition, no other guy made her lose her concentration when it came to schoolwork, or made her not want to practice her track times. She'd quite gladly put off running just to spend time with him, why hadn't he noticed that?

She couldn't go back to just being his friend. She wanted all or nothing and she damn well was going to get her bloody fairy tale!

"Sonia!"

She yelped and looked round at Arista who blinked surprised at the tinsel Sonia had just managed to rip in half.

"Are you ok, Sons?"

Sonia looked down at the tinsel piece she'd just mauled. "Um… Oh dear."

"Yeah, you might want to let someone else decorate. Possibly someone who doesn't want to violently kill the tinsel and other decorations. Go help Ozuma put up the cards."

"What? No!"

Arista stared at her, blue eyes flecked with amber, large and surprised. "Why not?"

"Cards are rip-able."

"I trust you to control yourself." Arista said slowly.

"And if needs be, we can get Ozuma to tie you up if we feel your getting out of control." Shahero snickered at Sonia's expression.

"Don't give her ideas." Miyami mocked scolded, before chuckling at the Australian's expense. "Uh, sorry Sunny."

Sonia folded her arms and sighed glumly, before casting a glance over at the dark haired teen who occupied her thoughts. "Why won't he kiss me again?"

"Great, girly talk. I'm going to go. Now." Shahero said quickly, followed by Arista.

Miyami watched them go bemused before turning back to a sullen Sonia. "I really don't think they've accepted that they_ are _girls. Come on Sons." she led the depressed garnet haired girl to a vacant chair and hoisted herself onto the table. "So what's the problem?"

"He's the problem." Sonia grumbled.

"What has he done?" The silver haired Japanese girl probed gently.

"It's what he's not done. He hasn't tried to kiss me once. Aren't guys supposed to do that? Kane tried it all the time with Aspin and Tala with Ruin."

Miyami nodded sagely. So, this was what was wrong. "Sonia, Ozuma's not like Kane and he's certainly not like Tala. I mean, Tala and Ruin don't even have a relationship, they just have casual groping sessions."

"At least she gets groped."

Despite herself, Miyami sniggered and reluctantly the red head smiled. It was just so refreshing to see Sonia in a grumpy mood, it rarely happened but when she was on a downer, she was really on a downer. Her time of the month; which, since the girls had been around each other for so long, happened around the same time as the rest; was a hellish week. All strong personalities tended to clash and bad tempers were eminent. However, Sonia just found one thing to annoy her for the whole week and she took some serious silent vows and spent much time muttering and grumbling to herself. This meant she stewed and didn't vent her anger. If the others had a problem, they ranted and got over it quicker. Sonia could be bitchy for days about nothing important but once she was stewing, then she'd stew until someone baited her out of it. Normally that came down to Amber who seemed to know her the best, or maybe she was just a glutton for punishment.

"You want someone to grope you?"

"No, I'd settle for some petting."

This time Miyami just laughed out loud drawing some strange looks from the students, who when they realized it was just Miyami, got back to their work. "Man, Sunny sometimes you just crack me up. Do you want me to talk to him for you?"

Sonia gave the thought some serious consideration, and then shook her head. She couldn't risk Ozuma thinking she'd been pining over him. "No, but thanks for offering. I just… I don't know. I just wish I knew where I stood. I like order, for things to follow a pattern. _He_ doesn't follow any pattern."

"This is why he's perfect for you."

"Maybe, but how do I know if I'm perfect for him. He only sees me as a friend."

Miyami mocked shuddered. "I hope he doesn't look at me the way he looks at you, Sons."

Blue eyes widened. "Why? How does he look at me?"

"Like he wants to just lick you all over."

Sonia's skin tingled at the image that brought to her head but before she could say anymore, she was drowned out by Arista taking up her singing again.

"Jingle bells, Santa smells, Rudolph broke his leg- Oh! Hey what's the next line?" the Russian poked Shahero who shrugged.

"I don't know… sing the other version again."

"Ok. Jingle bells, Santa smel- oh shit I forgot my lines."

Miyami grinned while something about what Arista said struck a chord with Sonia and when she tried to remember the song she was supposed to sing for the carol service, her mind went blank. Panic set in.

"Oh god, I forgot my lines. Oh god, oh crap!" shoving out of the chair, she ran out of the Common.

Her friends watched her leave, and exchanged a look, which ended up with Shahero and Arista looking at Miyami who sighed heavily.

"Fine I'll go after-" she broke off as Johnny came in. Looking round, she located Ozuma. "Yo, O.Z. chase after Sonia would you?"

Ozuma glanced over his shoulder, rolled his eyes and made a big deal about climbing down the ladder as he tried to smother a grin. "Fine. Where'd she go?"

"Music room?" Shahero suggested with a shrug. "Don't know. Probably the music room."

"Ok." he muttered, shoving his hands in his pockets and hunching his shoulders to show reluctance while inside he was doing his happy dance.

Miyami watched him go, smiling softly as Johnny's arms wrapped possessively around her. "So was anyone fooled by that act?"

Shahero looked at her and grinned. "Not me."

Arista shook her head. "Nope."

"Good." Miyami murmured, turning into her boyfriend.

0-0-0

Elton John was inviting everyone to step into Christmas with him as Kirby walked down the hall towards the dining hall, which was being decorated for the Christmas supper, and for no reason she was really looking forward to it. Her one problem was just that stupid Tamara Wheeler. As far back as Kirby could remember the girl hadn't stayed for Christmas before, and she was pretty certain the girl hadn't planned to do so until Miguel had mentioned it. Why couldn't he see that the girl was a leech, a parasite that was sucking the life out of him? When they had classes together, Tamara took the seat next to him and Daichi that was usually reserved for _her. _Kirby sat between Daichi and Miguel, which was an unwritten rule, not Tamara sodden' Wheeler.

She rubbed her neck feeling the tension there and scowled. Christmas was supposed to be a happy occasion and was she happy? Did she look happy? No! Miguel… God she had the hugest crush on Miguel. He was cool, he commanded respect, and he wanted the team to do well not to mention he was gorgeous. Sometimes he was so perfect that she felt so clumsy and stupid next to him. He was all blond, blue eyed with that great European bone structure, and here she was, the freak with green hair and red eyes.

She wasn't anything that he would want, or not anymore. She should have moved when she had the chance, but she'd left it too late. Now he just saw her as another teammate and a friend, not as a girl. Not like Tamara, with her perfect hair, and feminine laugh, smile, and skirts. Oh and there was also the fact that she shared most of Miguel's advanced classes, so they could have deep meaningful conversations.

She stubbed her shoe against the wall and sighed heavily. She didn't look great. Sure, she was pretty and she was curvier than Shahero and Amber. However, Shahero was dynamic, which made people notice her. People didn't notice Kirby because she was almost an exact character image of Amber. It was time she came into her own.

She turned round the corridor and managed to avoid walking into Mariah and Rei, just. Now, she thought, they were a good couple. Him with his dark and reserved good looks and her with her bright magenta hair and stunning face. They were eye catching and they were so sweet together. Rei really cared about her, and Mariah had adored him for the longest time. When they got together, everyone was happy. Just like, they would be if Miguel got together with Tamara.

Mariah shared a look with Rei as she caught Kirby's glum expression. She'd made it her mission to have everyone cheerful for Christmas since it was the seniors last year and she wanted it to be memorable for them. She was the Christmas sugar plum fairy, and everyone was going to be happy. This meant bribing the kitchen prefect staff to place Amber and Kai as far away as possible, to stick Ozuma and Sonia next to each other and Shahero close to Hitoshi, though not beside him. She still wasn't quite sure on the blue-eyed girls' feelings towards the assistant coach, since she was good at keeping her emotions to herself.

"Kirby? Are you ok?"

Kirby snapped out of her trance, and she locked her gaze eagerly on Mariah. "I need you to do me a major favor!"

"Sure, how big a favor are we talking about?"

"I'll tell you on the way to the dorm. Come on, we don't have much time."

Mariah shrugged at an equally bewildered Rei and let herself be led away by the younger teen before she broke out of her grasp and headed back to him. "Two seconds Kirby, I'll be right with you."

"Well hurry up please."

Mariah nodded then looked at her boyfriend. "Sorry, I guess I have to help her. I'll see you at the dinner later, ok?"

"Sure Mariah. She looks upset."

"Yeah." Mariah murmured with a concerned tone. The cloud that had settled over her visage lifted when Rei tilted her head up with his fingers. The tips stroked over the smooth skin before he leaned down and closed his mouth over hers. Heat pooled inside her but he kept the kiss gentle and slow. His tongue slid into her mouth, touching her own and retreating in a teasing manner. His fingers moved to the back of her neck through her thick silken strands holding her in place. Finally he pulled back placing a few more chaste kisses on her lips as if to sate the need that had built up inside him.

"Later." he whispered and walked round the corner.

She nodded silently then waited for his footsteps to fade before her fingers lifted to her lips. "That boy sure can kiss."

"I'm still waiting!" Kirby's voice rang out in a sing song manner and she rolled her eyes at her friend's dazed expression and the goofy smile on her lips. "This century please."

"I'm right behind you, Kirbs."

"You'd think at this stage you'd have been used to his kisses, girl."

"You don't get used to Rei's kisses."

Laughter bubbled out as the green haired girl laughed at her friend's bewildered confession before her expression turned grim. "Well, if I ever want to get some kissing from a guy, then I need your help."

That caught Mariah's attention and before she could question the younger girl, she'd raced up the steps to their dorm floor. Mariah had no choice but to follow.

0-0-0

Ozuma turned down the corridor leading towards the music room, which was where he was certain Sonia had headed after her abrupt departure. His brow knitted as the sax intro of '_Baby it's cold outside_' blasted out of the P.A. speaker and had a faint headache throbbing behind his eyes. He hurried his pace to reach the soundproof music room.

So far, his plan to give Sonia some space was working perfectly. She was edgy and Kane said that was a good thing. It meant that she was thinking of him and was confused. In addition, if she was confused, she was vulnerable to her emotions and could be manipulated. Not that Ozuma wanted to manipulate her, but he just wanted to give her a little push in his direction. That was all.

He reached the door, and without knocking, he ducked in surprising the garnet haired girl who'd been staring out the window. She stared at him startled and a slow blush crept over her cheeks, making her suddenly feel a lot warmer than before.

"Hi."

"Hey. Miyami sent me to get you," he said moving further into the room. "So what's wrong?"

She struggled with the disappointment that he hadn't come on his own free will but because Miyami had bullied him into coming. "Uh, I just forgot my lines, but it's ok now. I just panicked."

He nodded pursing his lips at the snow that was falling heavily. Would the buses make it to the school tomorrow to take them home? Of course they would. They had snow plows on the main roads and the groundskeeper would clear the drive up to the main door, even if he didn't they could walk down to the gate. It would just be amusing for the Kinomiya's and Shahero whose homes were up a steep hill. Getting down wasn't a problem; it was the getting up.

"I wouldn't advise you to practice anymore. It would only make it more likely that you'd forget your lines. Overkill, you know."

She bobbed her head gratefully. "Right. You're right."

"A red letter day." he murmured.

She caulked her head as she trailed her slender fingers over a desk surface. "What?"

"Me being right for a change. I should mark this day down."

She bit her lip uncertain where he was going with this. Was he trying to lure her into a trap? She had read loads of stories where guys did that with words and they always started out with a random comment that had nothing to what they were previously discussing.

"Well I guess there's a first time for everything," she suggested lamely.

Ozuma nodded. "Well if you're ok, then I'm going to head down for supper. I'm starving. You coming, or are you staying up here?"

Sonia stared at him. He was just going to leave? Didn't he care? They were friends still, right?

"No I'm fine here."

Ozuma nodded, and then left the room, leaving her on her own. He closed the door behind him, then jolted when he heard a sharp bang. Fear had claws and they grabbed him by the throat. He swung the door open again and stared at a flushed and panting Sonia.

"What was that bang?"

Sonia squirmed and looked sheepishly down at her feet. He followed her gaze and noticed one of her shoes was missing. Surprised, he peeked round the door and studied the shoe on the floor.

"Did you throw your shoe at the door?" he asked slowly, not believing what he was seeing.

She opened her mouth, and then closed again. Her eyes round and wide. "I-I didn't mean to. I-I… Just go."

"Sonia-"

"Just go Ozuma. I just want to be left alone, so please just go."

Ozuma looked at her, wondering what he'd done wrong this time. How did things always go so wrong with them? He sighed heavily. "If that's what you want." He turned round and left again feeling his heart clench in his chest at the anguished expression on his face.

Sonia watched the door closed and sighed. "I don't know what I want."

0-0-0

Mariam ran a brush through her hair smiling as she heard Kirby's complaints about how her brows were fine. Mariah clucked something back but said nothing apart from that, just studiously got on with what she was doing. Popping a mint in her mouth, the bluenette crossed to the CD player and pumped up the music so that Bing Crosby drowned out Kirby's whining. Her gaze traveled to Salima's empty bed and she sighed. Salima had headed home instead of staying for the last night before the Christmas holidays. She supposed it was kind of hard for the red head to see Mariah with Rei, especially on a festive night like Christmas with so much mistletoe and cheer going round. But the way Mariam saw it, Salima should just get on with her life, or better yet make Rei jealous by proving she could be happier without him. Nothing got on guys nerves more than thinking another guy could make a girl happier than they could.

"Kirby, sit still." Mariah ordered, pushing her hair over her shoulder.

"Well stop plucking me. Do I look like a chicken!"

Mariam chuckled and spritzed on some of her white musk perfume. "Kirby, you wanted Mariah's help, so now you have to deal with it. Besides she knows what she's doing."

"So does Miyami."

Mariah scowled. "I can do makeup just as well as she can!"

The Chinese girl just sighed and headed out of the dorm leaving the two very different girls to bicker. She closed the door with a soft click and looked across the hall at the empty dorm of the senior girls. You could tell it was empty. No loud noise was blasting out of it and there was no soft line of light haloing the door.

Gathering her hair back from her face and arranging her bangs, she headed down the hall and descended the stairs, rounding the landing of the sophomore and freshmen girls' dorms and then down the stairs again and out the door. She hurried through the passage into the main school building while trying to decide where to go. She supposed she could head to the arena and catch Kai, but it just meant a long walk and recently he'd been sort of distant. It was just this past week, ever since he got back from the weekend. She felt he was hiding something from her, yet when she pressed him, he got irked and she ended up receiving the cold shoulder. She'd tried asking Tala but he was just as vague. She was entitled to know what was wrong with her boyfriend but they were keeping her out.

Sometimes she got the hint that Tala didn't like her, that he didn't trust her and she couldn't see why. She'd never given him reason to dislike her. In fact she rarely ever talked to the red head. He was Kai's friend and Amber's, not hers. But Kai seemed to look on the boy like a brother so when they did converse, Mariam tried to be friendly. Maybe if she was a hockey player then she'd have Tala's respect but really what was the point of chasing a puck around the ice? Why on earth were they on the ice in the first place? The whole game, no matter how entertaining was just weird. She didn't get it or why some people took pleasure out of being sent to the penalty box or bashing into another player. Kai got so intense about the game, for Christ sake it was only a game but you try to explain that to him and you'd have to ask him for your head back.

She pushed open a door and was hit with a blast of warm air and the sound of Dean Martin's Let it snow crooned softly from the speakers above her head. The lights reflected of pieces of tinsel and holly and ivy were wrapped round the banisters along the stairs. Mistletoe was hanging along the roof and the sound of laughter assaulted her ears as a group of sophomore's entered the hall and waved at her. She recognized some of them from her dance group and cheerleading. Another couple she recognized were Miguel and Tamara Wheeler. Tamara was lightly flirting with Miguel who was looking for a way out which had Mariam chuckling.

"Hey Miguel, Tamara." the girl's name was said in a cool tone, showing her dislike for the freshman.

"Hey Mariam. Haven't seen Kirby about have you?" Miguel asked slightly flustered and soon Mariam saw the reason why. Tamara was unsuccessfully trying to hide a piece of mistletoe behind her back. Her blue eyes flared at the mention of Kirby's name out of Miguel's mouth but she said nothing.

Mariam smiled thinly. "Yeah she's in our dorm getting ready for tonight."

"Getting ready?" He repeated confused. Kirby didn't get ready for things, she turned up to things, no forward planning necessary.

"Yup. Believe me, it'll be a nice surprise."

"What's she doing, Miri?"

"Nothing Miguel. It's a surprise. Hey Tamara, I thought you told Salima you were heading home."

Tamara gave a wide, innocent look. "Oh no, I decided to stick around. I mean the school's so pretty and magical at this time of year. It's a shame to miss it."

Funny, you've missed it every other year. Psycho slut! Mariam thought but out loud she said "I suppose. Well I'm going to find someone to hang out with. It's world war 3 back in the dorm. You don't know where the others are, do you?"

Miguel thought about it for a moment, then nodded. "Yeah, I think they're in the Common. I think the teachers shooed them in there so they couldn't cause any mischief."

She chuckled. "Yeah sounds like them. Well I'll go check on them. Look out for Kirby's surprise Miguel, it'll knock you for six."

He watched her head up the stairs and sighed. "Now she's got me worried."

"What for?" Tamara asked as she followed Miguel down the corridor.

"No reason. I just don't want Kirby to change. I like who she is."

Tamara frowned. The guy had Kirby on the brain and honestly, she just couldn't see what was so damn special about the girl. Yes, she was pretty and she had brains and she could play hockey but apart from the hockey, Tamara outdid her on the others. Kirby was just someone she had to out shine and with Tamara's looks, it wouldn't be hard and she could always give fate a little push.

0-0-0

Mariam jogged up the steps lightly as she congratulated herself on helping Kirby ditch the witch as the younger girl had termed Tamara. She had to admit, Tamara was really getting on her nerves and the fact that she was making Kirby doubt her worth really sickened her. Kirby was sweet and smart and perfect for Miguel, more so than stupid Tamara.

She rounded the corner and yelped as she bumped straight into a tough figure. She stumbled back and scowled.

"Hey watch it."

"Oh, sorry Mariam."

Her heart stuttered at the male voice, and her head shot up drinking in the sight of Ozuma. He looked tired and worn and still utterly delicious. It was wrong for her to think that about him but she couldn't help it. It was just something she didn't have any control over.

"Oh no problem. I was heading to the Common, want to come with me?" _please say yes, please say yes._

"Yeah sure, why not?" he questioned as he fell into step with her. "So did you not get a lift home this afternoon?"

"No, mom had to work so I just decided to stay on until tomorrow and get the bus home with Joe tomorrow."

"If I didn't have my chemistry exam, I'd have booked as soon as possible."

"I thought you liked Christmas here?"

"I do." he murmured. "It's just, things are becoming awkward around here."

"Any particular thing?"

He shook his head, smiling slightly but his eyes were pained. The look just made her want to hug him.

"So where's Kai? I've noticed you and him have been kind of distant lately."

Mariam nodded solemnly, however inside was a different matter as her insides turned to mush. He'd noticed her and Kai? What did that mean? It couldn't be just friendly interest because he was a male and they didn't notice things unless it was for a reason. "Yeah, he's been kind of strange since he came back from the trip."

"Do you know why?" he asked quietly.

"No, not really." she answered miserably. "I keep thinking it's something I've said or done, but I just don't remember. Did he meet someone on the weekend?"

Ozuma shook his head, jade eyes thoughtful. "Not to my knowledge. We didn't get into town much and when we did he mostly stuck with Tala. And the only girl there apart from ours was Queen and though she made a couple of comments to Kai, he basically gave her the brush off. You know it probably has nothing to do with you, Mariam."

"Maybe. I just can't help thinking that there's someone else."

"Well unless he's gay, I just don't see it." He replied, running a hand over her hair.

It took all of her will power not to purr out loud. Ozuma just had that affect on her. Sometimes she just wanted to lap him up, he was just so perfect and confident. In addition, he always smelled like lemons. It just soothed and seduced her. However, she was pretty certain he was unaware of the affect he had on her.

"Sometimes I do wonder." she said with a breathless chuckle.

He turned her to him and opened his mouth to say something when there was a sound from down the hall and Shahero burst round. "Hey party people. What's up?"

Mariam glared at her, then catching movement out the window she moved away from Ozuma. Kai was approaching the school with Amber and it suddenly struck her how at ease they were around each other. It made her wonder how much of it was done for her sake.

"Uh, I'm going to see Kai. I'll talk to you later Ozuma."

"Ok, Mariam. Think about what I said."

0-0-0

"So what exactly happened between you and that Wyatt kid?"

Amber groaned and slanted her gaze up to Kai as they walked up from the sports arena through the darkness, the path lit up by the spotlights. "Zeo told you."

"Not the whole story and he told Tala not me, I just eavesdropped."

"Why does it matter?"

"I'm interested, s'all. The guy seemed pretty cut up."

She rolled her eyes. "It-"

"Hey, you two."

They both looked up as Mariam came out to them from the front door. She smiled at them but there was a strange glint in her eye.

"Hey Riam."

"'Suppity dudette." Amber chirped; then felt the intensity between the two bluenette's, her stomach churned and her throat felt constricted. "Um, I'll go inside, get you two a seat."

Kai watched Amber leave; her wet hair was hastily braided, her heavy bulky fleece sweater covered her slim torso and a pair of snug jeans outlined her long limbs and other things. He looked at Mariam. Her royal blue hair was tied back in a half tail, the rest fell loose around her shoulders, the jaw length bangs fluttered in the nippy breeze. Something glittery was rubbed into her glowing cheeks; a silver decorative star punctuated the end of her left brow. Her eyes were done up in a way that made them sparkle brightly and her skin looked dewy and soft. She was dressed in a red crushed velvet dress that hugged and clung to her curves.

However, despite the first punch of lust Kai felt nothing else.

Confused he frowned. He ran his gaze languidly down her frame, letting it linger on the creamy swells of her breasts and though his blood simmered naturally, he felt strangely hollow, empty. It was as though something he'd had minutes ago that made him whole was missing and funnily enough, he thought as his gaze traveled to the front door, he had a feeling that what he was missing had just disappeared inside.

"Hey are you ok?" Mariam asked raising a hand to his cheek. He really was gorgeous, the perfect boyfriend material but he wasn't Ozuma. It wasn't his fault; it was just a fact of life. She couldn't help being attracted to the green-eyed teen. She'd tried to ignore the chemistry between them, but it wasn't working.

Kai looked down at her, his gaze stormy and troubled. If he heard her, he made no indication. Instead, he seized her by the hips and jerking her forward, he covered her mouth with his swallowing her gasp of surprise. Her lips were soft and pliant under his and their tongues danced lightly but there was nothing. Other than the meeting of lips and tongues, there was nothing. It was no different from any of their other kisses; yet he felt different, distant.

She lifted her arms linking then around his neck, and letting her fingers slide into his hair. He shifted the angle of the kiss to try to lose himself in it, but still nothing. He felt he was performing in front of people. There was no intimacy. He was just going through the mechanics. It was enjoyable like practicing against his team was, but there was none of the adrenaline rush that came from an intense game.

Oh god, he wasn't turning gay, was he? He had a gorgeous full figured woman pressed against him and he wasn't really turned on! What was wrong with him? He'd had a bigger reaction to the imp, he thought, remembering the way she'd felt in his arms, how her scent had curled around him, tugging things deep inside him, how her lips had parted slightly, soft and tender and her molten eyes… he trailed off feeling his groin tighten. Ok, so he wasn't gay, he just wasn't attracted to his gorgeous, smart, funny and curvy girlfriend. Instead, a prickly, annoying, sarcastic, devious, soft, warm, sweet scented, compellingly innocent pixie turned him on. Great.

He jerked back from Mariam and turned away from her, running a hand over his face in frustration.

Mariam let out a quiet breath as her hand moved to her bruised lips. She'd never felt such passion from Kai before. Their kisses had always been softly sensual but this had been raw and passionate with a hint of desperation as though he'd been searching for something.

"Kai?"

Kai swallowed and tried to figure out his next plan. If he was… why was he saying _if_? He _was_ attracted to the Imp. He'd tried to kiss her earlier, he enjoyed her company, and he'd just kissed Mariam and felt next to nothing. So what now? Did he go on pretending that Ember was just another teammate and stay with Mariam or did he break up with her to be fair and give her a chance to be with someone who could care for her in a way he obviously couldn't anymore?

"I'm sorry," he said softly.

He'd broken up with girls before, maybe not as many as some of the others had, but he had experience. That didn't seem to be helping him here. The problem was he usually broke up with girls because they bored and/or annoyed him. However, he genuinely cared and liked Mariam, just not in a sexual way anymore. He certainly didn't want to hurt her or to push her away. So what did he say to her?

"What? What are you sorry for? Kissing me?"

"No, but I suppose that too."

"Kai you're not making any sense here," she told him softly, stepping forward to lay a hand on his arm, removing it when he tensed.

"I do care about you Mariam."

Her jade eyes softened as her mouth curved subtly. He was so afraid of speaking his emotions, she thought with sympathy. She wanted to turn him towards her but she resisted. "I care about you too."

His shoulders slumped as his breath slid out. "We have to break up."

Her eyes widened. "What?"

"I'm sorry, but it just wouldn't be fair on you for us to be together."

"Why? Is there someone else?"

Kai sighed. What did he say now? Lie or tell her the truth and have her look at every girl in the school to figure out who it was. "No, not in the way you mean. I haven't been cheating on you."

"But obviously you like someone else better than me."

"Mariam," he exhaled heavily. He was completely out of his depth. "I-"

"No, I want to know who it is Kai. You go off on that weekend and you come back sullen and moody, but I put up with it and I don't question you because I figure you'll come to me when you're ready. However, you never did, you never tell me when something's bothering you. And now you kiss me and then you tell me you want to break up with me?" her voice rose with slight panic.

"It's for the best."

"How do you work that out? How can you just turn off your emotions?"

"I didn't turn them off, they went out. I can't help how I feel Mariam but I can help what I do with them. It would be unfair for me to continue this."

"Who is she?"

"No one. I just… leave it alone. It's for the best."

Mariam turned her face to the moon and laughed bitterly. "Yeah I'm sure it is. Look whatever Kai, I'm not going to plead or beg. If you don't want to be with me, then that's your own look out." she turned round and fled leaving Kai outside alone.

He sighed and ran a hand over his face. What the hell was he thinking? He made the choice that suit them best, he couldn't be with Mariam when they're relationship wasn't really a relationship anymore. It wasn't even a friendship with benefits. It was just dead in the water.

He scowled at his feet and shoved his hands into his pockets. It was all Benson's fault, why the hell did she have to invade his mind now. He'd told Tala when he first arrived that he wouldn't touch Benson with a barge pole, shit that was only two and a half months ago, it seemed like years. He still had another 6 months or so of school left and if she'd grown on him in such a short time, what was going to happen to him within the next couple of months? He needed to talk to someone about this, needed to sort things out in his head. His mother would be the obvious choice but with the new information that Amber was his parent's goddaughter, he didn't necessarily feel comfortable talking to them about the petite nymph.

He turned to the school; he'd think about this later, right now his stomach was crying out for food.

0-0-0

Amber sat at a round table with Shahero, Enrique, Johnny and Michael. A log decorated with fake snow with a red spiral candle burning on it sat in the middle of the table. Around them was the buzz of chattering students who were discussing the upcoming Christmas disco. Shahero and Amber weren't looking forward to it. They'd been once again, pushed into wearing a skirt by Miyami Kinomiya. She was becoming the bane of their existence. What part of 'we don't like skirts' did she not get? Amber scowled down at her own. Her legs were cold despite the black suede boots. The tan skirt was made of a heavy material that was easy to move in but would keep them relatively warm; or so Miyami said. She wore a soft woolen snug sweater in an off white color. She felt odd, festive but odd, like a tall glass of champagne.

Shahero was in a royal blue top and a black skirt though luckily, it went past her knee but unfortunately, it had a slit up the side so she could move for freely. The skirt hadn't pleased her but because it was Mimi and she gave them the eyes, they really hadn't had much of a say in the whole thing. Nevertheless, she did like the brow bar she'd gotten.

"Ok this music is getting me down." Shahero mumbled grumpily shooting glares at the speakers, well alternating between shooting glares at the stereo and watching Ian.

"This skirt's getting me down."

Shahero nodded at Amber's comment. "Yeah, skirts are evil. I swear Miyami made the slit on mine longer than it should be."

"Oh give it a rest, both of you." Johnny commanded, casting a look towards the door where any minute Miyami would be appearing in her latest creation. The thought made him smile, Miyami was possibly the most creative and inspirational person he knew. She never judged people, she gave them a fair chance and was very loyal and under all of that was the style and confidence to carry it off.

"You're not the one with a snow flake on your butt." Amber grumbled.

"Yeah and if I wanted to look like the star spangled banner, I would have cloaked the flag around me."

Michael chuckled. "Hey did you guys see Bethan?"

Amber shook her head. "Nope but she'll probably be down in a little while. So, who did you guys get for the secret Santa thing?"

"Not you." Johnny said.

"I'm debating whether that's a good thing or not."

"Did you get me?" Shahero wondered.

"Nope."

"Did any of you get me?"

Enrique sent Shahero a sly grin that had her eyes widening. "Oh no. No. Not you. Last time I got lingerie with peek-a-boo panels."

Amber chuckled. "Oh yeah, that's right. What were you thinking Enri?"

"I'd like to ask him that myself."

The table winced and looked up over Shahero to where Hitoshi stood behind her. She gave an imperceptible shudder as she felt all the nerves along her back come to life. She schooled her features into scowl and glared at him. "Private conversation Kinomiya, piss off."

"So what was this lingerie like?" Hitoshi asked with genuine interest, running his heated gaze down Shahero's form, feeling slightly disappointed that the skirt wasn't longer and that she wasn't standing up. Nevertheless, Miyami had done good work; the skirt would cling sleekly to the subtle curves.

"Enrique don't answer that or I'll hurt you."

"So you want it to be a surprise Kaeto?"

"It'll be a surprise if you're not limping in another moment." Amber quipped while Shahero gave a look that told him that she agreed with her stepsister.

However, it didn't bother Hitoshi. What bothered him was that he wasn't getting over his slight infatuation with her, but he supposed that would just be something he'd have to live with until she was out of his life for good and he could get over her.

"Oh I think Maye's looking for you, Kinomiya, better not keep her waiting. After all she has mistletoe."

"Well I'll get it from her and bring it back for you then."

"Yeah well if you want Hero to shove it up your ass, all you have to do is ask. She's in great humor, I'm sure she'd oblige."

"Benson, fuck off and get your own life." Hitoshi growled; then winced when something flickered over her face. He hadn't meant to snap at her, but Shahero had his nerves frayed. He liked having control over himself, but he didn't have any when it came to Shahero and when he was around her, he didn't like being interrupted.

Shahero shot to her feet and snarled at him. "Where do you get off talking to Amber like that? Who the hell do you think you are?"

Hitoshi stepped closer to her and looked down at her, eyes tracing her features. Her eyes glittered with anger, like the darkest sapphire and her cheeks flushed with temper. Her hair fell silkily around her shoulders where the silver caught the light. Her mouth was snarling and he just wanted to tug her close and cover it with his. He shouldn't, but the girl got under his skin. His eyes darkened as he stepped closer.

She knew he was trying to intimidate her, she was well aware of it. And normally it didn't work, but today he was standing so close that she could feel him like a line of heat against her. His eyes were hot and unmistakably dangerous, luring her into their depths.

"You don't scare me Mr. Kinomiya, so go back to the staff table and leave us students alone."

Johnny raised a brow at Michael who shrugged while Enrique just grinned like a fool. Amber shifted in her seat to lay a hand on Shahero's arm, keeping her gaze on Hitoshi.

"Shahero it's ok. I shouldn't have gotten involved."

Shahero flicked her gaze to her friend; then snapped them back to Hitoshi. "You have the right to speak your mind. If Kinomiya can't deal with that, then that's his problem. Maybe he should go play with people his own age."

Hitoshi seethed as his insides boiled in annoyance. Her scent curled around him and lust curled in his belly. He reached his limit with her. Every single time she pushed and poked at him and expected him to back down like a meek little puppy. That was something he sincerely wasn't. He was fed up of her attitude and he was fed up wanting something so desperately and being denied it. His hands gripped her elbows and drew her to her toes.

Shahero's eyes widened at the violence and frustration that shimmered off his toned lean form. His eyes sparked with temper and his mouth was in a thin hard line. She tried to drag her gaze away from him but found she was lost in him.

"Mistletoe!"

Amber blinked, what had been quite an intense moment had completely been spoiled by Enrique Giancarlo, getting up and standing near them positioning a sprig of mistletoe above the pairs heads. She caught the way Shahero's gaze drifted reluctantly to the cursed plant, and how Hitoshi's mouth curved and she uttered a small prayer for the idiot blond. Enrique, of course, was oblivious to the threat Shahero was probably issuing him in her head and continued to grin idiotically at them while Michael and Johnny shook their heads. At a nearby table Arista muttered something about having told the blond to shove that sprig up his hole.

"Come on guys, kiss and make up!" Mariah called out cheerfully; fortunately, for her, she was hidden from Shahero's view so only Enrique who kept nudging her closer to Hitoshi was receiving Shahero's wrathful vengeance plans.

Hitoshi smirked and the challenge was in his eyes while Shahero was cursing Enrique very colorfully. She was going to dye his baby blond curls, no worse; she was going to shave them off. She was going to strangle him, cut off his balls and string him up by his dick! She uttered a low growl and the sound made Hitoshi's lips quirk upwards.

"Scared Kaeto?"

"Of you? As if."

"Now you'd get along much better if you'd just kiss each other. Come on, release that sexual tension." The blond Italian quipped and had the few, scarcely strewn people who cared about him, rolling their eyes.

"Prove it Shahero." her name tripped off his tongue and hearing it, the way his voice caressed it had a delightful shiver running down her spine.

Her mouth went dry as his eyes dipped to her lips, and they suddenly felt dry, tight, and hot. She flicked the tip of her tongue over them and watched those eyes darken. She didn't think, thinking would only make her second guess herself and then she'd back down. She couldn't back down, not in front of the entire school -well the ones that were present. She had a reputation to maintain, dammit.

"Crap." she muttered, then stepped into him almost smirking with amusement when surprise flickered in his deep dark eyes. Her hands slid up his chest, feeling the rapid heart beat under her fingers, which matched the tattoo her own heart was knocking out.

She was moving so slow, literally she was moving at a normal pace but to him she was moving excruciatingly slow. He wanted her and Enrique was giving him the one chance to have what he wanted, what he'd wanted since he'd kissed her two years ago. Being obsessed with a scrawny tomboy with an irrational dislike for him was fraying his nerves. He was twenty years old and still hung up on a schoolboy crush. If he could just purge her from his mind he'd be fine, but his hopes of being away from her for the holidays were put on hold when his mother had ordered him for an old-fashioned Kinomiya Christmas. Which also meant he'd be left to run herd on the Kinomiya younglings. No one could leave Miyami and Tyson in charge of anything; they weren't responsible.

He stiffened when Shahero's hands slid around his neck, teasing the skin under the soft hesitant touch. She rose on her toes, and his hands moved to her waist bringing her closer until she was pressed against him. His hands wanted to move over the velvet curve of her hips, to just mold the shape, but at the back of his mind, he remembered that they had an audience.

His mind switched off as her lips brushed his, then pressed firmly against his. Her soft tempting mouth parted under the slow patient prodding of his tongue. Their tongues tangled and danced lightly, toying with each other. He tasted her moan, felt the tremble roll down her body. He groaned and pressed her closer everything fading in his mind, his fingers digging into her soft yielding flesh.

Her head spun lazily and she strained against him wanting more. He kissed her as though he wasn't expecting any opposition and he didn't get any. She'd been wondering what it would be like if he kissed her again, when her mind drifted before she had any control over it. However, this kiss was silky and devastatingly controlled unlike the first time when it had been hot and desperate. It had been like plunging head first into a boiling sea and not knowing if you'd ever surface again. This was sinking, and sinking so deep you didn't care if you'd ever surface.

Kai raised a brow as he walked into the dining hall to find Hitoshi and Kaeto with their mouths locked together in the center of the room. Most people were either looking at them bemused, exchanging comments or paying no heed.

"What's going on?" he asked a girl to his left.

"Shahero and Hitoshi got in a fight when he rightfully told Amber to get a life and then Enrique produced some mistletoe and here's the result."

Kai turned his attention fully to the girl recognizing her voice. He blinked in surprise at Kirby. He'd always had a soft spot for Mariam's outspoken yet clearly open-minded friend. She was like Amber, only without the annoying traits, and he didn't feel anything other than brotherly affection for the girl, if even. So, he really was up the creek without a paddle where Amber Marie Benson was concerned. He scowled, as his eyes traveled over the crowd of people locating the neurotic temptress who occupied his thoughts steadily. She was shaking her head at something Enrique said as he stood by her chair. His stomach clenched painfully and his scowl deepened.

"Why are the teachers letting this go on?"

"Well Dickinson is getting ready to play Santa and deliver the secret Santa presents, and he still thinks we haven't guessed that he's Santa. Maye complained of a headache and went to her room early, Miss Tate has gone home and Mrs. King and Mr. Shallow as you can see, don't seem to care that Hitoshi is giving Shahero's mouth a thorough examination." she grinned as Kai chuckled softly. "So where's your Dad?"

"He's gone home."

Kirby's brow winged up. "And you didn't go home with him?"

Kai watched as Shahero and Hitoshi broke apart and as soon as they did she elbowed the taller teen in the gut after he'd dodged her punch. He sighed heavily. He had every reason to go home, to see his mother, to avoid Mariam, to get away from this school, the sleep in his own bed, avoid the carol service, to just be himself. He didn't want to think about just why he'd said no but despite that, his gaze fell on his one reason for staying just one more night.

"He wanted some time with my mom alone." he lied glibly watching amused as Amber yanked Enrique down onto her lap so Shahero's fist missed its target.

Kirby nodded. "My parents are the same. Well I had better go get a seat. Merry Christmas Kai."

"Yeah, you too Kirby." he murmured, shoving his hands into his pockets and striding over to find a seat for himself. He passed Hitoshi just as Clover caught his arm.

"Hey Hitoshi."

Hitoshi looked down at the small hand of the perky blonde and groaned. This was what he should be interested in, instead his stomach churned in disgust. "It's Coach Kinomiya to you."

Clover faltered; then regained her composure. "Sorry Coach." she looked up not too subtly.

"Oh look, Mistletoe. "

Hitoshi looked up, slipped his hands into his pockets and considered the plant. "So it is."

She smiled while the others at her table who unfortunately for her happened to be Tala, Ruin, Michael and Bethan snickered. "Well it's bad luck to ignore it."

"I'll risk it. I don't taste what I don't like the look of."

Clover gaped at him hearing her table mates laugh out loud. She pouted. What did Kaeto have that she didn't? She, Clover Nixon, was every male's fantasy! Why did Hitoshi just brush her off?

"So has anyone got any jobs lined up for the holidays?" Bethan asked biting her lip as Michael's fingers stroked the sensitive spot behind her knee.

Tala grinned at her, guessing that Michael was up to something due to the blonde's breathless voice. "No, I want this holiday to myself. I'll be working through Easter and summer for college."

"I'll be working late nights in Sam's I suppose. If the bastard will give me back my job." Ruin growled.

"Why do you work for him?" Bethan demanded angrily.

Ruin just shrugged. "He pays cash in hand and more than most do for less hours. Plus the shifts are flexible."

"You work till four some mornings."

"Gets me out of the house."

"I don't have to work during the holidays." Clover announced haughtily causing Ruin to smirk.

"Well I guess even Scrubbers need holidays."

The blue-eyed blonde squinted her eyes at Ruin in an attempt to intimidate the dark haired woman who flicked the glare off as she would an annoying gnat. "So I guess you're not going home for Christmas this year again."

Ruin cast her a curious glance. "No, I am."

"You haven't gone home for Christmas in a long time."

"I go home every year. You're referring to the house Desmond and Helena dwell in. I don't live there, I merely exist."

An awkward silence fell on the group but Tala quickly picked it up when he made a comment about Amber bitching at Ian.

0-0-0

Kai crossed to the table where Bryan, Ian, Ozuma and Rei sat watching Amber growl at Ian. He groaned inwardly. She hadn't been sitting there before; she'd been sitting with Shahero, which was why he'd chosen the table as far away from her as possible. Now it seemed fate had conspired against him. He couldn't help the way his gaze ran down her willowy frame. He had to praise whatever god had put her back in a skirt that was short enough to exhibit her fascinating smooth gold legs, which were braced in her usual confrontational stance. He ran his tongue over his teeth as his gaze lingered on the soft velvety flesh behind her knee. He bunched his hands wanting to stroke a finger over that surface.

"Ian you're getting on my last nerves." Amber growled; then feeling a heat on the back of her neck, she glanced over her shoulder. Her brows winged up when she caught sight of Kai as her pulse quivered and her face heated under his scrutiny. She swallowed before she spoke.

"Yeah?"

"You have a snowflake on your ass."

Her shoulders slumped and she pouted. "Yeah, Miyami says it's 'festive'. I say it's a snowflake on my backside!"

"Amber people wouldn't notice if you didn't mention it so much." Ozuma grumbled.

His cousin growled at him, fed up with his attitude. He had only gotten sulky when she mentioned that Sonia had switched places with her and now he was sniping at her as though it was all her fault. It wasn't anything to do with her. "Forgive me for having issues with the snowflake on my butt!"

"It's a pretty snowflake." Kai commented blandly, slipping into a seat that just seemed to be opposite hers, so now he'd be eating directly opposite her, so every time he looked up he'd be looking at her. Great, it was a good thing he wasn't hungry then, after all.

Amber just quirked a brow and that intriguing face became haughty even as her pulse accelerated. "Hmph." she muttered dropping into the chair between Ozuma who was sulking on her, and Ian who just didn't like her, she was opposite Kai, and every time she looked up, he was watching her as though he knew she liked him. Oh, joy!

Miyami approached the table and smiled at the group. "Hey merry Christmas guys."

"Merry Christmas." the group greeted unenthusiastically.

She shrugged nonplussed and turned to Kai. "I only got your present finished an hour ago, so I couldn't put it in the collection box, so I thought I'd give it to you now."

Kai smirked. "Not really a secret as to who my Santa is then."

She grinned. "Sorry. So come on, open it."

He looked round the table then shrugged ripping off the paper. He took out a painting and gaped at it in surprise. "What?"

"Don't you like it?" if there was one thing that Miyami was conscious of, it was her art. She didn't like being criticized on it one bit.

"No, it's amazing. You have a real talent. But when did you? Why did you?" he trailed off at a loss as to what to say. It was a painting of him on the ice with the rest of the team. The crowds were there, the bright lights of the arena and everything was done in great detail. She really had so much talent. However, the main part was that he was in the Tigers colors, not just in neutral colors, but in the two toned blue of the uniform and thinking that he thought of his hair and chuckled.

"What?"

"Maybe he's insane." Ian added his thoughts and frowned at Amber's dark look.

"It's nothing Mimi. Just something, I thought of. Why did you do this?"

"I thought-" she began; then shrugged. "It's the painting for my art project. It's from our last game, I don't know something about you on the ice in our colors, well it struck me and I wanted to paint it."

"Why did it-"

"Because it looked right. You being in our team looked right. I don't know how to explain it, exactly. But you see how well the painting turned out…" she shrugged and made a face. "I just wanted you to have it."

He looked at the painting thoughtfully. "Thank you."

"No problem, now look at the rest."

"Before everyone melts with the mush." Ian quipped.

The bluenette captain coolly shrugged off his comment, and then turned to the rest of the present. He quirked a brow when he pulled out a simple black mug with the words '_the boss_' in white bold writing underlined in red. "Interesting." he murmured, then caught the sudden silence in the air. He looked round them and frowned. The group that had gathered were now looking at Amber, who solemnly looked down at the table.

After a moment, she looked up and her lips quirked. "I got Rei's permission. He has no qualms with Kai having it."

"Yeah but-" Michael said looking between Miyami, Amber and Rei. The latter grinned at Kai's confused expression, motioning to Amber, so their captain looked to his sniper.

She inhaled deeply and puffed out a breath. "Why's everyone looking at me?"

"It was your idea."

She glared at Rei. "Pssh. It was a laugh." then she looked to Kai. "Ok, right, well last year I bought Rei the Boss mug which I jokingly said that the captain of the senior team should drink from. And when Miyami asked if it was ok to give it to you, I said fine, so we asked Rei and he agreed. It was only meant to be a joke, I guess now it's going to be a tradition after all. So all of you stop looking at me."

Kai managed a brief twitch of his lips but his heart softened slightly at the gesture. Everyone in Clonmel was so preoccupied to give gifts and if they ever did, then the gifts were just to show how much money they had. They didn't put thoughts into the gifts, so the gifts didn't mean anything. This did funnily enough. It meant a hell of a lot. He just wasn't quite sure what exactly it did mean.

0-0-0

The dinner wasn't as bad as she'd feared. They spent the majority of the time poking at each other, and telling tales of Christmas holidays past. Ian had fun retelling the story about the time he, Bryan, Tala and Spencer decided to enter a robot war tournament under the name of the Demolition boys with their robot Bio-volt that just spun around in circles even though it had impressive weapons. Kai listened and laughed at the appropriate times while Amber just spent the time casting looks at him to see if he was noticing her. Having a crush on a guy sucked, you ended up just letting your life revolve around them when they were present. When he wasn't around, she was fine and she could concentrate on her own life but more times than enough, she spent too much time around him. Moreover, he never noticed her; it was so pathetic. She was pathetic and hopeless.

After dinner, there was the usual Christmas disco. So now, she sat watching various couples, Miyami and Johnny, Tala and Ruin and Rei and Mariah all included, dancing and grinding to some stupid, syrupy sweet Christmas carol. Shahero and Arista were messing around with Ian's head. Shahero had had the bright idea to get Ian a medium sized singing Santa using the idea that since Gnomes and Elves looked similar it was bound to freak the midget out. Which, subsequently, it had; which had been a riot for the observers. Ian had gotten a major case of wiggins when he caught sight of the knee height Santa who'd been dressed in a gold sequined suit, with gold framed glasses and blue eyes to rival Tala's. Then it began to sing and shuffle falling off the table and into Ian's lap. The guy had jumped out of his skin, with a short scream before almost falling out of his chair in his desperation to get away from it. Now the two girls had the Santa shuffling after Ian with a booming laugh. The poor Russian boy looked as though he wished to leave immediately.

Enrique was flirting with Sonia while Ozuma sat glaring at them. Which was completely bogus to her, because if Ozuma liked her, shouldn't he be doing something about that? After all Enrique wasn't just going to stand aside and wait for Ozuma and Sonia to get together, then break up before he made his move. If he did that, he'd be waiting a long time. No, he wouldn't wait for Ozuma. And it wasn't as though there was a valid reason why Ozuma wasn't making a move. After all, Sonia wasn't with anyone else. They were both single. So, unless they just both wanted to remain that way, someone would have to make a move and the way she saw it, Sonia made the first one it was Ozuma's turn now!

Her eyes drifted to Kai as he, Robert and Oliver talked in the corner. Why'd he have to look so good? It was getting beyond a joke. He was wearing a black shirt with the top two buttons undone and a pair of snug black jeans. His hair was as unruly as ever, but she liked it like that, the bangs that fell over his brow brought more attention to his dark swirling eyes. She watched as he said something to Oliver that made the shorter boy laugh and she wanted to know what he said.

She scowled. Having a crush majorly sucked! She caught sight of a movement out of the corner of her eye. She glanced up and smiled softly at Bryan. If there was one person who could get her mind of wanting something she couldn't have, it was Bryan. And even better, he wouldn't expect her to make any polite chit chat. If she was in a crap mood, he would let her be in a crap mood.

Bryan sat down beside his baby cousin, feeling his heart soften when she climbed into his lap and curled up there. His arms wrapped round her, trying to block out anything that would cause her harm. He'd caught the looks passing between Amber and Kai when they thought neither was looking. It was beginning to worry him. He could read Amber's lovelorn looks, even when no one else could. It was blatant to him that she liked the Shark captain; Bryan had seen it coming a mile away even if he'd tried to ignore it. Kai got to her in a way no other guy had. However, Hiwatari was a different species all together. Bryan just couldn't figure him out. He seemed to be aware of Amber, but he was with another girl completely and when Amber sniped at him -as she was prone to do- he didn't even react. Nevertheless, so help him god, if Hiwatari hurt her then he'd do whatever it took to avenge his cousin.

He looked to his other female cousin. Females were meant to be protected by the males of their family, that's just the way he saw things. However, sometimes it was incredibly hard when one of these females insisted on dressing herself up so that guys would look at her.

"Why's Kirby dressed up?"

Amber shifted in her cousins' protective embrace and looked round to see her younger cousin. Kirby had appeared at the dinner in a white turtleneck and a short dark green skirt, voluntarily. Her hair was layered into a sleek bob. She wore a pair of black boots with a heel which made her legs seem longer and had Miguel and Joseph almost tripping over their tongues. She'd been wearing makeup too, mascara, lippie, everything! It had been a shock to her, and she wasn't quite sure what it had done to Miguel but the boy hadn't been able to keep his eyes off her the whole evening. Poor Tamara, Amber thought with a bitter chuckle. She wouldn't have minded Kirby dressing up so much, but for the fact that she believed that her cousin had only done so for a boy, which was stupid.

"To make Miguel like her, I guess."

Bryan's brow furrowed. "I thought he already liked her."

"He does. But girls are made to think that looks are everything and that they're not pretty enough so that the guys they like don't like them so they have to make themselves prettier."

Bryan thought about that for a moment. "That's bullshit."

"Not really. It's a psychological thing in society."

Bryan thought about that for a moment, then leaned down so his mouth was at her ear. "So to make Hiwatari like you, you're going to start wearing makeup?" He felt his cousin freeze in his arms and felt her sharp breath.

"I have no clue-"

"Don't even try it. I'll give you some advice, don't be so obvious."

She looked at him in horror. "How obvious have I been? Do you think he knows?"

"Knows what, I thought you said you had no clue-"

"Bryan, seriously." she pleaded desperately. God this was mortifying. Just what she needed, for people to look at her and know that she had a crush on the captain she'd professed to hate just about a month ago, maybe even a fortnight ago she might have said it.

Bryan inhaled deeply, and then let it out slowly. "Look, I only noticed it because I know you. You've seemed happier this past week as if you've finally found a reason to get up in the morning. But if you continue to sneak looks at him the way you've been doing this past week, then he's going to notice."

The ochre-eyed girl groaned. "Shit. I don't like this one bit."

Bryan nodded understanding her reluctance. They shared a dislike for most things in life that caused them embarrassment or made them look like a fool. They both had life pretty much the way they wanted it, and change annoyed them so they usually rebelled against it. "You'll get over it soon enough."

"Hopefully. I'm used to getting what I want Bryan, if it's what I deserve."

"You think you deserve Hiwatari?"

"I don't know. I really don't. I shouldn't like him, he's Mariam's boyfriend but… I don't seem to have a choice in the matter."

"Well just be careful brat. I won't be held accountable for my actions if you come crying to me."

"I won't because nothing will happen. He's with Mariam and she's my friend. Friends come first, besides I'm great at deluding myself. If I'm not around him, I'll be fine."

"Speaking of Mariam. Where is she?" Bryan wondered looking round. "She wasn't at the dinner, I heard that little pink haired girlfriend of Rei's mentioning that she wasn't there."

Amber's gaze swept over the darkened room and frowned when she didn't spot the bluenette anywhere. "I can't see her. Maybe she's sick. I'll go check."

0-0-0

Minutes later, she'd fought her way out of the dancing mob and had headed over to the boarding wing. She shoved her hands into her pockets and scuffed her shoes along the lino in the quiet corridor. Her head snapped up when she heard the flush of a chain, and a door opened at the end of the hall spilling light out into the corridor. When a familiar blue haired girl stepped out, she opened her mouth to greet her with one of her usual dry quips about Kai when she heard a sniffle.

Was Mariam crying? No way. She froze unsure about what to do, and then she gulped in a lungful of air and dived in.

"Hey Mariam."

The jade-eyed girl looked over her shoulder with red-rimmed eyes and offered her friend a watery smile. "Oh hi Amber. I thought you'd be down in the basement with everyone else."

The Irish girl felt her pulse bounded in her throat as panic licked at her. "Well I came to find you. Mariam what's wrong?"

Mariam swallowed and sucked in an audible breath. "Oh god, Amber."

"What happened?" she asked anxiously moving closer to her friend and studying her closely. "What's wrong? Are you ok? Are you pregnant? Are-"

Her friend shook her head frantically. "No, I'm not pregnant. I never had sex with Kai so that's moot."

"Well good, cause being pregnant young can't be good." Amber babbled helplessly. "So what is it?"

"Not here." Mariam looked round the hall then led Amber to the nearest door, which happened to be the senior girl's dorm. She crossed over to Amber's bed and sat down. "OK, well when I was talking to Kai after you left, he…" she broke off struggling for some control.

"He what?" Amber demanded stonily beginning to feel dread and anger simmering inside her.

Mariam hunched her shoulders, pulling her sweater sleeves over her hands. "He broke up with me," she whispered in a cracked voice.

Amber felt something inside her swoop and she sucked in a sharp breath at the news, then she felt sick with herself for being such a bitch. Mariam was heart broken and here she was feeling gleeful because her friend was dumped by her crush. She shook her head. Her priority was Mariam, not some ass jack who thought he could get away with playing with people's feelings.

"Why?"

"He didn't tell me. He just kissed me; then said that we shouldn't be together because it wasn't what he wanted. I don't know what I did Amber. I thought we were good together."

Amber sighed and sat down on the bed beside her friend. "You were good together. Kai's probably just confused. He's male; males don't actually know anything. They generally run away from change." she tried to reassure her friend, thinking back on the conversation she'd had with Bryan and then she felt her gut quiver when she suddenly remembered the almost kiss with Kai earlier. It had been an almost kiss, right? She didn't know. Maybe this was what had confused him and… "Shit."

"What?"

"Uh, nothing." when she caught Mariam's skeptical look, she quickly added. "I forgot to wrap Bryan's present and since I won't see him until Christmas day, well I wanted to wrap it before I went to Dad's. I doubt he has wrapping paper, but uh, back to you. Kai's probably… I don't know. I'm not good at advice giving. It tends to backfire in my face." she hated things like this. Not because it made her uncomfortable, no it fired her blood and pissed her off. No giving advice was hard because it made her feel helpless which was worse, much worse, than being uncomfortable. "I don't know what to say Mariam. Everything I think of sounds naïve or stupid because I haven't any experience in this area and I can't sympathize with you. All I can offer to this is that maybe if you give him some time, he'll figure out what's crawled up his butt and he'll yank it out."

Mariam smiled wryly at her friends comment. "What would I do without you?"

"Be normal." Amber shuddered at the mere thought. "That's a scary thought."

The bluenette half laughed, then she did something that had Amber's eyes widening in alarm and fear; she burst into tears.

"Oh Mariam, don't cry. Please, don't cry. He's not worth it, no boy is." Her voice wavered. She was crap when it came to girls crying, she never knew what to do. It made her feel awkward and well, like a guy, she supposed. Fuck, Tala was better at comforting people than she was. Even Kai had done better, she thought darkly. "Mariam-"

"Just go away and leave me alone."

She shoved a hand to her face and squeezed her jaw. "I can't leave you alone. You're not in a fit state of mind."

Mariam snapped her angry gaze up to her friend and glared. "My boyfriend just broke up with me for no good reason so I think I have good reason to not be in a fit state of mind."

Amber opened her mouth, and then closed it. She watched solemnly as Mariam curled up in a ball at the top of the bed and sobbed quietly. This was quite possibly the first time she'd ever seen her young friend break down. Mariam was usually so arrogant and coolly confident but that just seemed to be a veneer and Kai had broken it. Amber scowled. Just when she thought Kai was actually a decent boy who hadn't deserved her harsh treatment, he went and did this. She growled low in her throat before spinning on her heel and yanking the door open, she stormed out.

How dare he hurt Mariam? How dare he just cast her away? Mariam was the only person in the entire school who'd given him a chance, without her he might have remained a social outcast. The hockey team sure as hell hadn't liked him and they hadn't been about to give him any chances. Neither had the junior team. Nevertheless, Mariam had. She'd risked everything; her friendships, her position in school, to give him a chance and then he decides he's done with her? Bull shit! Amber fumed, turning a corner almost bowling over an unfortunate student. When he tried calling her on her actions, he merely silenced him with a searing look.

Down the stairs, she went, taking them two at a time, all the while stewing in self-righteous fury so that when Kai appeared at the end of the corridor she was spoiling for a fight. When he spotted her striding purposely towards him, something flickered over his face and his shoulders tensed.

"Benson." he greeted in his usual drawl.

She didn't even bother to react, just continued walking, grabbing his arm as she passed him. He let her lead him two paces before he yanked his arm out of her grasp causing her to turn and face him.

"What the hell Benson?"

"You, me, talk. Now!"

"Well I'm sure Mrs. King's very pleased with how well your English is progressing."

She bit back her usual retort of 'bite me' and instead glared at him. He didn't even react, just gazed back in a manner that made her want to scream with frustration.

"I take it you've heard about me and Mariam." when she simply arched a brow, he sighed and tried to roll the tension out of his shoulders. "Look I don't want to talk about it."

"Fine, I'll talk. You listen. Now we'll go to your dorm since mine's occupied."

"Look-"

She whirled on him, eyes blazing. "By your ex-girlfriend who's crying her eyes out on my goddamn bed!"

He would have smirked at the comment, if it hadn't been for that one word. "Crying?"

"Yes Kai, crying. I'm sure you've heard of crying even if you haven't got enough emotion to do so yourself." she didn't see the flicker of pain in his mahogany eyes and if she had, she wouldn't have cared. She was on a roll and she was going to get everything out or she'd end up hitting that devilishly sinful face. "You know when tears leak out of people's eyes so that they become red and swollen and how your throat constricts so that you have to gasp in breaths and you feel you're about to explode from the pain? Mariam's crying that way. And you're going to tell me why you did it or so help me god, I'm going to kick your ass all the way to Alaska and I ain't going to kick you back."

"Fine." he relented raking a hand through his thick hair. "Well we can't go to my dorm because Bryan's gone up there to sleep."

Amber sighed, scanning the hall with topaz eyes. "Ok then."

She grabbed his hand ignoring the electric jolt she felt and tugged him into a room to her left. Kai looked round it and groaned.

"The girl's bathroom?"

She turned to him and smiled thinly. "I'd think that'd be the least of your worries. Now spill."

"Benson this is stupid."

"No, what's stupid is you breaking up with Mariam." she stated, warily watching a spider cocooning a fly in its web.

"It's none of your business," he growled.

"Wrong." she countered hoisting herself up onto the workbench where the sinks were embedded in. "It is my business because the heart that you broke belongs to my friend."

"Ember, you're blowing this way out of proportion. I didn't break her heart, besides you never liked us going out in the first place."

"You did break her heart and so what if I never liked you two going out. That doesn't matter. What matters is she likes you and you like her! You didn't even give her a reason as to why you broke up! And stop calling me Ember."

He groaned; sliding down the wall he'd been leaning against to sit on the floor. He ran a hand over his face before he looked up at her wearily. "There was no reason. I just don't like her in that way anymore."

Amber gaped at him in sheer disbelief. "What? Um, correct me if I'm wrong, but weren't you the guy who was boasting just last weekend about how steady your relationship was? What can happen in just one week to change your feelings so drastically."

"A lot." he said losing his cool for a minute. Scowling at his loss of control, he inhaled slowly. "Back off, Benson."

"Like what?" she asked calmly, ignoring his order.

His gaze snapped to hers. Why wasn't she dropping it? "Are you deaf, Benson? I said back off."

"And I said, like what?"

He sneered at her. Why couldn't she just leave it? Why did she continue to press when he made it clear he didn't want to talk to her about it? Why couldn't she realize it was for her own good? "Fuck this; I'm going back to the party. The headache I was getting there wasn't as bad as the one you're giving me."

Amber watched him silently as he got to his feet. He could feel her gaze on him, but he wouldn't look at her. Just as he reached the door, her voice rang out through the cold, hollow room. "Sit down."

He turned round and faced her. His eyes were like frozen chocolate, hard and brittle; his face rigid and expressionless while there was a stiffness to his movements.

Amber stared him down with dark eloquent pools of aged whiskey. Her skin was flushed under the dusky gold and her mouth was pressed in a thin line. She'd folded her arms and her legs no longer swung casually, instead they were crossed.

"Do I look like a dog Benson? Or one of your cousins that when you snap your fingers, rush to do your bidding?"

A muscle jumped in her cheek told him that he'd touched a nerve. If he kept attacking her sore points eventually, she'd snap and lash out. That'd be the best for both of them.

"No you look pissed off and harassed. I'm just trying to find out why. If you didn't want to break up with-"

"Dammit Ember, I broke up with Mariam because I want someone else."

Amber gaped at his explosion then growled before banging her head lightly off the wall. She took a deep breath letting it out slowly. "See if you'd said that after the Christmas break, then I'd have gone, ok fine, you met someone over the holidays. However, Kai, you live in a goddamn boarding school. You haven't met anyone new over the past week."

He gave her a look that had her eyes rounding. "Ok, crap. Shit! It's someone at the school. How can it be someone at the school? You don't pay attention to any of the girls here apart from Mariam. You're not making any goddamn sense!"

He grunted something but she didn't catch it. Just as she was about to ask him to repeat what he said, the swing door creaked open and Hillary walked in. She looked between both of them and her brow knitted in confusion.

"What?" Amber snapped.

"I want to use the toilet."

"Use the second floor ones."

"It's ok, I'm leaving." Kai declared, disappearing out the door.

"Goddammit Hiwatari, I wasn't finished." Amber growled and rounded on Hillary. "Why couldn't you have peed later?

She shoved herself off the counter and chased after the taller boy. Her sneakers squeaked against the linoleum as she walked briskly down the hall. She spotted him heading down the steps to the basement and she hurried to catch up with him.

"Oi, shit head!"

Kai groaned and turned round. "Benson."

"Tell it to my therapist. He says I use insulting nicknames to show people I care!" she said with false brightness.

He felt a tickle of humor but swallowed it. "Your therapist's an idiot," he told her flatly causing her to grin.

"Yup. Now back to your session. Is it Miyami?"

"Is what Miyami?"

"The girl you like." she rolled her eyes at his slowness.

"No."

"Aspin?"

"No."

"Oh Kirby?"

He glanced at her and raised a brow. "Kirby?"

"Yeah well you know her first name and since she's not on the team or in our year, I kind of thought…"

"It's not Kirby besides she's too young."

"Ok, is she in our year?"

"Amber gives it a rest. I'm not telling and you won't guess."

She pouted endearingly and the look made him want to smile. Instead she turned to the steps and sat down on them, waiting a second for him to join her. When he did, they sat there in a comfortable silence, each lost in their own thoughts.

"You can't just suddenly wake up and like someone," she said after a moment.

"No but you can wake up and realize that the reason you've been thinking about someone more than usual is because you like them."

"So you've been thinking about someone a lot?"

Kai thought about it a moment. "More than usual, I suppose."

Amber's brow knitted in frustration as she tried to figure out how to word her thoughts. She watched him out of the corner of her eye as the left side of her felt furiously alive. He was seriously gorgeous. She never truly believed that a guy could look that good. And she just happened to be another helpless victim. Hormones were evil things making people see others as they truly weren't. Like when Kai was around her, the world didn't really get any brighter. It just felt as though there was a spotlight on him. And, it was just hormones that made her knees turn to jelly when he just looked at her with those incredible brown eyes. She'd always had a weak spot for brown eyes, especially broody brown eyes coupled with prominent cheekbones, a wide, full, soft mouth, straight nose, strong jaw and brow. And darkish hair. To her the person was just more trust worthy. Blue eyes lied and made false promises. She didn't like feminine looking guys like Tala. She didn't like incredibly macho looking guys like Spencer. She didn't like weak personalities, nor did she like overbearing ones either. She just liked Kai, she thought with a sigh.

Kai looked at Amber as she gazed off into the distance. "What?"

"It's hopeless." she murmured in an almost depressed tone.

"What is?" he wondered inching closer to her, inhaling her fragrance.

She snapped her gaze to him before averting it but he read the barely concealed misery there. Something bothered her and that bothered him more than he'd like to admit.

"What is it?"

"I've never seen Mariam that cut up before," she said briskly and he knew by the tone that she was trying to distract him and that pissed him off. Whenever he thought he was getting closer to her, she pushed him back or to a subject she felt comfortable discussing and she did it without much effort that he rarely noticed it until it was over. But not tonight, he thought. Being this close to her was driving him crazy. He was close enough to taste the subtle scent of her on the tip of her tongue, close enough so that strands of black caught on his shirt and tickled his skin, close enough so that…

Before he knew what he was doing, he turned to her raking his gaze over the contemplative expression on her face. She was exquisite, everything about her fascinated him, not always in a good way but she always made him react. He studied her face, absorbing the details of her profile. Her eyes always drew him, no matter her expression; he could tell exactly what she was thinking with those expressive eyes. When she laughed, they weren't always amused and when she was angry, they weren't always as hot as her temper. For the most part, she wasn't too hard to figure out once you knew her. She was like a code, once you had the key figured out, everything made sense.

Feeling his gaze on her, she turned to look at him. Her pulse, which had been pounding in her ears, accelerated. Her mouth went dry as his gaze dipped to them again, her lips buzzed almost with the anticipation. Her blood began to simmer and her body came to life.

He shifted closer and the movement broke her out of her trance.

She scooted back and shook her cotton-filled head. "Ok what were-" she broke off on a groan. "Mariam."

He heard her whisper the name almost as a prayer. "That's a really annoying habit you have."

"What is?"

"You getting so involved in others' lives that you don't even live your own and the sad thing is that you don't even realize it. You say you've never had a boyfriend, but that's because you're too busy sorting out everyone else's love life so you don't have time for your own."

"That's not true." she shot back though something inside her told her that it was very much the truth. She preferred her version. "Guys just aren't attracted to me."

"Bullshit." he snapped derisively. "What about Wyatt?"

"Wyatt? He's a friend."

He smirked. "That wasn't your reason for rejecting him."

"Oh and how would you know?"

"Because I'm beginning to realize that I know you better than I thought. You throw up distractions and they're good, but the simple fact is that you're scared. You're scared of having a boyfriend or having any one mean something to you other than a friend because you don't want to be hurt. Living through your friends is a safe way of doing things but when you don't have your friends, you're life's going to be very dull. You'll look back and wonder what the fuck you've done with it."

"What's that got to do with anything?"

He inched closer. "A lot. I'm daring you Benson. I'm going to kiss you, unless you can come up with a valid reason why I shouldn't that has nothing to do with your fear."

She growled and her eyes flared with heat, though he was sure that not all of that smoldering heat came from anger. "First of all, you kissing me will not change my attitude to life and more importantly, Mariam!"

"We broke up." He reminded her.

"Not the point of the matter." She murmured nervously, she could feel her body temperature soaring. His knee was touching hers, lightly, ever so lightly but she couldn't think about much else but that.

He moved closer to her, feeling his nerves concentrating on the press of her body against his. His eyes dipped to her mouth moving back up to her eyes. She had such amazing eyes, an intriguing color filled with warmth, light and hope. Her skin was relatively flawless, looking as though it had been brushed with gold dust. Her mouth kept taunting him, red, full and tender. He breathed her in wanting to taste her to see if she tasted as good. He lowered his head slowly, not wanting to scare her off.

"Kai-"

"Shush, it won't hurt."

He raised a hand to cup her cheek gently, hearing her sharp intake of breath. His heart was racing dangerously, so fast he was sure the pulse in his neck could be seen jumping. Her skin was so soft and almost burning under his and her eyes were drawing him in, so large and dark; liquid like. Her lips were parted and her breathing was shallow. One kiss, he thought, and he'd extract her from his system or that was the hope. He wasn't sure just what was going on. He knew he was attracted to her, even if he may not want to be. He certainly didn't know what would happen if he did kiss her. Maybe it would help him move on from her.

She almost flinched at the touch of his cool skin against the heat of hers. At the one touch, she was mesmerized and she sat very still, eyes watching him steadily of their own accord.

Part of her screamed to look away while the other told her very firmly to stay in place. Wasn't this what she'd been thinking about, craving? The dark part of her punched the good part, which was preaching about Mariam and friendship in the face. She didn't move. She couldn't hear, couldn't think. Breathing was becoming a manual chore, one that she really had to concentrate on. Her heartbeat was pounding in her head, and there was a pressure on her spine because of the way she was sitting; she didn't care.

She watched as his gaze dipped to her lips and suddenly all she wanted was for him to kiss her, just here and now. She wanted desperately to feel… something. The one thought in her head was that he was going to kiss her and it had butterflies jumping about in her gut almost painfully. She wanted to squirm away but that would be cowardly, so she'd let him go ahead with his plan and in the end he'd see the mistake he made. She wouldn't give him anything to use against her.

"I want you," he murmured.

His lips brushed over hers gently, just a brief touch but the tingling sensation lingered when he pulled back just enough to enjoy her expression. Her eyes had drifted closed when he'd leaned in, and under his pinkie, her pulse had leapt. He drank in her visage, as his thumb rubbed over the velvet texture of her ripe lower lip. Her breathing was unsteady and when she opened her blurred eyes, they were swirling with so many emotions. He wanted to just drown in them, something inside him clenched painfully. He leaned in again, brushing her lips once more testing, feeling the need to just fuse his mouth to hers. She would be warm and willing, he could tell.

His hand stroked her skin while the other one skimmed up her side so that sparks of electricity spurted through her causing goose bumps to roll over her repeatedly, like waves. She opened her eyes when she felt the cool air circulate between there mouths. His eyes were deeply hypnotic, beckoning her to fall into them, to forget everything but him. However, underneath them, there was something else, something animalistic that made her stomach jump and her blood leap deliciously.

The lights suddenly went out and had them jolting, wide eyes meeting with surprise and to some extent reluctance. Sounds rushed back to them, flooding them, over whelming their fuzzy brains so it took seconds for them to make sense of it all. Then Amber was pulling away, breathing fast and her expression was filled with self-loathing. She scrambled to a standing position and her eyes darted around the corridor.

"Shit." she cursed under her breath.

"Ember-"

"No, no, it's…" she trailed off with a brief shake of her head. "You're still getting over your break up with Mariam. I should have known better. I'm sorry."

"Ember." he got slowly to his feet, reaching for her. That hollow ache had returned again once she hadn't been touching him again and his heart was scrambling with nerves. "I'm finished with Mariam, and I kissed you because I wanted to. You wanted me to kiss you also, don't deny it."

She gaped at him; then took a deep breath. "I'm not denying that I'm attracted to you. That's not the point of the matter."

"Why does there always have to be a point with you?" he grumbled under his breath but the way she pinned him with a level look told him she'd heard him all too clearly.

"Look, even if that's the case. That you like me better, or whatever. It's not possible simply because Mariam's up in my dorm crying. She still cares about you. It'd be cruel for me to do this. I won't hurt her."

"So you'll just step away and pretend everything's normal between us?" he asked incredulously. "You could do that?"

"Yes, I could. My friends are important to me."

"As true as that is, do you think Mariam would do this for you? Give up her own happiness and ignore her own feelings to spare your feelings? If you do, you're incredibly naïve when it comes to human nature. She didn't pay any heed to your feelings about me when I first came here, did she?"

She mulled that over, unsure what exactly to counter that with. He was right of course, but Mariam had been right all along. Kai wasn't as bad as she'd believed and she'd been narrow minded when it came to him, unable to see past her own prejudice. "Well… no… No, she didn't. But she had good reason."

"What? What was her good reason Ember?"

"Uh…" shit. "She saw I was being unfair and-"

He made a show of slapping his hand against his forehead. "Oh of course and she figured to make you see the error of your ways by dating me, did she?"

"Well if you'd treated her like crap, then I really wouldn't have liked you all that much."

"I gained your respect by being myself. Not because of Mariam. All she cared about was making her own self happy. Dammit, are you always going to put your friends first before yourself? Can you be that unselfish?"

"When it comes to friendship, then yes. It's more important and besides I'm not unselfish, I just have morals. Morals, which mean I don't cop off with my friends ex just after they've broken up while she's in my room crying. And, if you can't respect that, then fuck you. When you want something Hiwatari, you turn on that charm and blind everyone, but then when you don't get what you want, you turn really ugly. Did you know that?" she demanded squaring up to him. "Well I won't be bullied in any way. I won't have my thoughts belittled because you didn't get laid. So just, stay away from me. Moreover, stay away from Mariam! You're a really ugly piece of work Hiwatari. Your genetics may have given you a good appearance but even they can't hide what's inside."

"And there you go again, turning your gaze away when you don't like the truth." he sneered at her, covering his hurt feelings with a professional shield. The girl for all the size of her could cut deep. "You live in a fantasy world, and some day that fantasy is going to turn around and bite you. How will you deal with it then?"

She felt tears filling her eyes, and deep down the truth of what he was saying struck a chord but she ignored it. She felt used and broken, once again. And because of that, she locked her weak knees and straightened her spine; glad the darkness hid her glassy eyes. "Whatever. I hope Santa brings you a personality treatment over the holidays otherwise the team really will be fucked."

She turned on her heel and scowling because she couldn't shove her hands into her non-existent pockets, she walked off into the darkness, telling herself that she had two weeks of not seeing him to get over her stupid crush. When she came back, she'd be over him and better than ever.

Kai listened to her go and then lowered himself to the floor. Something inside him felt bruised. She'd been close to tears, he remembered. Her voice had been cold, almost normal but the light from outside had glinted off her too bright eyes. He covered his face with his hands, sighing heavily. Rubbing his hands over his face, he looked up to the ceiling; then blinked against the harsh light as it flashed on again. Down the hall he could hear some member of the faculty scolding some boys for messing with the lighting but he didn't' pay much attention. He had to figure out what he was going to do with the mess he'd created.

Or, she had created, he thought.

It was naturally her fault. Why did she put her friends first, it may have been endearing and nice if you were her friend but if you wanted something from her and she used her endearing trait against you, it was like a kick to the throat. Mariam wouldn't have had any qualms dating a friends ex, he was pretty sure of it.

However, Amber lived in her own little world where everything was nice and no one was horrible. But, dammit, that was the way he wanted her and fuck him for wanting to shelter her just as everyone else did. Only he felt his need to protect her was becoming a lot stronger every time he was exposed to her. He knew this would happen. Hadn't he known that being around her too much would lead him to this eventuality? Yet, he'd blindly fallen to his doom and now he didn't know how he could pull himself out, or even if he wanted to.**Thus ends chapter fourteen. My longest chapter so far and most pointless. Wee :Sigh: Now chapter fifteen, then I'll get back to the hockey side of things which I've been sorely neglecting, to my thoughts anyways. Oh and in chapter fifteen you can expect Tala and Amber to have a chat. Ruin and Tala finally have _the_ discussion. Amber finds out her godparents secret. Shahero and Hitoshi have some more moments and Christmas really gets off to a fighting start.**

**Coors:** Clonemel or Dronemel, lmao! I wanna be snuggled up with Kai. :pouts: Oh and yes Foxy is a poo stain and bobby jr should kick his butt. But if you used that line on the thick plastic plonker, I doubt it would have worked. Too many syllables, yes one syllable is too much for his hormone run brain to figure out. Lol. Everyone's a poo stain and Kai and Amber belong together. No doubt about it.

**Leina: **Yeah where have you been? My psychic friend disappeared! But I did see your name around the Xmen Evo section, you been lurking around there recently? I need to start lurking there, Gambit's hot! Oh and Amber will eventually get Kai back for the spider, she kind of forgot it after the falling off a cliff incident.

**CoOkiE-WiNgS: **Yay! Reviews are always welcome. Um, I probably haven't ever explained why Bryan's so protective of Amber, I might have hinted at why but I've probably never actually stated out why I believe him to be so concerned about her. Mainly I see it as this, Bryan came into her family when he was abandoned by his mother, Treasa's sister-in-law. He was sullen and quiet and pretty much pushed everyone away because he didn't care. And Amber was the first person to reach him, she's the first person he ever loved and he doesn't want to see anything hurt her. It's just the way he is, protective of everyone he holds dear. And yeah it will cause some problems with Amber and Kai but not a hell of a lot, I don't think.

**Chiharu-chan: **I'll try to put in more Mystel for you, I happen to think he's kind of cool despite never ever having seen him ever. I like my version of him. As for Brooklyn being hated by people because of my story, well my Brooklyn is kind of OC so that shouldn't make people dislike the series Brooklyn. Besides, he's not all that bad, he's just very single minded and driven to do well for himself. He's not in the story until Chapter sixteen because I'm not too interested in the Clonmel Christmas. Lol. But come chapter 18, he and Mystel will be in the story a lot more. Brooklyn plays a key role. But don't you like the nicknames? Dicklyn, sunshine and flowers, it has a certain je ne sais quoi :snickers: Wyatt is kind of annoying, I just never understood why the blade breakers never commented on how whiney the kid was! He was borderline psychotic with his Kai obsession. Then again it's Kai so I suppose the obsession was warranted. Tala… wasn't really in this chapter at all, I neglected him :sniffles: He'll be in chapter fifteen for sure though!

**Alexis: **Digital Survivor:claps with glee: So happy you enjoy this fic so much! It really gives me a warm glow when people tell me they like it, but for someone to read it six times, wow! That blew me away. I hope I don't disappoint you ever. I would hate to do that. Oh and yeah the headless chicken comment, that was funny. I can just see it now. :snickers:

**eMily06:** Thankies.

**Reyan Kashin: **Oh god isn't really annoying when you have a review all written out and then the power goes out or the computer logs of the internet and it's suddenly gone? I know it drives me mad, so mad I usually just say fuck it and then never bother with it again. So I'm super glad you aren't a pig headed as me because your review seriously perked me up. You noticed that Amber's growing and I'm so pleased you pointed it out because I wasn't actually sure if she was growing or not, I mean I thought she was but now you've said it, I'm all pleased and it inspired me to continue writing chapter sixteen. I was having a major block and your review, like smashed through it. So mucho thanks to you. Yeah Amber's finally growing, it took her awhile but Kai was her catalyst provoking her into seeing herself in a new light. I seriously can't force Amber or Kai to do anything. Once I think I've pushed them into a new direction, they'll shove me back and continue as they please. It's like I have no control of my characters when I'm forcing them to do something. They just don't let me. As long as I don't get impatient with the fic, I think they should continue at a reasonable pace, though so many chapters without romance can't be good… I'm your hero? Are you sure? I'm not such a great hero, I keep getting my cape tangled in my legs so when I try to fly, I fall flat on my face. But your comment about me making the beyblade characters my own, that's a nice idea. I could keep them all in boxes and just sit and adore them, what do you think? Would it work or would people get suspicious when the show comes on and there's no characters, only a back drop? Hmm… must go think up plan for operation beyblade breakout!

**Alex: **Yo! Long time no talkies. How are you? Is everything good? Bad? Middlin'? So Amber and Kai waking up, it was cute, no? After all the crap they were throwing at each other, it's kind of refreshing. I don't think everyone would have a connection like Amber and Tala. But it would be nice to have one, myself with someone. I must check out your fic but I've been dossing around on the Xmen Evolution section for the past couple of weeks so I haven't been reading any beyblade stuff really. Kind of weird, but hey, some of the Evo stuff is amazing and Gambit's just hot! Oh I'm trying to stay out of trouble by not killing people, do you know how hard it is to hide bodies? OH wait a minute, of course you do! It's damn near impossible what with people digging up the ground for their new houses. :Sigh: Well hope you enjoyed this installment.

**Grandsummon: **Suppity Sarah, how's you? Jaysus gallstones must hurt like fuck. In fact if you have any pain in your digestive area then it's seriously uncomfortable and definitely not a good thing. So I'm glad your mom's ok. So Greenday rocked? Well Monday night I spent a blissful hour listening to live tracks by them. I love Green day so much, Wake me up when September ends is the perfect song to listen to in September when schools restarted and all. Oh and I'm spending roughly 20 something pages on the New Years Eve party for SLTS, there's so much I haven't fitted in. Like how I was attacked by a fire work, that was fucking scary. If I hadn't been pulled out of the way then I might have seriously injured my leg. I wanted to put that in the fic but it's already taking so long as it is. The thing that happened to Robert Holohan was sickening. I mean that guy was twenty and he was taking out a kid half his age. God sake! Oh and in reply to your review of the story, there was bonding moments and if there's no bonding there isn't much fluff in my opinion. I'm trying to make my characters fall in love and it's not easy. Yeah I think Kai's fear could come back later. Everyone has fears, some are lucky to know what they are so they can work on over coming them and others just don't realize what they are until they're forced to confront them. I love Nicolai, I've always had a soft spot for him, even though he was dead and everything, but Nicolai is majorly responsible for how Kai is. He's kept a part of himself that the others at Clonmel lost. So Nicolai is a bonafide god in my books. I have no idea how to spell that dudes' name. But Kai definitely played his role well, eh? Though Amber wasn't much of a femme fatale… There was some fluff in this chapter, so I hope that will tide you over for a while.

**Aki Kunikata: **Ugh, I try not to understand people I don't care that much about anymore, only gives me a headache. I love this fic too much to let them bother me, it's my baby so I'll concentrate on it for the moment. Lol. But I do agree on the review front, it's for advising an author not bitching at her.

**La-de-da: **Oh yeah I've noticed you around Arcada's review page a lot. She's great, isn't she? Such an amazing angst writer, can't do it nearly as well as she can.

**KaieshaKai: **Yeah that chapter swung from fluffy cute ness, to bitchy Ianess right round to comedic insaneness. Ian, though to be fair to the guy, he did deserve to get his own back on the girls, especially Amber because they'd pretty much scared the crap out of him by hanging him from a window. So you have to give him merits for holding a grudge. But Kai… :growls: Such a mean guy, revealing her secret but I guess he redeemed himself. Which he always manages to do in the series. Guess that's part of his charm.

**Darkwolf-of-night**: Hey so how are you? You doing good? Ruin and Tala didn't have very much screen time this chapter but next chapter is for them. Yeah I think Amber can work some kind of magic over Bryan, otherwise Kai is a dead man walking. Well what do you think of the Mariam situation now? Unfortunately it wasn't Maye who spoke the last line.

**Chikaitou-411: **Yeah there's a lot of Oc's and canon's in this fic, but then again we're dealing with a team and there's a big number on a team, and then there are the people you know off the team as well. Yeah that's not a good answer, huh? If it ever gets too confusing feel free to email me, and I'll try to help you out.

**Settican: **You're review was useful. Meh, it's actually a hard guess to know who said Mistletoe. As for this being the best fic you've ever read, ah I bet you say that to all the authors, lol. Either way, I always try my best with this one. It's such a fun fic to write.

**Arcada:** I don't know how I feel about apologizing. I really don't. I know at times it's needed, but other times, if I feel strongly about something, I wonder why I have to. It actually hurts when you get stabbed with a fork! Every one stabs people with knives but think about it, you have four prongs on a fork! Lol, you agree with Kai being hateful, mean and manipulative? Cherries are damn nice. :licks lips: Yum!

**Twerp: **Close but no Cigar. It wasn't Miyami who said that fateful line. The squabble at the end was so easy to write, it just flowed. I wish everything between those two was as easy.

**0bs3ssi0n: **Yes my old computer was called Gaybob! Such a nice name, huh:grins: Though he doesn't respond to Gaybob, he responds to Adi and then when I come along and call him gay bob, he switches himself off… So now I'm using my new computer who has more bugs than sense. I haven't very many fics where I get excited when they're updated. But when I find a really good fic, I just get all excited and giddy when it's updated, lol. I do the same when it comes to Nora Roberts novels. I'm the same, I'm such a sucker for sweet moments, but I haven't had a chance to write one properly for Amber and Kai. But this should satisfy you for the moment. Yeah Kai having phone sex, well let's put it this way it must have been really mild but let him call it what he wants. We'll delude the poor boy. He's falling for the most neurotic girl in the school, let him have his fun. Lol.Moi: Lol, I sense sarcasm in that review… Yeah there was a lot of Amber Kai in that chapter and more in this one. Need to concentrate more on the others after this though, lol. Bryan is the coolest, completely and utterly flies off the handle without having the full story, a typical male.

**G-b-S-t-E-r07: **Yay you love, you really love me! Lol. Yeah mucho Hitoshi/Shahero and Kai/Ams in this chapter. I think I love both couples equally and it's a tribute to my devotion to Arista that I ever bother with Dicklyn. Lol. The fight in the end was perhaps the most fun thing I've had to write in a while, it just flows and it's just bickering without any real innuendos really hidden. No pressure which is probably the more light part of it. I think that's the only time Amber and Kai have one of those moments in the whole fic that I have written so far. Amber will get her revenge, MWAHAHAHA! Did you get the chapter this time? I hope so, or I'll have to email it again which won't bother me all that much.

**WindWitch: **Yeah Hitoshi and Hero's interesting relationship progresses a step or so, lol and no sorry it wasn't Amber or Miyami.

**Starlight HBT: **Wow, it was the parental look wasn't it? They look at you and they just lull you into agreeing to spend time with them. Parents think they're so smart when they do that. It's like the Mom look, she looks at you and you have to tell her everything. Or at least I do with mine, for Christ sake, I'm nineteen and I still go to family get togethers. Lol, InMe are aces. Oh, let's see if you like Faster the Chase then they're new one is the one to get. I think. If it's even out. I'm only aware of one album by them, Overgrown Eden which is the one I have. If they have another, then it's either the new one which I'd say to get or it's a bonus track one which would be better because it would have gelosea which is the track that got me into InMe big time. I'd love to have that type of friendship too, I do have good friends but they're all scattered now. I think SLTS is just an escape for people to just live out Amber's or someone's life for a while. It's idealistic but at the same time, the friends have their fights so it's not perfect either. But some people feel they need to be bitchy, it's pathetic but it's based on their insecurities, so it's their problem to deal with. If that's how they want to be, let them. Sooner or later it will bite them in the ass anyways. The way I see it, you should give everyone a chance, at least then you can say you did. Oh writers block is a bitch! I hate it with a passion but I think the way to deal with it, is to just not to push at it. If you can't write, leave it, go off and do something mindless like play on the PS2 on a game that doesn't require too much brain power and let your mind drift to think of possible scenes. But I'm very glad you liked this.

**Paris Super Girls: **So how's my favorite Parisian? I agree with your comment about Bryan and Kai caring for Amber, so they will end up fighting at times. Annoying Amber is natural for Kai, but it works both ways. And the French saying is right, it's kind of based on the saying: 'You always hurt the ones you love' which is very true. Spiders are evil and your sister should be sympathetic. Spiders will take over the world and then where will she be, huh? Lol. Amber wouldn't be that brave being out in the forest, after all she grew up in Bakuten and visited the Bakuten side of the forest. I'm a country girl at heart, lol. I wouldn't be able to live in the city. Too confined and I need space. The Mariam/Miriam thing, blame the computer, it kept changing Mariam to Miriam and I just got too bothered to fix it. Sorry. My writing depresses you? I'm a comedy writer, I shouldn't be depressing you. Did you do well in your exams? Did you pass them? I hope you did. Even though Usagi is a klutz and a meatball head, she's deep down a good person and everyone realizes that. Which is why she got Darien and not anyone else. I liked her a lot. She annoyed me in the first episode but that's because I hadn't ever seen an anime and her dubbed voice was slightly annoying, but once I got past the blond personality, she's such a nice person and so courageous. Yes Seiya is a prat! And Rini, well she was annoying at first but then when I saw her eps, I already knew who she was. And she was in a foreign place, don't be too hard on her. She's just a child. I will get round to writing it, I promise because I like each girls character. Sakura is hard to write and Li is so… it's a very hard area to write because they're only ten when the episodes take place. Yeah Amber being anorexic, even though it was a very mild form of it, isn't good. And it doesn't go away that easily either especially when the sufferer has so many emotional turmoil to go through. I'm ok, don't worry. I think that's why I chose Mariam because I like her and I wanted to write a fic that would point out how others get hurt. I mean Clover wasn't really hurt when Kai and Amber got together so that was kind of convenient for them. I don't think I could write L/H in Kai's pov, I'd probably over analyze things and guys are surprisingly simple. Lionel? Syaoran was called Lionel in the French version? Ouch! That's a horrible name. Don't worry, I'll keep Mariah with Rei, I even wrote a Rei and Mariah piece especially for you, it wasn't actually that long before hand. I don't' write too much about Mariah or Rei because I don't want to make them OOC. I don't know if Rei and Salima are together in G-rev but if they are, it's because Rei just doesn't know his true feelings for Mariah, right? And if Salima's pregnant, it's not really Rei's baby, ok? Lol. You can keep Mariah and Rei's relationship alive! I honestly love your reviews, I have so much fun replying to them because you make me think about things I wouldn't normally and it's interesting to see how different some shows are when they're in different languages.

**Alixure: **Not a bad ending huh? Lol. What about this one? It's all angsty.

**Buttercup: **I take it you liked it then. Well here's the next installment, I hope you like it too.

**Armith-Greenleaf: **Lol, Kai and Amber are weird, I figure they are perfect for each other. I just have to make them realize that. It's not as easy as you might think. I know his eye color might suit him, but I have a big thing for brown eyed guys and they made him gray eyed which isn't brown! Don't they understand my needs? Brown, not gray, brown! I'll just have to wait for G-rev but until then I have this to write and if I get distracted by Kai's hotness it may never be completed.

**Midnight Insanity: **After I get through the romantic shit, I'll concentrate on the team more when they have to go into their matches and stuff. I just have to get Amber and Kai's relationship kick started to make the last half of the story work. I love writing families, mine are eccentric to the bone, well my mom's side is. My dad's are really conservative. They're all extreme's of something, so I guess I'm used to dealing with big family. :frowns: Hey your third review never came in saying that you dedicated a chapter to me. How strange, it was your author alert that got me to read it… :frowns: how odd.

**Smiley Joe: **Way I see it, those two are always going to be fighting about something. But I enjoy their bickering, now their bitchier fights piss me off. I swear I feel like Rogue with these two fighting about in my head… :sigh: Aw Spiders scare the bejezzus out of me. I swear to god they know when I'm about to go to the toilet or bath and they think, ooh let's go get Gems cos she's naked in a bath and she won't be able to get away:growls: Ah she was fine in the forest, she grew up in Bakuten and went camping in those forests anyways with the boys when she was younger, wasn't such a big deal until she fell off a cliff…

**Kaze ni Tenshi: **Lol, go author alerts, the saviors of the fan fiction world.


	15. Merry Kissmas

Disclaimer: I don't own Beyblade. I do however own Amber Marie… this gets tiresome. I own Amber, Ruin, and the Benson family minus Bryan, Ozuma and Daichi. I also own Nicolai and Jean Hiwatari. Miyami and the Kinomiya family you don't recognize are Unlucky-Stars. Arista is Arcadaavalon. Aspin is Animerle's. Shahero and the rest of the Kaeto's are Coors. Sonia is SpitfireSae's. In addition, Kirby Preston-Lee is KindredInsanitys.

I also disclaim ownership of Tekken Four, NHL2005, and Need for Speed 2, and anything else you recognize from the real world, doesn't belong to me either. Thank you for your co-operation.

A.N: Chapter fifteen is finally here. Man this story just keeps running doesn't it (31 pages in Tahoma 9 font and that's not including Author note, summary and review replies), and it doesn't seem to be going anywhere… Ah well, I'm having loads of fun writing it and that's the main thing. OK so since it's been a while since I posted a chapter, let's recap so that you know what this fic is about.

Kai Hiwatari use to be the captain of the Clonmel Sharks but when his father got a new job and with his only friend transferring back to his old school, Kai decided to transfer with his dad. He lucked out when he ended up in Preston Academy with Tala Valkov but his friendship with Tala landed him in hot water with the resident Team, the Tigers captained by Rei Kon. Not surprisingly, when Nicolai became Coach he removed Rei from being captain and placed Kai in the position instead hoping the team would accept the new players.

Soon enough, the team began to warm to Kai and Tala when Ruin Mulryan and Mariam Tikashi made an effort to befriend them, everyone except Amber that is. She was intent on despising Kai for no reason that could be seen by any of her team mates but eventually she was won over by Tala and the dynamic duo were reunited. In their first match as a team, they were confronted by a giant of a teenager who attacked Amber, who was saved by Tala, thus he redeemed himself. Amber was disappointed in Nicolai because he hadn't known about Salvadov but more so she was disappointed in herself and her reaction to that boy. During her talk with Nicolai, she discovered he wasn't nearly as bad as she thought, what she doesn't realize is that Nicolai Hiwatari is not only her coach but her godfather.

In an effort to make the team bond, Nicolai takes them away for the weekend to a spot in the country side where they run into the rejects, the team from Amber and Tala's home town. Their first night there becomes awkward when Tala tries to spend some time with Ruin and chases Amber off to his dorm, where she ends up sharing a bed with Kai who's been dating Mariam. Warming up to Kai, Amber reveals that she was once anorexic after Tala's departure but that she's over it now. While in the woods during an orienteering exercise, Ian continues his prank war with Amber and Shahero by attacking Amber with her worst fear, spiders. Everything then crumbles down around Amber and all the emotions she's been pushing away, pours out and she turns to Kai for comfort only to find out that he had told Ian her fear. Amber runs away to think and inadvertently realizes that the reason she's so betrayed by Kai is because she's attracted to him. Unfortunately for her, before she can head home, she gets lost and then falls off a cliff…

Worried about Amber, Bryan, Nicolai and Kai head off in search of her and finding her, Kai has to confront his fear of heights and rescue her. Because of this incident, Amber and Kai come to some sort of understanding and discover a tolerance for each other. But during the week after, while both are involved in an extra practice session, they began to feel other things than just tolerance and while messing around, Kai almost kisses Amber. Disturbed both pretend it didn't happen, but Kai realizes he no longer cares as deeply for Mariam as he did before, and breaks up with her in order not to hurt her. When Amber discovers this, she's furious and confronts him but during this confrontation, Kai reveals he wants her, not Mariam and after kissing her, Amber says some horrible things and races off, leaving Kai in an empty corridor.

:Looks up and whistles: And that's not even half of it… fourteen chapters rolled into a brief :snorts: summary. Ok that's for anyone who might have forgotten the plot so you don't have to be half way into the chapter and wondering what the hell is going on.

Well onto the story:

****

Chapter 15: Merry Kissmas

The Christmas holidays seemed to fly by until soon enough it was Christmas day. The snow had held off but now it fell lightly dusting the world in it's purity like icing sugar. However, that wasn't what was bothering Shahero. No, she was sitting in the Kinomiya's front room battling Hitoshi for the Stanley Cup.

Shahero scowled and tapped the X button viciously. "Shoot! Shoot! Why won't he shoot?"

Hitoshi chuckled from his place beside her on the couch. He watched as his man on screen came along and stole the puck from her. He could almost hear her grind her teeth as her men in blue desperately tried to deck him.

"Is my control plugged in properly?" she demanded irked as she tapped on all the buttons.

She groaned in frustration as Hitoshi scored. She'd only come over to the Kinomiya's to get away from the house for a while and to hang out with Tyson. She missed Amber and watching Tala mope about was more annoying that watching him and Ruin make out. There was also the fact that she didn't' want to be at home when the shit hit the fan and Amber discovered that Nicolai was her godfather and Kai was her neighbor. Shahero wasn't sure how her sister would react. After all, before they'd left Amber had been very twitchy around Kai, though she did have a bond of sorts with Nicolai, she remembered. Maybe she should have stayed home. However, when she got to the Kinomiya's and found out that Tyson was sleeping, she'd been tempted to go home but then Hitoshi had challenged her to a game. She was a competitive person, how could she say no? Except now, he was cheating!

"Only two more minutes to go, Kaeto."

"I know." she ground out. She finally got control of the puck and shot down the ice on a break away, she tapped the circle button to shoot then groaned as Hitoshi's red player came along and stole the puck.

Hitoshi watched her out of the corner of his eye, flicking his gaze back to the television screen every so often to keep an eye on the game. The rumble of Tyson's snores came through the ceiling and was the only reminder that they weren't alone in the house. His parents were next door at the Benson's -he kept thinking of it as the Bensons' even though Treasa was probably going to marry Hiroshi Kaeto- with the Hiwatari's. The fact that the Hiwatari's lived next door to the Benson's had been quite a surprise to the inhabitants of both his home and next-door. He wasn't sure if it had been a smart move by Kai to hide that little fact. Then again it wouldn't' have helped him settle in much easier, either.

"Why doesn't my man move?" She demanded exasperated.

He reached over and toyed with the black and silver tips of her hair. She squirmed under his hand and batted it away. A slow grinding pain made its self-known in his gut as he watched her. Being this close to her was driving him up the wall. She'd all but ignored him since the kiss, crossing over to the other side of the road when she saw him coming. It was getting on his nerves. He'd been reliving the kiss nightly, and in the morning thinking about just how he'd maneuver it so he'd get another chance to repeat it. So far, with her ignoring him, he hadn't one chance.

"Leave my hair alone!" She grumbled, shrugging him off as he teased the sensitized flesh of her neck with the brush of his warm fingertips.

"It's getting pretty long. I thought you didn't' like it long."

"I don't. I'll probably get it cut this week or next week sometime before I head back to school."

"Miss it?"

She cast him a quick look to see if it was indeed Hitoshi Kinomiya sitting on the couch with her. "A little. I miss Jon-Jon and the team, but I don't miss the work."

"Thought you were smart."

He grinned at the heated look she sent him. "I am smart," she hissed shrugging off his wandering hands again. "I just don't like school work. It's pointless and it won't get me a good job with prospects and money."

"So what kind of job do you want?"

She shrugged with a slight shake of her head. "I don't know, yet. I'll figure it out over the coming months."

"Not giving yourself much time," he commented; smirking when the buzzer sounded and the light behind the net turned green signaling the end of the game. The players spilled out onto the ice while Shahero's team went back to the changing rooms.

Shahero snarled at the screen. "You cheated." she accused bitterly, tossing the control to the side.

"I didn't. You're just crap. Most girls are."

She glowered at him. "I could kick your ass on Tekken in a heart beat!"

His eyes flashed in challenge. "Is that a bet Kaeto?"

"No, it's me telling you that I'm better than you."

"Let's test this, then. You vs. me on Tekken 4. One match, three rounds. Winner gets to choose a forfeit for the loser." he eased off the couch and crouched by the play station. After pressing the eject button, he waited for the drawer to slide out then removing the current game, he replaced it with Tekken 4.

She eyed him warily. "What sort of forfeit?"

He grinned wickedly. She suddenly felt itchy all over at the look. Her sapphire orbs watched him warily.

"What kind of forfeit would you like?"

She pondered that for a minute; then her eyes lit up in indignation. "Hey you make it sound like I'm going to lose! I won't!"

"Well then you have nothing to worry about. You concentrate on thinking up my forfeit and leave yours to me."

She sat back, sinking into the plush cushion of the sofa and casting a glance towards the window, not keeping her gaze from the man in front of her for too long. Amber still wasn't back yet; it shouldn't be too long, still… She missed her sister; the house was so ordinary without her. Maybe that was the reason she'd come over here in the end, after all if anyone could take her mind off her boredom then it was Hitoshi. She didn't want to dwell on just why that was.

She jumped when she felt the couch shift beside her and looking over her shoulder, her eyes widened at how close he was sitting to her. She could see the swirling depth of his deep brown eyes, the dark opaque pupils, and the spiked lashes. She was absorbed in his eyes, drowning in the bottomless depths.

The blast of music from the stereo speakers snapped Shahero out of her daze. She blinked in quick succession; then snapped her gaze to the TV, picking up her controller. "I choose Ling Xiaoyu; she'll kick your ass!"

Hitoshi gazed at Ling Xiaoyu and arched a brow unimpressed. "Her and what army? She's about as scary as you."

The smile she shot him was thin and lethal. "Exactly. We look unthreatening, then we strike and before you know it, you're lying on the floor watching your life slip away."

"Kaeto, it's a game!" he muttered as he flew through the choices of fighters, finally settling on a trusty favorite Jin Kazama. "Ok, now to show you how a real man fights."

"Cause obviously you aren't much of an example."

He snorted at her comment; then his focus was completely on the game as Xiaoyu attacked him with punches and kicks. He watched his character duck under them to the side and then rise again to attack Shahero with a group of short jabs.

"You're fighting's lame. If you were in a real spar, you'd be on your ass by now, laughed out by the other fighters!"

He groaned inwardly as his life bar began to turn redder and redder. She was kicking the shit out of him and he couldn't do a thing.

"God even my dad can play better than you!"

Hitoshi growled; giving up completely he tossed the controller to the side, which made Shahero cast him a quick glance. When she caught the frustration sparking around him, she grinned, not bothering to smother it.

"Aw, can't stand the fact that you're going to lose to a girl and a skinny one at that! Tsk, tsk!"

She laughed and delivered one last spinning jump kick and watched how Hitoshi's character fell to the ground in slow motion. "Oh yeah, I win. I'm the queen. Bow to me, lowly-" she broke off on a yelp as she was tackled to the sofa and Hitoshi's fingers began to tickle her mercilessly.

"Say mercy!" he ordered, his voice growing gruff as her slight, compact body squirmed under his.

"Never." she gasped out between breathless giggles. She tried to push his hands away but she was extremely ticklish and right now Hitoshi had found her weak spot and he was exploiting it.

"Give up Shahero."

"No." she almost squealed the word as she wriggled beneath him, her body was aware of his keeping her pinned down against the yielding material of the sofa.

He couldn't help the way his gaze ran liberally over her, the way her skin flushed, her eyes were bright and warm and her mouth was curved as she shrieked and giggled helplessly. Something inside him shifted, darkened as he felt lust crawl through his system taking away the innocence and replacing it with something feral.

Shahero felt his hands still and she looked up at him. She recognized the narrow, focused look and felt her heart jump as her system began to buzz with energy. Her breathing became shallow and slow as she recognized the gleam in his eye, and something deep inside her echoed it.

It had been almost a week since he'd kissed her, touched her and he was becoming weary of the emptiness he was becoming accustomed to feeling each time he thought of her. It was unnerving to realize that he didn't want another woman the way he wanted Shahero, but it was a fact. Another fact was that she'd hurt him because she didn't trust him. He wanted her to trust him, to see him as… well certainly not as anything as simple as a friend but he wanted her to talk to him about things in her life.

He wanted to be a part of it, not just someone standing on the sidelines.

Temper surged up inside him, rearing its ugly head and leaving no room for common sense. His stomach knotted itself tightly; then his gaze swept over her face before he crushed his lips to hers. Her hands wrapped around him, one moving to his hair and the other massaging the taut skin of his back.

She didn't fight him, which had been what he'd been expecting, but instead her mouth moved urgently under his taking from him as hungrily as he took from her. He knew her body fit against his, he'd spent much of his time just getting her pressed against him, but now it just slotted against his as though it had been fashioned to do so. He couldn't get enough of it, couldn't get enough of her. His large hands skimmed down her sides over her ribs and then back up again, sliding the top she wore up to reveal that creamy soft white skin.

He pulled back but kept his mouth close enough to trace the shape of her lips with his tongue. She shuddered delicately against him and he could taste her breath on his tongue. She opened her eyes slightly, so the pale wintery light gleamed off the cerulean blue. A log broke and shot sparks into the air, against the screen; there was a hiss and a crackle and then it settled again. Only a faint stirring of music joined their breathing.

Shahero stared up at him, her breathing was a little too fast and labored and her blood simmered. Shit, what did she just do? She let Hitoshi Kinomiya kiss her. With no mistletoe, no being caught off guard, no… Tyson was just upstairs; her family was next door. What was she thinking? Oh, that's right, a small voice reminded her dryly, she hadn't been thinking! Once his lips had been pressed to hers, all the thoughts had flown from her head. She'd been lost in him, in the moment. His flavor overwhelmed her as his hands had… well they'd been everywhere and they hadn't been unwelcome either. The thing was -she could admit this to herself, Hitoshi ignited feelings within her that no other had ever done before.

Nevertheless, while she could admit that, when he began to lean in again and she realized he was going to kiss her again, she felt panic. She made a quick, futile attempt to escape but Hitoshi's arms locked around her like iron bands. She bucked and wriggled desperately.

"Don't."

She went still at his hoarse command. Her breath clogged up in her throat as he ground his hips against hers.

"You can keep wriggling all you like, but I'm only going to enjoy it," he told her in a low voice.

She blew her bangs out of her eyes and fixed him with a dark murderous look. "Get off Hitoshi."

"No."

"If you don't get off, I'll scream rape."

Something flickered in his eyes. Was he forcing himself on her? He rolled off her and got off the couch.

Getting to his feet, he rubbed a hand over his face and looked at her almost imploringly. "Is that what you think I'm doing? Forcing myself on you?"

Hearing it put that way made Shahero wince. Of course, she didn't think Hitoshi would hurt her, but…

She hated having to think; it made her head hurt and not in a good way like brain freeze. Part of her just wanted to say yes so he'd leave her alone and then she wouldn't have to deal with the feelings he brought to life. However, on saying that… he wasn't forcing himself on her, he couldn't be when in the end she craved his touch. Besides, she didn't think Hitoshi could hurt a girl in that way, especially not her. They had an understanding, they didn't like each other but they didn't hate each other either.

"Not exactly-" she broke off on a yelp when her cell buzzed. Quickly pulling it out of her pocket, she fumbled with the button. "Supperoo?"

She ignored Hitoshi's sullen look as she concentrated on her father's voice coming through on the line.

"Right, ok. I'll tell them. Yes, I'll remind him. Dad! Ok, right." She rang off and then frowned at the phone and knew that this would seem completely ridiculous to Amber. She looked to Hitoshi. "Food's ready, your mom wants you to bring over the pudding she made."

Hitoshi's gaze flicked to the refrigerator but he didn't move, instead he turned back to her. "It can wait."

"Not really. How long do you think it takes to walk to my house, a couple of minutes at the very least; Hitoshi I don't have time to get into it."

He stepped towards her when the pounding of feet made both eyes jerk to the stairs where Tyson appeared, vaulting over the banister and dusting himself off when he landed. His eyes flicked from his brother to his friend; then he frowned. "Something wrong?"

"Go away Tyson." Hitoshi said at the same time that Shahero informed him about the dinner being ready.

Of course being Tyson, he only heard the food part. Before any of them could process it, Tyson had crossed to Shahero, grabbed her arm and marched her out of the house muttering things about how she was too skinny and if she didn't eat now, there'd be nothing left. Hitoshi listened to them leave, and then sighed. Was he forcing himself on her? He kept forgetting that she was only sixteen, coming seventeen, but she was still young. He had to talk to her, because he'd just come to the very unnerving fact that he was in love with her, and there was no way in hell she was getting rid of him now.

With that purpose set in his mind, he crossed to the fridge and took out the bowl of whatever his mother had rustled up; then he headed off in the direction his brother had just fled with his woman.

0-0-0

"There's a dead man up the chimney, we call him old Saint Nick. We shot him up the arse; then we poked him with a stick. Christmas is cancelled; old white beard is dead. We cannae pull him down, so we'll burn him out instead."

Amber blew out a breath, watching it fog in the air before her as she looked up at her home while humming the catchy tune now minus the lyrics. The family home where she'd grown up all her life. The one her father had run from, and where Hiroshi had seen fit to settle himself and his family. She could just imagine the chaos inside. There would be her mother and a fussing Hiroshi, Shahero, Bryan, all of the Kinomiya's; Ruin and Tala -more than likely; and then Shahero's older brother Ricky and his family, which included his son Taro. Later the rest of the Benson's who lived near by would visit just to show that they still cared about them even though her father had deserted them for a flimsy bit on the side who couldn't even do her own washing.

She hauled her bag behind her, trailing it over the cement as she traipsed up the drive. Her holidays with her Dad had been different, to say the least. It hadn't been a big family deal as it was at her home. He'd been a bachelor too long for him to be in a homebody mood and he'd been too busy trying to make her like his new girlfriend. However, Piss face, which Amber had seemed fit to dub her, had sealed her fate by presuming to act as though she was Amber's new mother. She was a bimbo in the young teen's humble opinion and that wouldn't change.

For the biggest part of her time with her father, she'd watched TV, though that had been boring without Shahero to help make sarcastic comments about the characters. It was weird, she thought with a slight smile. For most of her life she'd been an only child, but in a short time span she'd become dependant on having siblings, so much so that watching TV wasn't as interesting as usual. Of course, she'd phoned Shahero and Tala a couple of times while she'd been visiting her father, but it hadn't been the same. Moreover, she missed snuggling up to Bryan; he was always there to comfort her when she was feeling down. And feeling down, she had been.

She kept replaying the kiss with Kai in her head. Guilt gnawed at her gut, she'd betrayed Miriam and worse; she didn't know if she'd have done anything differently. That night she'd laid awake for the most of it thinking about Kai, thinking about Miriam. Replaying the whole thing in her head, thinking of different ways it could have gone; things she could have said. Did she say something to lead him on? She wasn't a flirt, not to her knowledge so she really didn't think she would have. She hated to think that she'd made him think that she was interested in him enough to hurt Miriam. What if, when they were messing about down in the rink, she'd given him some sort of come on which made him dump Miriam?

She groaned and pressed a hand to her stomach as it churned uncomfortably. She'd been in pain for the past couple of days, just a low grinding ache in her upper stomach that was constantly there. It wasn't honestly painful but it was uncomfortable and it never went away. If this was what guilt felt like, she didn't like it one bit. She'd talk to her mother about it; one good point of having a mother who was a nurse was that she was good at diagnosing illnesses as long as it wasn't too complex. The downside was that her mother usually forced her to go to a doctor, which Amber detested. Doctors were a plain annoyance to the girl. They never listened, they always talked down to her or never gave her enough information on what exactly was causing her illness and for the most part Amber ended up diagnosing herself and when she did that, it always swayed the Doctors opinion. They shouldn't do that; they should consider everything and treat patients as people, not illnesses in fancy shells.

The thought put a small frown on the Irish teens face as she turned the corner to the back of the house and that was how Jean saw her goddaughter for the first time in at least a couple of years. She took another drag of her cigarette and waited for Amber to notice her.

The smoke did it. That unique waft of something toxic yet at the same time compelling. Amber wasn't a smoker and she hated the smell that lingered on smokers clothing, but she didn't mind the smell of smoke itself. However having someone breathed their smoke in your face wasn't a nice habit. However, the main thing that pierced her brain was that she didn't have any relatives that smoked, so her head shot up wondering who the hell would be smoking so close to her pregnant mother.

Her ochre gaze fell on the tall willowy bluenette with serene sea green eyes which were narrow and slanted; a clear sign she was Asian. Her beige skin was almost flawless, though that could have been achieved with makeup. Her slate blue hair was cropped neatly and in a style that required next to no maintenance, but Amber would never have the confidence to carry that look off. She wore a soft wool turtleneck, which really wouldn't provide much shelter from the nipping cold, then again the wind wasn't the type that would take off your face. Her jeans though fashionable were faded almost white at the knees and she wore a pair of black boots with a small stub of a heel.

Amber stopped and stared at her as she tapped the thin cigarette so the ashes fell from the end. Finally, she looked up and smiled.

"Hello Amber."

Jean Mason. The woman who would take care of her should anything ever happen to her mother, father and stepfather. Though to Amber having a godmother with her family was superfluous, she was lucky enough to have a number of people who would gladly take her in. However, Jean had always been cool. When Amber had been younger, Jean had always sneaked her candy when her mother wasn't looking and let her stay up late to watch movies with her. She had always been glamorous with her long manicured nails, which she painted in various colors, something her own mother never did because of her job. Jean always had fashionable clothes and the latest hairstyles, she would also drink cocktails, all of which Treasa never did. She'd been her mother's closest friend, more like a sister than anything else.

"Jean. Hope you're not smoking around mom."

"No need to worry. I'm not. Besides I'm only allowed two a day, I'm trying to give them up."

Amber rolled her eyes. Jean had been trying to give up smoking every time she phoned Treasa, which was once a month. "How's that going for you?"

Jean gave a wry smile. "It's not as bad as I thought. Hard, but I'm getting there. After the Christmas holidays it'll be worse. It's always easier when Nic's home."

Amber simply shrugged. She supposed having someone to support you in trying times did help to a degree. She lifted her bag off the ground and threw the strap over her head onto her other shoulder.

"So why are you here?"

Thin blue brows shot up surprised and Amber bit her tongue. Shit, that sounded not only blunt but also bitchy.

"I meant that since we haven't seen you in a while, it's kind of a surprise."

Jeans' brow furrowed. "Didn't Treasa tell you that I moved?"

The ochre-eyed teen jerked a shoulder. "Possibly. Yeah I think she might have mentioned something about Nic getting a new job so you moved. Do you live near by?"

"Try next door."

Amber blinked then looked to the once vacant house. Looking at it, it looked lived in now. The windows had curtains and blinds; there was a Christmas wreath on the door and now it held a lived in feel.

"Shit, that is near by. So does mom have the food on the table yet? Because my Dad's new girlfriend can't cook to save herself. I was living on Pizza and pot noodles for the most part and I think my stomach shrunk."

Jean smiled amused. "Yeah we're just sitting down to eat. Come on in. So how were things at your Dad's?"

"They've been better. I did learn a new Christmas carol though."

"Oh?"

"Yup."

"Are you going to sing it?"

"No, 'cos then you'll make me sing all those stupid songs you made me sing when I was young and stupid enough to do what everyone told me to do. I'm not going to make an idiot of myself. So, hey, is Nic here?"

Jean pressed her lips together as she opened the back door. She looked over her shoulder wondering if Amber suspected that Nic and her coach Nicolai was the same person. "Uh yes he is."

"Shit, I haven't seen him in, like, an age. What about your son, what's his name? Starts with a K right? Don't worry, I can remember it… Kyle?" she scrunched up her face as she pondered the names as she followed Jean into the kitchen. Her gaze swept over the people around the kitchen to locate her mother.

"With the NHL as it is, I'm not so sure."

"Calgary can kick everyone's ass."

Amber's gaze stalled on Nicolai Hiwatari who was sitting at her table talking to Tyson's father and waving away her mother when she asked him if he wanted anymore roast potatoes. She froze and blinked. Coach was sitting at her table! What was Coach even doing here? Moreover, if Coach was here then… Oh there he is.

"Mom, can you bring over some more…" Kai trailed off when he looked up and saw the figure standing in the doorway, her ochre gaze locked on his. He couldn't read the flurry of emotions that raced through those eyes, which had been haunting him every time he had time to think. He imagined the tidal wave of emotions would match the ones that had just swamped through him. The difference was that he'd been awaiting her arrival; he'd had to listen to people talk about her, reminding him of her all the time. He'd been in her home, met her mother and seen baby pictures of her and other pictures of her dotted around the home as well as pictures of the rest of the family.

So now, he looked at her. Her expression was grim, her gold skin was tinted pink by the cold and her nose was slightly red. There were smudges under her eyes, reporting of sleepless nights but it made her look vulnerable and beautiful and god was he a sap! Angry with himself, he moved his gaze from her face, especially from the lips that were darkened and bruised, where she'd bit them. She was wearing a light gray bulky sweater, which hid away her slim profile but made his fingers itch to slide it up and find her warm and soft underneath. The hem of the sweater disguised her shapeless hips, but her long slender legs were clad in dark skin fitting denim jeans. She'd tied back her hair but it looked lighter to his eyes, and it took a second or two for him to realize that she had streaked it with chunky gold.

"What did you want Kai?"

Amber's gaze flicked from Kai to Jean. Coach Hiwatari and his son were sitting at her table looking perfectly at home. None of her friends seemed to be paying them much heed and by the looks of it, it seemed as though they felt it was perfectly natural. So, did that mean that they'd been here a while?

Suddenly things began to sink in. Coach Hiwatari, Nicolai, or Nic for short; she surmised. Kai had just called Jean mom, but Jean's surname was Mason… it never occurred to her to think that Mason wasn't her married name and she'd never thought to ask her uncle Nic for his surname. Now things were beginning to make sense and it was a bit disturbing. Jean was married to Nicolai Hiwatari and had one son, Kai Hiwatari. Which meant that Nicolai was her godfather… so what did that make her and Kai? Moreover, did they know? Judging by Kai's expression, he really didn't seem too startled to see her there, but then again since Jean now lived next door he probably knew this was her house and god did that make her feel weird. While she was away at her fathers, he was in her home.

She looked to her mother hoping she could put some sort of spin on things. She wanted an explanation for what was going on. Was Nicolai her godfather? If so then he must have known who she was so he'd been keeping that secret from her the whole time. This wasn't fair! She had a right to know who he was, but, a sly little voice murmured, what would that have changed? She bit the corner of her bottom lip and her brow knitted with frustration.

"Hey Amber! Merry Christmas." she snapped her head round to look for the voice; then wiggled her fingers in a slight wave for Shahero who motioned for her to take a seat beside her. Shahero's greeting had made everyone notice her and most of the table said something similar in greeting, some more enthusiastic than others, she thought shooting Hitoshi a snide look when he muttered something under his breath for which her sister smacked him.

Ruin caught her friends gaze and gave a helpless shrug of the shoulders. They were all going to get another neurotic rant from their bewildered friend and she couldn't' really blame Amber after all, they could have told her. To be quite honest she was surprised Shahero hadn't spilled the beans to her sister about Kai living next door, and Tala had known the whole time. It was a good thing that he had to be at home with his family today instead of being here because Ruin might be able to cool Amber off; otherwise, Tala would be up the creek without a paddle. Amber was not going to take the fact that Tala and Hitoshi had known that Hiwatari was living next door to her well. Even Kai could have told her, he had to have known after the time they'd spent down on the ice together over that week.

"Amber, take a seat, sweetheart." Treasa stated noticing the way her daughter was still standing by the door. Getting Amber sitting down and using all tactics to avoid the big question was the only way to keep her calm challenged daughter from freaking out. "What would you like to eat?"

Amber stared at her mother. Wasn't she going to explain what the hell was going on? It didn't look like she was. Jean had taken her plate filled with food and moved to a seat near Nicolai. Keiko Kinomiya was telling Tyson to have some manners while ordering Hitoshi to act his age, which Shahero found amusing. Ricky, Shahero's older brother (the nice one) was feeding his son while talking to his fiancée and discussing something with Hiroshi. Ruin had engaged herself in conversation with Tyson's father, and in the corner, just coming into the kitchen was Bryan. Bryan. Something inside Amber settled instantly when she saw her burly cousin.

He took a seat near Ruin and she quickly took the seat next to him. When she sat down, she nudged him gently with her elbow. "So, why are the Hiwatari's here?"

He looked down at her, quirking a brow. He'd been right, she hadn't known. Humph, now what was the coach playing at? "Jeans family."

"Jay-sus. Well that's a feckin' blow to the gut." She muttered, keeping her gaze down on the table.

"Amber!"

"What?" she snapped; looking up disgruntled at her mother. She had to have known that Hiwatari was her godfather; she'd mentioned him enough when her mother phoned her over the past week or so to work out how she'd be spending her holidays. However, she didn't say anything else; there were no accusations on how they'd hidden things from her. She wasn't going to make a scene, not when her mother was pregnant and… well now she understood what people meant when they said glowing. Her mother looked amazing. Her short cap of sleek dark, dark, almost black, brown hair had been styled recently and her skin was a dark bronze, smooth and perfect with a small dimple in her left cheek. Her eyes were the same shade as hers, maybe just a tad bit darker and almond shaped, filled with warmth and lacking the cynicism Amber had inherited from her father. She wasn't as petite as Amber standing at 5ft 7" and she was curvier and the top she wore fell fluidly to cover the bump elegantly.

Her mother looked amazing and very comfortable feeding the Hiwatari's.

"What would you like to eat?"

"Uh... Whatever." She answered feeling baby Hiwatari's gaze weighing on her heavily.

"Brussels Sprouts?" Treasa asked holding up a white dish with small green balls resembling cabbages.

"Yeah sure... huh? No!" She scowled at her mother who smirked. The meaning was clear. Pay attention to mother, or you'll be eating the alien shit balls! "No thank you. I'll take what Bryan's having."

Ruin snorted out a laugh. "Only in much smaller portions."

The smaller girl shot her a dark look; then turned to the plate that her mother laid in front of her. The sight of it turned her stomach, though it looked appetizing… just not to her. She looked round

Bryan to give her mother a pointed look. "We'll discuss this after dinner."

0-0-0

"Ok, spill everything." Amber demanded tugging Tala to the side and urging him to follow her up the stairs when everyone else had retired to the den to talk, watch TV or whatever.

Tala sighed. He'd been hoping to snag Ruin for a few moments to figure out how to handle Amber, but alas, his little friend was a little too quick for her own good and had snagged him once he entered the house. At least she wasn't raging, he thought to comfort himself. A raging neurotic Amber was hell to deal with. He didn't know how he'd been brought into this. He'd merely walked in the door, said hello to Mrs. B, Mr. K and of course to Jean and Coach. Then Treasa had suggested they go into the den and hand out presents, he'd made to follow them and then Amber had pounced. He supposed he could have given her a heads up on them being her neighbor earlier, but Amber had despised him when he came back to Preston so he couldn't tell her then. Then he always kept forgetting and these past couple of days he'd been reeling from the fact that Kai had revealed who his father really was to Amber. Her godfather, shit. Amber wouldn't be pleased with that, but at least it explained why Kai had been getting more and more edgy during the time leading up to Christmas Day.

He followed Amber down the hall, past Shahero's room to the one opposite which was Amber's. The room was lilac and cream, very peaceful colors and neutral. Amber had never gone through the artistic phase of deciding to paint her room, probably because that would be too much like work for her. A black computer sat in the corner on a specialized MDF table that was unerringly clean. It was clear that Amber hadn't inhabited this room recently. When Amber was any where for half an hour or more, the room usually became a mess of organized chaos with books found everywhere and anywhere. Beside the door was a single wardrobe with drawers built in. A TV/DVD player sat on the other side of the door on a chest of drawers. It was positioned there so that it would deter Amber from being on the computer and watching TV at the same time, it never worked very well. A CD player sat on the floor beneath the window seat, which looked out at the sea and over looked Bakuten, their hometown. The bed sat along the wall in the other corner from the computer was a shelf with teddies, a dismantled clock, a radio alarm clock, a digital egg shaped clock and a data pad. Another shelf of teddy bears sat above the computer.

There was a futon squashed under a hand made book shelf over flowing with books, not the Buffy ones she'd been reading the last time he'd been in here, but now they held more of those Nora Robert books she'd just been beginning to collect. There looked to be about 20 of them maybe more, not including the ones she'd have taken to Preston or bought while being there. Another set of 20 or more were from a writer named JD Robb, on closer inspection, he realized that she was Nora Roberts under a different name. Amber was obsessive, he remembered with a certain fondness. Once she liked something and found it reaching her standards then she wouldn't desert it for another. There were other books, Harry Potter, one Lord of the Rings, some series called Wicca -she seemed to have the whole collection of them in series, probably waiting to get more. The CD holder was close to empty except for one or two but that was more than likely due to her taking them to school with her. There were DVD's in another row, and plenty of play station games but she had a play station 2 so she probably didn't use the old one much now.

Even if he hadn't followed her into this room, he'd have known it was hers. It just had her name and style all over it. It was fun, warm and welcoming with a cynical edge, not afraid to make fun of itself as well as serious with a bright imagination. It had no posters, but he knew her problem with them. They always seemed to be staring at her, so she didn't like them all that much.

He collapsed onto the bed making himself comfortable; then frowned. "You change the mattress?"

She gave him a 'no duh' look, then at his own look, she smiled sheepishly. "Oh right, um, yeah the spring burst out of the bottom of it so we had to replace it."

"Been bouncing on the bed Benz?"

"You're more than likely the one who'd bust their bed while bouncing on it."

He grinned wickedly. "Yeah I'm that good."

She frowned then groaned. "Not in the mood please Tala."

He sighed and sat up, watching as she curled one leg up under her as she sat on the edge of the mattress. "So what do you want to know?"

"Well, I've figured Nicolai is my godfather, and I don't know what that makes me and Kai." _Family_? That would be good, a good reason for him to stay away from her. "I'm not sure how I feel about it yet, I mean it doesn't really change things does it? I mean it's not as if I have to go and live with him. We get on ok, but the fact that he knew all this while, well it feels slightly odd. I keep wondering that, if he wasn't my godfather, would he have been so nice to me."

"You think he wouldn't have liked you if you weren't his goddaughter?"

She jerked a shoulder and made a face; a face he knew meant she was feeling lost and alone. He scooted closer to her and slipped an arm around her, pulling her closer to him. "That's not what's bugging you, is it?"

"What do you mean?"

"You're not yourself Amber."

She shook her head. "I don't know. Something feels so very wrong inside. I mean, I just feel like I'm going through the motions and that I'm not really here. It's so strange."

"I should have told you, this was bound to knock you a little. I knew they were going to be your neighbors." he felt her go still in his arms but she didn't pull away which was a good sign. There was no cold vibe from her, just one that she was listening to him, giving him a chance to explain. "I didn't know how to tell you, or even if I did, would it matter to you? You and Kai were always sniping but… I don't know. I just got the feeling you wouldn't be adverse to it."

"I'm not adverse to it. I just… oh it's nothing. Part of me wants to raise all hell over it, but I just can't drum up the energy to do it. Mom's happy though, so that's a good thing. The Hiwatari's haven't caused any massive dramas or upset any one so…" she trailed of with a wan smile and a shake of her head. "I missed you. Going to Dad's always takes a piece out of me."

"Did he do anything?"

"Pfft, you're kidding right? Ugh, I love my Dad. I do. It's just sometimes I feel like strangling him. He's so bloody infuriating. It's like dealing with a kid sometimes. I mean I'm the child, couldn't he like, act like a grown up for a change? I pissed him off a little, or a lot. It wasn't my intention or maybe it was. I just wanted him to pay me some attention." _I wanted him to be a dad. Be outraged that I even had a boy looking at me sideways never mind kissing me when he'd just broke up with his girlfriend. He just laughed_. She shook her head.

"You know he's not good at this Dad thing. You also know you don't make it easy on him either. He loves you too, but he just doesn't understand you, that's all."

"Yeah, but couldn't he treat me like his daughter, not his friend. And god, can't he keep it down!"

Tala raised a red brow bewildered. "Keep it down?"

She bit her lip and struggled not to laugh. "The walls are paper thin. So at night when I'm in my bed… well you do the math."

He grimaced. "You heard them?"

"Going at it every night. I don't know whether to be mortified, amazed my Dad has that much stamina, credit Piss-zilla for her imagination and for thinking that dad's a bleedin' rabbit, be disgusted or… outraged that he has someone else… I don't know Tala. I'm just confused. I am angry that he left us and shacked up with a… play toy but at the same time, I feel nothing. It's like I'm outside looking in the window at him and Piss and it doesn't affect me."

He ran his long fingers through her black and gold hair and she crooned at the gesture leaning into his hand. Her eyes drifted closed and her breathing slowed and evened. They stayed like that for a few minutes listening to the Christmas carols from down stairs and the talking and laughing. It sounded like Shahero and Tyson were baiting Hitoshi, a personal favorite past time.

"You streaked your hair again, I like it."

"Good, cause if you leave again. I'm shaving it all off and it'll be your fault."

Tala cringed and his hand went gingerly to his own pride and joy. "Don't worry Ams; I won't be leaving for a very long time."

"Never." she ordered determinedly.

"Or never." he amended with a smile. "So do you want your present now?"

"Hmm. What is it?" she asked; her voice slightly rusty from the exhaustion that was pressing against her.

He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a small box. Mirth lit up her eyes. "Oh Tala, yes I'll marry you!"

Tala gaped at her; then exploded with laughter. "Christ, that's what it looks like, doesn't it?"

She rubbed her eye and chuckled. "Yeah. So is it breakable?"

"In your hands anything is breakable." he muttered dryly.

She opened her mouth to counter that; then thought about it. "Yeah you're right. Shit." she took it from him and opened the box slowly enjoying the way that the box slide open on it's hinges. "I think I'll just keep the box. It'll keep me amused for hours."

"Wouldn't surprise me." he replied. As children, they'd often found empty boxes really entertaining, spending hours just climbing in and out of boxes and pretending to be on TV.

She stuck out her tongue; then her cynicism and mockery slid away as her whole being softened. "It's gorgeous." It was a small silver pentagram on a black cord, which she appreciated since she always broke chains, and turning it over there were three small symbols engraved on the spokes.

"The woman in the store said they stood for protection, joy and courage. I want you to have all three in your life."

Her eyes welled up as he spoke those words. The fact that he went into a Wiccan store when he didn't' agree with the faith meant everything to her. She pressed her lips together and struggled for some composure. "As long as I have you, then I have all 3 and more." She got to her knees and flung her arms around him, holding on to him because he was the one person really truly mattered. Boyfriends would come (hopefully) and eventually they'd go and she'd feel bad, same with friends but if Tala ever left again, she'd finally be destroyed. As long as he was there, nothing could break her and no one could hurt her, not really.

Tala held her and felt in his heart that whatever barriers remained between them finally had been dissolved. He made a mental note to thank Ruin; it had been her idea for him to get her something Wiccan and she'd had pretty much a similar if less emotional reaction when she'd seen what he'd bought. It was nice to know that he could make good choices in his life as well as bad ones. And, when she felt like telling him about what was really troubling her, then he'd be ready. He wouldn't pressure her.

0-0-0

Ruin closed the door silently and stepped back from it. She didn't want to ruin the moment, even if it was her namesake to do so. Tala had looked happy, completely and utterly happy. It did irk her slightly that he'd been down since the beginning of the holidays and she hadn't been able to lift that dark cloud, but on saying that, she also knew that if she were to leave him with just Amber, then the cloud would come back. Just as Amber could be content with just Ruin, but she needed Tala as well to be truly happy. They had an odd friendship that sounded more like a threesome than anything else.

The thought made her lips quiver. Wouldn't Amber just love it to be described like that? Ruin turned back to the door when it opened and Amber walked out followed by Tala, whose eyes immediately locked on hers. Her body came to life with a swiftness that surprised her. She desperately just wanted Amber to leave them both alone so she could have his hands on her, so she could taste that spot beneath the column of his throat. She swallowed thickly. She'd never responded to any male this fast before. Nevertheless, she knew how good Tala was with his hands and just what he could make her feel. In addition, she hadn't seen him since yesterday; the hunger had time to simmer before flaring.

Amber felt the tension suddenly and was aware of it prickling along her skin. It was sort of like being in the room with two highly charged animals that'd been kept from each other for too long. She rubbed her arms and cleared her throat.

"Uh, I'm going to see mom. Right now. Bye." she made a swift exist, dashing down the stairs taking two at a time amusing Tala as he watched her flee.

"Now see what you did, you scared her away."

"Don't care." Ruin growled, crossing to him and seizing his face in her hands and pulling his mouth down to hers. His hands gripped her hips pulling her into close contact with his, causing a friction that made her moan into his mouth. He changed the angle of the kiss to deepen it, desperately needing her more than he thought possible.

She pulled away, leaning in to tug on his bottom lip with her teeth. "My room." she breathed, liberating his top from the waistband of his jeans so she could slip her hands under the cloth and feel his skin. Heat began to pool inside her as his mouth covered hers once more driving her into dark and dangerous territory. And, the whole time all she was thinking was more, more.

0-0-0

Treasa raised a brow at her lover, though it was a strange thing to call the man she'd fallen in love with, and who was the father of the child growing inside her. Boyfriend sounded too childish and adolescent, he wasn't her husband or fiancé, so lover it was, or partner since he was both. It felt like she was a child again, all these feelings being awoken inside and it was nice to feel this alive again. Her confidence had taken a blow when James had told her he wanted a divorce. However, she understood his reasons and she didn't want to tie him down. It wasn't in her nature to make people miserable and that was exactly what would happen to him. He'd be miserable stuck in a life he didn't want. It was better to let him go. Of course half of her had hoped he'd come back to her again, yet he never had.

When Hiroshi had come into her life, it had been like she'd been knocked for six but even when that initial blast of heat had died down; there always had been this banked furnace inside where the dark haired man was concerned. He wasn't at all like James. James had been a workaholic, always dressed to the nines and looking perfectly groomed even when he was trying to be casual. Yes, he'd been fun, sarcastic and sometimes very romantic, but it didn't take away from the fact that he always put his job and clients first.

Hiroshi on the other hand was just like the meaning of his name, generous. He hadn't finished high school and found that most of life's lessons could be learnt through living life, rather than watching it pass by while taking notes. He was hopelessly optimistic which was nice to deal with after a hard day at the hospital. He constantly tried to compliment people instead of putting them down, a contrary to the rest of the people she knew.

His hair was black and untamed; his skin tanned and compared to her, he was incredibly tall at 6ft8". He was lean and toned from his martial arts training and his eyes were warm and friendly despite the onyx coloring. They just drew her in from the first moment, obliterating every thing else going on around her and they continued to do so. He just made every single thing disappear and she was continuously drawn to him. The thought of being without him made her scared in a way she hadn't been when James left.

Hiroshi was her true love; James had just been her first love. They both meant a lot to her, she still cared for James since he gave her Amber, but Hiroshi was special, important, warm, giving, loving.

She smiled softly at him as his fingers interlaced with hers. This felt right. The fire licked at the logs, which hissed and groaned their pain. Violent curses erupted from Shahero and Tyson as they sat on the floor in front of the TV racing what looked to be cars. It was Tyson's Christmas present; a Playstation 2 game, whose appeal she didn't quite understand.

"Turn, turn you bastard!"

"Tyson you drive like a faggot!"

"Hitoshi Kinomiya, you watch that mouth of yours!"

"And how do you propose I do that mother?"

"Hitoshi!"

"Sorry mom. Tyson there's a reason there's a barrier there you-"

"Hito…"

"…great and brilliant person."

Treasa chuckled at the way Hitoshi avoided his mother's eyes. He'd grown up into quite the impressive young man. She'd always had a soft spot for him and for the way he handled her daughter when they were younger. Now she was wondering on how he planned to handle Hiroshi's daughter who she'd come to think of as her own. She watched as his gaze flicked to her constantly from where he sat back from the other two who were tapping buttons furiously.

She hissed suddenly. "Ouch."

"Treasa?" Hiroshi sat up and regarded her out of concerned eyes while Jean got out of her seat and crouched beside her.

"Are you ok?"

"Yes, yes I'm fine. Just the baby kicked."

"The baby's kicking?" Shahero scrambled to her feet and rushed over. "Lemme feel!"

Hiroshi and Jean moved back and let Shahero in. She placed her hand on Treasa's swollen abdomen and waited anxiously. This was her baby brother or sister moving in here. Secretly she hoped it would be a boy, not that having a baby sister was wrong, just… well she liked being her Daddy's little girl. Having a new daughter come into the family would usurp her. She knew Amber felt the same. Besides she was used to having older brothers, having a younger one that she could mold into the perfect man would be cool. There was a flutter against her hand and she froze… Her eyes were wide when they rose to Treasa's.

"Oh my god, it moved. There's really a baby in there."

"No shit Sherlock. Dude move out of my way, I wanna feel." Tyson said muscling his way in sending Shahero stumbling back only to be caught by Hitoshi's quick hands, which she quickly fought her way out of. "Hey Treasa if it's a boy, I have no problems with you calling it, Tyson, Tyson junior, little Ty-" he broke off when his brother snickered and could just see what he was thinking. "Dude, grow a brain."

"Right after you lose some weight."

"BOYS!" Keiko raised a hand to her brow and shook her head. "Do I have to take you both home and lock you in your rooms?"

"As long as Hitoshi has the vacuum he'll be happy." Tyson muttered with his ear against Treasa's bump.

Shahero snickered and risked a glance at the stone haired man behind her. A smirk flirted with his lips as he caught her eyes and she was instantly aware of what he was thinking. She flushed and looked away. She didn't understand his obsession with her, or why he wasn't giving up when she clearly signaled that she wasn't interested.

Her eyes flicked to Amber as she waltzed in with barely a care in the world. "Suppity?"

"The baby kicked." Hiroshi informed her, nudging the youngest Kinomiya away so that he could let her in.

Amber smiled wanly, not sure how to react. That meant there really was a baby in there and well… that meant she was going to get a new baby in the family. That thought made her panic. She wasn't maternal, she was great with kids who were eight or so, but younger or older, there she had problems. Nevertheless, this was her family, couldn't have enough of that, she supposed. And it would be ages before the baby could decide to hate her, she'd be away at that stage.

Then she looked into her mother's eyes and the look of utter love and happiness in those eyes soothed her. This was what her mother wanted, how could she be against that? "So do you guys know what it is yet?" she asked, slipping onto the couch beside her mother casting a glance over at Nicolai who was sitting close by with Jean nestled snugly in his lap.

"No, we want it to be a surprise."

Shahero caught her eye and a mutual wish was made. _Let it be a boy._

"So what does it feel like, to have this… person growing inside you?"

"Good, right." Treasa said firmly but with tenderness as she stroked the black bangs out of her daughter's eyes. "You changed your hair."

"Yes, and you got pregnant."

"At least I know how that happened." Treasa said pointedly. "I thought you didn't like getting your hair streaked."

Amber grimaced. "I don't. She keeps trying to use that hook to pull my ear out of this tiny hole in the swimming cap thingy. It's bloody painful."

Her mother chuckled. "So why did you put yourself through that torture?"

"I felt like it. Don't you like it?"

"You know you look beautiful no matter what."

"Which is a nice way of saying you'd be better off bald. If you like I'll shave it off for you."

Amber smiled sweet as syrup at Hitoshi. "I'm surprised you even know how."

Tyson hooted with laughter not bothering to silence when Hitoshi shot a dark look at him promising revenge.

"What can I say; I'm gifted with perfect smooth skin. I'm just lucky," he drawled.

"Yeah Hitoshi's smooth as a baby's butt but his personality smells like their shit." Shahero muttered causing a chuckle to move through the room as she headed back to her game with the butt of her joke glaring at her retreating figure.

Amber sighed and got to her feet. "Do you want a cup of tea mom?"

Treasa shook her head with a slight smile of gratitude. "No thanks. I was thinking of heading to bed for a little while. I'm just tired."

"Go lie down Reese. I'll look after the others for a while." Jean offered.

"I'll give you a hand Jean; lord knows you'll need it with my two."

"Thank you." Treasa replied, easing herself off the couch with Hiroshi's help.

"Need me to tuck you in?"

Treasa smiled at the boyishly cute expression on Hiroshi's face even as their daughters rolled their eyes. "Sure."

Amber watched her mother amble off before turning to the rest of the people gathered in the den. "Anyone want a drink or something?"

"Amber you don't have to play host." Keiko informed her. "If any of these ones need a drink they have two legs so they can fetch and carry themselves."

"Ok then. Well then I'll go get me a cup of tea or something," the ochre-eyed teen murmured feeling oddly left out in the room. Tala and Ruin were making out somewhere and she hoped it wasn't in the hall and Bryan had disappeared to the loft for a while. Shahero was playing with Tyson while Hitoshi just made himself at home annoying her sister and his brother. The only ones left were grown ups and couples at that. She just felt weird being in there.

She entered the kitchen and crossed to the kettle. She never really felt at ease at her fathers so she generally made a big attempt to act as though she had every right to be there even when she felt like running home. However, here, at her home where she usually felt safe and comfortable, she felt alienated. She just wanted to slink away to her room and hide out there. She didn't like the feeling all that much, but that was how she felt. She wasn't herself.

She idly fingered the talisman that Tala had bought her as she filled the kettle with water. Maybe the tea would sooth her, but she doubted it. With a casual flip of her finger, she switched the kettle on, listening to the noise coming from the other room. Shahero must have been winning since there wasn't much cursing coming from her. The rest of the house was relatively silent and the only noise coming from the kitchen was the soft ticking of the clock and the low hissing of the kettle as it began to boil the water.

She sighed heavily, and reached up to the cupboard over the counter and retrieved her favorite mug with her slogan of 'Think what you like about me…as if I care!' She'd gotten it a couple of Christmas's ago along with one for Bryan: 'All men are animals, but some make better pets'; Shahero's: 'I don't do mornings'; Arista's: 'I'm awake and dressed, what more do you want?'; Rei's: 'The Boss'; Miyami's: 'Keep smiling, it makes people wonder what you've been up to'; Ruin's: 'Sexy Bitches use red mugs.' and her personal favorite Ian's: I'm a sex object, when I ask for sex, women object.' He'd yet to use it but she regularly reminded him of it.

She lifted it down and placed it on the counter before heading for the fridge for milk. The yip was out of her mouth before she could stop it followed by the:

"How long have you been there?"

Kai merely continued to sit at the table and watch her. She hadn't seen him when she came in, too preoccupied he supposed and he hadn't bothered to tell her he was there. There'd be no point; she'd only avoid him. Of this, he was certain. So instead, he'd observed her, noticing the way her eyes had a far away glaze and how her hand automatically tucked the stray tendril of hair that fell across the face when she bowed her head at any moment. She never stood still, that was something he was beginning to realize about her. She was like restless energy contained in a small, taut body. He was known for his limited movement, because movement gave away more than words or expressions ever could at times. However, Amber was always moving, her hands always gestured when she spoke about anything. The more movement, the more passionate or involved in the conversation she was. When she stood for any periods of time, she tended to bounce on the balls of her feet, or she'd pace. Even sitting down, she'd swing her legs or tap her feet.

Today, though, her movements had been slow and deliberate if there at all. Despite everything, it worried him.

"Well?"

"I was sitting here when you came in," he said finally, getting to his feet slowly. She watched him warily and made him smile bitterly. "Don't worry; I don't intend to jump you."

"Whatever. Want a drink or something?" she asked as she returned to the kettle, keeping her head bowed so he wouldn't see her watching him out of the corner of her eye.

"No thanks." he replied moving to lean against the corner, but making sure there was enough room between the two of them so she wouldn't bail.

She surveyed him as she poured the hot water into the teapot. His hair, mussed; the contrasting shades of blue, spiked in every direction. His brows were furrowed and his dark deep eyes were downcast and hooded and the lashes cast shadows on his high prominent cheekbones. His mouth was solemn, firm… she knew just how firm, and soft those lips were. He wore a charcoal gray sweater and cream slacks and surprisingly no shoes. She raised a brow and looked directly at him.

"Any reason why you don't have a pair of shoes on?"

His lips quivered and she knew that that was quite a big deal since the boy hardly ever smiled all that much. Yes, he smirked a lot and he sometimes laughed but none of it seemed genuine to her. She supposed he'd feel just as odd being here as she did today.

"I took them off a while ago."

"Why?"

He shrugged and they fell into a silence for moment, then he shoved a hand through his hair. He watched as she stirred her mug after pouring in the treacle colored liquid followed by the milk. She cupped it in her hands and sipped at it gently, bringing his attention solely to her lips. He wanted those lips. He hadn't gotten over that mouth during the past couple of days. If anything, he realized he only wanted it more, to taste more of it since he'd been denied that. All the same, he liked her company and he liked being around her much more than he had ever thought he would. However, with the kiss hanging over their heads she wasn't being herself and then there were the words she'd spoken to him. The words that had cut him to the bone in a way that no other person ever had.

It wasn't the words so much, he realized, but the fact that she'd believed them. She believed him to be cold and heartless, only turning on the charm when he wanted it. It wasn't true and a small part of him acknowledged that the only reason she'd said the words, had been that she was scared. He'd backed her into a corner so the only thing she'd thought she could do was attack blindly. How typically her, he thought, and the more he was exposed to her, the more he glimpsed the parts of her that she tried to hide under the tough and childish exterior which made him wonder what it would take for her to reveal herself completely and stop hiding.

He blew out a breath when she walked out of the kitchen without a backwards glance. He needed to fix this, he wasn't sure how but he needed to and soon.

0-0-0

Ruin sighed softly, twirling the silken scarlet strands of Tala's hair around her fingers. Their plans had come to a screeching halt when they heard Treasa coming up the stairs and after the fog of lust cleared, they both decided that they couldn't do this in Treasa's house with their friends just down the stairs. So now, they were both lying down on the bed in the silence of Ruin's room. Tala had his head resting between Ruin's breasts, a perfect pillow for him. Her fingers moving through his hair was soothing and driving him just a little crazy. Her heart rate was still thundering under his ear echoing his own. He'd been so close to getting what he'd wanted so desperately from her. However, he couldn't in Treasa's home, not after the way she'd looked after them for most of their lives.

"So what now?" she asked softly.

He didn't move, he was too comfortable and he just felt like dozing off right there in her arms. "I don't mind."

"I wanted to," she blurted out.

"Hmm?" He rose slightly to regard her.

"I want to, just not here."

"If you want to wait-" He could wait, he reassured himself. Nevertheless, the past couple of days had just consisted of near misses and he wasn't sure if he could control himself if left alone with her much longer.

"Tala I've waited long enough." she pointed out firmly, then a smirk played on her lips. "How about this, I know this great little motel just outside Bakuten; the rooms are quaint and relatively cheap. We could go there and we wouldn't be interrupted."

He stared at her. "How do you know about it?"

She jerked a shoulder uncomfortable under his scrutiny. "I usually spend the night there during holidays when I need to get away from everything, or namely my parents."

He traced a finger down her cheek feeling the softness of her naked skin. "We could go there, then."

She nodded relieved he wasn't going to say anything about her confession. "Not now though. Leave in an hour or so. I'll tell Amber and company that I have to go to work, and you can tell them that you have to go home."

Tala nodded. "Sure. I have to receive my present from Amber anyway."

Ruin sat up on the bed so that the black sheets pooled at her waist. "So how did Amber like her present?"

"She liked it a lot."

"But?"

"She doesn't seem herself. Have you noticed it? She seems so lost today."

Ruin shrugged on her black scoop neck top and nodded. "Yeah I noticed and I'm worried about her. I'll try getting her to talk to me, it might not work, but it'll at least give me an idea as to what's unsettling her."

Tala got to his feet and eyed her as she lay in the bed. She was beautiful and his, all his. Her hair, tousled from his hands. Her skin flushed and her eyes dark and soulful. She looked rumpled and devastatingly arousing.

She froze; the words that were on the tip of her tongue stuck there like glue when she saw the intense look on his face. She swallowed hard to dislodge her heart from her throat. His eyes, like a hungry wolf's, locked on hers. Her skin heated under the look; the desire that constantly remained, simmered. "One hour, Tala."

His mouth curved but his eyes lost none of their fierceness. "One hour." he repeated; then grunted. "We better head down other wise Amber will be wondering what we're up to."

"Amber probably knows what we're up to." Ruin replied dryly.

She slipped out of the bed and shimmied the discarded skirt up her legs completely aware of Tala's gaze following her movements. A thrill of triumph whispered through her and left her feeling smug and feminine. After securing the skirt, she reached over the bed for her jacket, which Tala had tossed without a care since he'd just wanted to get her clothes off.

She stiffened when she felt long tapered fingers trickling down her sides. Slowly she rose and his grip tightened on her, drawing her into close contact with him. Close enough for her to feel him pressed against her, hard and ready. With a smug glint in her eyes, she wiggled against him and felt him tense at the same time as he groaned. His breath fluttered against her skin, before he nipped at the taut skin from the nape of her neck. On a soft moan, she leaned back against him, her hands covering his as they clasped at her waist.

"This is odd," she whispered softly. She didn't like the feelings that were swimming around inside her, which made her heart flutter uncomfortably. Desire and lust she could deal with, mushy stuff led to pain and awkwardness.

"Be less odd if you didn't fight it. It feels right, Ruin."

His voice vibrated through her and made her fine hairs stand on end. "I don't want you complicating this, making it more than it is."

He processed those words, tried not to find them insulting. Even as he tried to battle back the anger those words induced, he realized that it wasn't going to work. Those words hurt him and he couldn't let her shut him out. He whipped her round to face him, saw the large doe eyes widen in surprise before he crushed his mouth to hers. He parted her lips with force, thrusting his tongue into her hot moist mouth in a desperate effort to bury his pain in her. She gripped his taut arms, digging her nails in to the cotton of his shirt and down into the flesh beneath. He swallowed her moans ruthlessly as he pulled her closer, shifting his grip on her and angling his head to deepen the kiss further.

She managed to fight free when he broke away to let her up for air. Stumbling back, she regarded him with her breathing out of sync and her composure broken. "What was that?" she asked slowly.

"Just proving that it is complicated and it's a damn sight more than just a casual thing Ruin."

"I don't want to be a couple, Tala. I don't want the pressure of it and I don't want the stupid societal rules that come with it. What we have works, why spoil it?"

He ran a hand over his face. Convincing her that what they had could be good, could be better would be the hardest debate he'd ever forged. She was so set on being independent that the thought of leaning on someone for just a little bit made her think that relying on people was a show of weakness and that it would steal her identity. He didn't want her to lose herself, he didn't want her to become someone else, but he wanted her to realize that they could be something together.

"What makes you so sure it'll be spoilt? What makes you think that we aren't already a couple?" he demanded, his voice lowering with his temper. "You think people don't look at us and know exactly what's going on? Of course they do. I haven't looked at another girl and can you say that you've been interested in anyone else?" when she said nothing, his temper cooled off into smugness. "Exactly. Face it Ruin, whether you want it or not, you and me are a couple."

She gaped at him for a second, then blinked and shook herself slightly before adopting her usual emotionless veneer. What he said had a ring of truth to it and it bothered her more than she'd have liked to admit. She usually went through steps with whatever guy she happened to have snared but she'd forgotten the steps to the dance with Tala and now she'd tripped. All she had to do now was catch herself before she fell and humiliated herself. She tried to think about backing off but she didn't like it. She was selfish and she wasn't a coward. She took what she wanted and said to hell with the consequences.

There was a chance, she reasoned; that she could catch herself, continue this dance with Tala, and not fall. It was slim but now that she'd realized what she was doing, then she could monitor her moves much easier. She wouldn't' become her mother and she sure as hell wasn't going to be another woman that society had chewed up and spat out. She'd make her own way in the world and she didn't need a man's help to do it.

"Whatever floats your boat, Tala. Just don't try to force me into something I don't want, other wise you're out on your own. There's only so far your body will carry you with me, so don't overstep the mark."

She turned on her heel and stalked out of the room. Tala listened to her go and closed his eyes, despairingly. "You seem to have forgotten something, Ruin; I'm not just there for your convenience; I'm your friend as well."

He looked round the room that screamed her name, just as Amber's screamed hers. The difference was that Ruin's seemed naked. The simple white walls, white washed closets, the vanity chest with very little cosmetics on it made it simple and clean. A radio sat on a desk by the bed with the black covers. There was no signature. Nothing, in it, said Ruin Mulryan owned this room; apart from it smelling like her and the practicality of it. There was none of the luxuries that Amber's room contained. This room showed that Ruin only used it for sleeping in and dressing in, for seeking solace when she needed to get away from it. If there were books or anything to keep her amused, they'd be hidden away somewhere. She wasn't one to clutter her life. However, it made him desire to see the room at her parents' house. She never used it and if they kept it, he knew it wouldn't hold anything of her. No photos like the small one on the bedside cabinet of him and his two girls. It wouldn't hold her scent or her presence the way this one did. And seeing the room, he realized that Ruin didn't believe she belonged here either, not completely. She existed but didn't live and wasn't that her real problem? Well, he intended to solve that, just as soon as he got his Christmas present.

0-0-0

"Oh Ruin! OH GOD! Oh baby." Amber finished in an almost purr as she cradled her gift from her gothic friend almost reverently. She caught the amused looks of her friends then grinned brightly, looking round so her gaze locked with Tala's. "Heh, sort of stealing your line there, Tala, sorry." She caught the look that was exchanged between her two friends and frowned over it. It was full of meaning, a meaning she just didn't understand. Feeling a little lost and forgotten she smiled at her present. It was a gold plated dagger with a curved blade. On the hilt was an impression of Cleopatra and on the sheath were hieroglyphics. It was incredibly beautiful and so unique, something she knew she'd treasure for the rest of her life displaying it in the red felt case.

"Do you really think it's safe to give Benson a weapon that could actually hurt someone?" Hitoshi ventured, eyeing the dagger with apprehension.

Shahero looked at her own blade and smirked. "I think it's a great idea. We take this around with us and when someone attacks us, we stick him with this."

"Uh-huh. As I said, do you really think it's safe to give these two a blade? Benson will probably trip and stick someone with it, while Kaeto will probably take to stalking people before she sticks hers in someone."

"Dude, where did you get them?" Tyson asked scooting closer to Amber to get a better look at them.

"Bought 'em Tyson."

"Wow, and here's me thinking you stole 'em."

Ruin smiled toothily at him though it looked more like a sneer than anything else. "So I take it you two like them?"

"I'm still raising the issue that both of them are a danger to themselves with this, never mind anyone else."

Everyone ignored Hitoshi, which was usual, he supposed. Ignore the older wiser one because he knows nothing. Bah, Humbug. In addition, Kaeto was just continuing what she'd been doing all day anyway, so it wasn't a big difference. If Tyson hadn't appeared this morning, he might have gotten what he wanted for a change. So much for Santa giving you what you wanted. Tyson's snappy comment to that was that Hitoshi hadn't sent a letter to Santa so how was he supposed to know. Well that was the last time Hitoshi was going to confide in his brother. He'd rather brood. It wasn't sulking, sulking was childish; brooding was something adults did.

"Ok whose present's next?" Tyson asked as Amber got to her feet and wandered over to switch on the various creepy Christmas animated decorations.

"Ruin from me." Tala answered watching amused as Amber turned a knee high Santa upside down to find the on button. She let out a high-pitched yelp when it responded to the sound of her voice as she hummed and started to wiggle its butt in her face to the music of Jingle Bells.

Shahero snickered and leaned back on her elbows so that her head rested against someone's legs, a quick glance up informed her that it was Hitoshi -who was too lost in his thoughts- to notice the pressure on his legs. In the corner of the room, stretched out in the armchair, was Kai, who'd fallen into a light doze after opening his presents. Feeling light headed, she closed her eyes and just listened to the buzz of conversation and feeling the heat from the flames of the open fire in the hearth.

Tyson's hoot of laughter had her eyes springing open again and a fine black brow rose in amusement.

"Tala? You're a sick, sick boy."

"Wouldn't she be using that on you?" Amber asked caulking her head slightly. "Do you like pain?"

Tala's grin was almost smug. "With the pleasure? Sure."

His childhood friend thought about that before balking. "Oh, way more information about you than I wanted, seriously."

"What are you all babbling about?" Kai slurred agitated. It was obvious that he wasn't a cheerful person when his sleep was interrupted.

"Oh nothing. Just the usual with these two." Shahero answered him.

"Tala got Ruin a whip… So would you use that after or before the tropical fruit flavored oil?"

"I thought you didn't want that much information." Tala replied, looking round to seek Amber and found he was talking to her ass since she was underneath the Christmas tree. "And what are you doing? Are you pretending to be someone's present?"

"Don't be fucking stupid. I'm trying to change the mode on these lights; the flashing's giving me a headache."

"Put the dimming choice on." Shahero suggested as she leaned into Hitoshi's caress, his fingers trailing through her hair.

"Ok." Amber replied back tracking out from under the tree. "I'm bored."

Her sister glanced at her. "Me too."

"I ate too much." Tyson moaned flopping onto his back.

"Big surprise." His brother muttered, closing his eyes. The heat in the room was getting to all of them, as was the wine some of them had consumed with the dinner.

Amber glanced over at Kai for the umpteenth time since he'd settled in the armchair and bit her lip, again. While they were all relatively used to being around each other at Christmas, he was once again, new. He didn't really hang out with her group of friends at school since he had his own group and none of them were here, except for Tala but… she looked to her childhood friend and smiled softly as he gazed at Ruin, hanging off her every word. She supposed if it were she in that position, she'd be feeling a little left out. Then again, she wasn't Kai. She liked company, sure. Nevertheless, she liked being on her own too, after all if you didn't like spending time with yourself, how could you expect anyone else to like spending time with you? So maybe Kai wasn't feeling alone at all… and then again, the loneliest place could often be in a room filled with others. She could sympathize with that.

She nibbled on her nail and thought about what she could do. Naturally she couldn't make any gestures in case he took it the wrong way, but he wasn't Wyatt so she didn't think he'd be that naïve to think that if a girl talked to him, then she liked him.

She was watching him, again; he could sense the weight of her gaze pressing on him so that he couldn't drift off, as he wanted to. She'd barely spoken to him since they met in the kitchen but she'd constantly been stealing glances at him, he'd felt them, caught them and saw them reflected off surfaces or mirrors. Lazily he opened his eyes and looked at her. Their eyes locked for one humming beat, so that he was lost in the bottomless depths of aged whiskey. His pulse kicked, his mouth went bone dry when he caught the movements of the tip of her tongue flicking over her lips.

A loud burst of noise from the kitchen where the grown ups -minus Hitoshi who didn't realize he'd grown up yet- had retired, had Amber snapping to her senses and averting her gaze away from him, blushing hotly when she realized where her thoughts had turned. Everyone's attention turned to the new arrivals that entered the room.

"Now the party can really get started! Daichi is he-fuck off Ozuma!" Daichi snarled at his older brother who shoved him out of his way before moodily thumping down onto the couch beside Hitoshi who raised an inquiring brow. Ozuma just closed his eyes, expression remaining stony and said nothing.

Amber rolled her eyes. Seemingly, Ozuma still was pissed off with her. She hadn't even done anything, she just asked him about Sonia when he'd been visiting her father, only she happened to ask it in front of his parents. This led to them teasing him and he'd gotten pissed off with her big time. It then resulted in both of them not speaking to each other, which was fine with Amber. Ozuma was excessively touchy for his own good and to be honest she was fed up of tiptoeing round him. She had her own problems too and he acted as though he was the only one in the world who had them. He disregarded the fact that she had always tried to be a good friend to him and instead focused on that one mistake she'd made ignoring the many similar mistakes he'd made himself. He thought he was perfect and superior to everyone when it came to flaws and Amber hated that and the way sometimes her cousin could be so two faced. However, she still cared about him. This was a reason she felt sick to the stomach; she hated having unresolved conflicts. If he just told her, he never wanted to speak to her ever again, she'd be able to deal with it but he was just ignoring her for the moment. Maybe in a few days he'd cool down, if not then she'd tell him to cop himself on. She was human just as much as he was, still she had apologized and it had been sincere too.

She caught Daichi's eye and she shrugged. She wasn't making the first move to patch things up, she'd apologized and he'd shrugged it off as though it was nothing more than a gnat. Well, if that was how he treated her after everything she'd done for him over the years and years they'd known each other; then fine. She didn't need that crap.

"Hey Chi, check this out!" Tyson called out to his friend, leaning back to snag his game cover from the floor where Hitoshi had left it after skimming the blurb. He proudly exhibited it to Daichi whose eyes lit up with glee.

"Score! Nice one Ty."

"Wanna play it?"

"Sure, Joe's gonna shit himself. He didn't get it, got some other game instead, not half as good."

"Hey Ams, have you got a memory card for this thing? I want to save my style points, and then I'll copy them to mine later."

Amber nodded at Tyson. "Sure buddy." She scrambled to her feet, glad for the excuse to get away from Kai's probing look. God, the guy just annoyed her by existing! She was completely and utterly aware of him in a way she wasn't aware of any other guys. It was unnerving. In addition, the fact that he knew it -and she was sure he did- was infuriating. He already had a big enough ego; she didn't want to go adding to it.

She escaped to her room and set about trying to remember where she'd have left the memory card. She had lost three already and one of them had her best Yu-gi-oh dueling deck on it for the PS1 and her attempts to start a similar one were never as good as the original. She'd have tried to leave them somewhere safe, but that meant it'd be hard to find again which equaled to them being lost, again! Her eyes lit up, she'd just steal one of Shahero's, she'd never know. Alternatively, she could always just head over to Tyson's and get his for him. Nah, Hero's was closer.

Just as she turned to leave, she noticed Ruin standing in the doorway with a look almost resembling horror. "What?"

"What the hell happened?"

"Huh?" Amber looked around her room and frowned, nothing there to provoke that reaction. Maybe

Ruin was finally losing it. "What do you mean, what happened?"

"To your room Amber. You've been in here less than an hour in the whole time you've been here and it's a dump."

Again, Amber looked round her room. What was wrong with it? It was cleaner than it usually was. Sure, there were three books on the floor, and a tossed pair of boots in the corner, not forgetting the scattered DVD's on the bed or the pile of clothes on the futon but other than that, the room was reasonably tidy. She looked to the floor; see you could still see the mulberry carpet, which shouldn't have been visible at all. "Uh, it's tidier than it usually is. Besides, you share a dorm with me. You know I like organized chaos, it reminds people that I actually live in this room."

"I know you tend to get messy and clutter places up, but this is just ridiculous. You haven't been in here that long!"

"No, I was up here when you and Tala were…" she trailed off with a wiggle of her brows; then stopped when Ruin glared at her. "Uh- I was up here unpacking earlier."

"Generally, unpacking means transferring clothes from one place to another. It doesn't mean dump clothes out of bag onto futon!"

"Oh that's for the laundry; I left my clean clothes in the wardrobe."

Ruin was tempted to open the door, just to see if the clothes were folded, but she didn't want to tempt fate and have all the clothes falling out on her. She wasn't really angry with Amber, just exasperated. How could she live like this? She wasn't clinically clean or anything to that extreme, but she did like to have space around her to move and think. If Amber were to stay in this room much longer, she'd be lost under the pile of clothes.

"Couldn't you have put them in the laundry basket like normal people?"

"Yeah, I'll do it in a minute." Amber replied from where she knelt on all fours by the bed that her head was lost under. "Hmm… Do you know if I packed my Lost Prophets' CD?"

"No." Ruin answered boredly as she dumped herself on the bed and waited for Amber to sit down.

"So what did you- AHA! Not what I was looking for, but you'll do." She crawled out from under the bed and crossed to the CD player, brushing off the CD case before inserting the CD. "So what did you want to talk about?"

"You."

"Oh my favorite topic." she cheered drearily as she skipped through the songs making the CD whir and whine until she found the song she wanted. A few seconds later, the intro to 'Whisper' by Evanescence blasted out. "So what aspect of me do you wish to discuss?"

This truth drives me, into madness. I know I can stop the pain, if I will it all away, if I will it all away!

"How about _your_ love life?"

Don't turn away (don't give into the pain) Don't try to hide (though they're screaming your name) Don't close your eyes (god knows what lies behind them.) Don't turn off the light (Never sleep, Never die)

Amber stared at her. "Well that'll be a relatively short conversation considering I don't have a boyfriend!" If she didn't know any better then she would have thought Ruin was trying to gloat about her having a boyfriend… or whatever Tala was. "You on the other hand-"

"Amber!"

Amber let out a sound that was half frustration, half resignation. She threw her hands up in the air before stomping over to the bed and dropping onto it. Scowling, she tugged out the DVD that was protruding into her backside. "Ok, can't we talk about something else?"

Ruin sighed but figured Amber probably needed easing into talking about her and Kai. She'd noticed the looks between them and she had a good idea what was going on. A guy didn't look at a girl in that way unless he was after one thing. "Fine, what's going on with you and Ozuma?"

Amber squirmed uncomfortably. "I don't want to talk about it." she replied not wanting to get into more trouble with her cousin, though she did want to talk about it. Talking about things helped her gain perspective and stopped her from blowing things out of proportion. It was a good thing for people to do, though not many did. If you talked about things then it stopped you from storing things up and making yourself sick. Why else were people sent to psychiatrists?

Don't turn away (don't give into the pain) Don't try to hide (though they're screaming your name) Don't close your eyes (god knows what lies behind them.) Don't turn off the light (Never sleep, Never die)

"Well what do you want to talk about?"

Scrunching up her face, Amber sighed and gave in to her nature. "Ok, I suppose I should start at the beginning, or what I think is the beginning. I'm not really sure where it started for him. In fact, if I'm being honest, I don't exactly know where it started for me. I mean I thought he was cute from the get go, I can admit that-"

"I take it we're talking about Kai."

"Yeah. Why who else… Oh sorry. No, we're not talking about my secret crush on Ozuma. We're talking about my not-so-secret crush on _him._" she glanced around uncomfortable with saying his name aloud when he was just down stairs.

"Right, well you better fill me in on the details so I can help you with this, huh?"

"Thanks. I'm confused. He's annoying and frustrating. He just winds me up the wrong way and half the time when I'm around him, I want to hit him for being so much better than we mere mortals are. But that was mainly when I didn't know the real him, just the part of him he showed to others." she tucked her legs under her body and grabbed Joe, locking him in her arms securely. "He's actually quite decent."

"Oh I'll go tell Mother that you wish to wed him, shall I!" Ruin mocked. "Quite decent?" She scoffed. "What kind of description is that? I know he's fair but come on, Ams, if you like him-"

Amber glowered at her. "Fine. What do you want me to say? He's gorgeous? Fine he is. However, he's also smart and really makes me think on my feet, not many do that. I usually run rings around people and it gets boring when people sit there and let me call them stupid because they can't think up anything to make me shut up. But I just thought, you know, maybe in a few months we'll sort of be friends and he was dating Miriam, so he-"

"Was a safe bet for you to have a crush on because if he found out, he wouldn't be able to do anything about it, right?"

Ochre eyes suddenly found the carpet interesting. "Yeah, stupid huh?"

"A little. But I can understand, I think."

"Yeah well with him being with Miriam, I didn't think I'd have anything to worry about."

"Until?"

"I don't know. There were just these times that I caught him just watching me and it was eerie but I just convinced myself that he was doing it to intimidate me or he was looking for a weakness or something to get me thrown off the team or other ridiculous things. Basically, he was looking at me as though I was a puzzle to figure out. Now he thinks he's got me solved."

Ruin nodded softly. "That's pretty annoying when they think they know you better than you know yourself."

Amber chuckled bitterly. "You're telling me. Well anyway, the big hints that something was going on came on that trip."

0-0-0

Tala stopped outside Amber's room and raised a hand to knock on the door. She'd been gone for a little more than ten minutes and people were really beginning to wonder if the black hole under the bed had finally claimed her, so he'd been sent to seek her out. Once she was sent back down stairs, he'd find Ruin and find out if that trip they were planning to take was still on for today; or was she going to squirm out of it.

His hand froze when he heard Ruin's sultry voice, followed by Amber's melodic one. "All I can remember is waking up the next morning with him wrapped around me like a second blanket. It was… odd to say the least. I felt so awkward and I don't know, good I suppose. Then I just wanted to leave, I didn't want to face him but he kept trying to pull me back. Then he goes and calls me Miriam."

Amber's tone went glum on the name and had panic and temper fighting within him. What was she talking about? Moreover, who was he? Could she be talking about Kai? But when would she be in the same… he trailed off as it began to sink in. That night he'd sent Amber to Kai's room. She'd been so off the next morning, trying to be normal but failing miserably and the past week she hadn't been herself. She said herself that she felt wrong inside. Had Kai taken advantage of her? He never imagined he would, but Kai was male and he'd been in a room alone with a beautiful girl. However, it would explain the way they'd been acting around each other all day. Both had been on edge. Could she be pregnant? Turning on his heel, he stormed down the stairs with the intention of confronting his 'so called' friend.

0-0-0

Inside the room, Amber paced as she always did when she was thinking things out. "So then this past week everything was ok. I mean it seemed to me that we were at least tolerating each other but then he went and ruined it all."

"Why what did he do?"

"He kissed me."

Ruin blinked. "Say that again?"

"He… kissed… me." Amber repeated slowly, at Ruin's surprised expression, she quickly added. "I know; I don't believe it either."

"Oh no," Ruin said with a shake of her head. "I can well believe it. I'm just surprised you have kept this quiet so long."

"Well, I just… He dumped Miriam and then he kisses me but there were no tongues so…"

"Still a kiss."

"But I just don't get it. He and Miriam were good together, why would he do that?"

"Probably because he likes you Amber. As hard as it is for you to understand, you're gorgeous and he can see that. Miriam's pretty but she's fickle."

"Kai said something similar."

"What do you mean?" The older woman sat up on the bed.

"Well he mentioned that if Miriam was in the same position as me, then she'd have taken advantage of it where as I was more inclined to put my friends first."

Ruin pondered this. "He's right but why did he say that?"

"I said some really harsh things to him and told him that I didn't want him… and shit… I was really cruel and I forgot just how cruel I was to him. I just kept thinking about this kiss but forgot that after the kiss I called him ugly and selfish."

"Dare I ask why?" Ruin asked, with a raised brow.

"Because he told me something I was beginning to realize myself. That if Miriam was in my place, she'd have kissed him but she'd twist it so it would be my fault, ya know. She always twists things so I'm in the wrong and it's not fair. I deserve to be a little happy, right?"

"Of course you do. Would Kai make you happy?"

Amber pondered that; then shrugged with a heavy sigh. "Honestly I don't know but I could always try giving it a go. Having a boyfriend's not that big a deal." she caught the way a muscle twitched in Ruin's cheek and she nodded. "Alright, out with it."

"Out with what?"

"You and Tala. What's the deal? He's looking at you as though you're a goddess on earth while you're acting as though he's the devil trying to pull you down to hell. So tell me what's wrong. You never know, I might be able to help."

"I can deal with it myself."

"You could, but you'd fuck up. You don't think of how what you say would affect another, Ruin. What you have to keep reminding yourself is that Tala's not like the other guys. He's your friend and he knows you too well, odds are he knows just what's bugging you so much."

Ruin thought about that and realized that the Runt spoke the truth. Tala knew fine well what had crawled up her ass and died. "He wants us to go steady."

Amber raised a brow. "And what?"

"That's it."

Amber face faulted. "You're kidding? Christ Ruin, I thought you were carrying his child but didn't want it or something. Jeez, that's all? Seriously?"

"I don't want to go steady." Ruin bit out, rising to her feet and plucking the hem of her jacket agitatedly.

"I don't see what's wrong with how we are now? Why does he want to ruin it?"

"What's the difference between how you are now and going steady? May seem like a naïve question but I'm just kind of wondering."

Ruin rubbed a hand over her face, hoping she didn't smear anything. "He'll expect me to do girlfriend things like Kennedie and-"

"Stop!" Amber shouted getting to her feet. "Ruin, he's your best friend. He knows your not Kennedie and he'll not expect you to do anything your uncomfortable with. He just wants to be with you officially and know that you're not going to be with anyone else."

Ruin sneered at her. "I'm not going to be with anyone else."

"Well then, what's the big deal?"

The brown-eyed woman gazed at her for a few moments trying to formulate a reply but eventually she gave up. "You're really annoying when you do that."

Her friend beamed. "Well what can I say? Talking things out helps rationalize things. Besides, I can understand where you're coming from. You're afraid of commitment. And if I'm being honest, so am I. Every guy I've loved has hurt me. Dad, Tala… and I think I could love Kai. I also know that if he does hurt me, he'll not only break my heart, he'll shatter it. I don't want that to happen, Ruin."

Before Ruin could answer, there was a shout from downstairs. Amber growled and marched to the door, wrenching it open. "What?"

"Nana's on the phone."

"Ok. I'll take her on the upstairs phone." she cast an apologetic glance over her shoulder at Ruin.

"Go ahead, I'll see you later." Ruin watched Amber slip out the door before she headed down the stairs.

0-0-0

Half way down she ran into Daichi.

"Where's Amber?"

"She's on the phone to Molly, why?"

"Tala and Kai are beating the shit out of each other." He announced with wide green eyes and flushed cheeks. Probably the most exciting thing to happen so far, Ruin surmised.

"They're fighting? Why?"

"I don't know." he babbled bewildered as she pushed past him and strode down the hall and into the living room where, as Daichi had said, both boys were pounding on each other while the others looked on either concerned, bemused or as Shahero was doing, randomly cheering on Tala.

"What happened?" she asked moving up to Hitoshi's side.

"I don't know. Tala comes in while Kai and I were talking, calls Kai a bastard and socks him one in the jaw. When I went to step in, Kai told me to back off, tried to reason with Tala but after taking another punch to the gut, he just laid into him."

"And there's no reason for this? How long have they been like this?"

"Couple of minutes. I sent Daichi to get you and Amber; I figured you two could talk some sense into Tala."

She grimaced as one of Tala's blows glanced of Kai's kidneys making the bluenette roar out, before bucking and rolling Tala over. Tala was the one who was attacking more while Kai was concentrating more on defending himself.

"You're a selfish manipulative shit face, Hiwatari."

"What is your problem?" Kai grunted out, wincing as once again Tala's fist came too close for comfort.

He was definitely going to feel this in the morning.

"Both of you stop it." Ozuma shouted.

"Oh, ouch that was a nasty one." Tyson commented to Daichi who nodded; then winced and scooted back as the boys neared him.

"I'll go get a bucket of water." Shahero volunteered; then shrugged sheepishly when everyone stared at her. "What? I read it in a book."

"Well I doubt Treasa would appreciate a wet patch in her new carpet."

Shahero looked down at it and pressed her foot into the springy material beneath her feet. "Heh, it is new." she flicked her gaze to the two boys and winced. "…and soon enough it's gonna be bloody, so um, how are we gonna stop this? Better still, move it to another place. I really want to see who wins, my odds are on Tala."

Ruin wearily rolled her eyes. "VALKOV!"

Tala didn't even flinch; it was as though he didn't even hear her. Instead, he continued to try to hit Kai, but Kai punched him hard on his mouth so that Tala reared back giving Kai the upper hand to flip him over and pinned him, yet again. "Dammit Valkov what is your fucking problem?"

"You." his friend spat, blood welling in his lip, which had split.

"Tala for Christ sakes…" Ruin trailed off, she wasn't prone to emotional outbursts but this was stupid and such a male thing to do. Fighting with a friend for no good reason… God! She rolled her eyes to Hitoshi and Ozuma, who nodded and pulled them apart.

Hitoshi struggled with Tala while Kai shrugged Ozuma off him, shot a dark venomous look at Tala before striding past Amber as she entered the room. She looked between the two boys, saw the state Tala was in and her face, which had been cheerful, went from shocked to confused, then her expression shifted to icy temper. She spun on her heel and marched back in the direction Kai had left. Ozuma rolled his eyes knowing just how his cousins' thoughts had turned. Quickly he chased after her. No point in making the team suffer because of her.

Tala watched Amber leave and felt ice creep through his veins. She was going after that bastard after what he'd done to her? With a snarl, Tala shoved away from Hitoshi and headed outside away from the rest of them. He ached all over and he just felt sick and furious with himself. The sharp wind slapped his face like a scorned woman. The air was cold and rubbed his lungs raw when he breathed it in. Stars sat out like white gold sparks on the velvet deep blue sky. The moon reflected off the sea on the horizon, cast its pale gaze on the frosted grass, and made the branches glitter.

He sat down on the wraparound porch steps and felt the cold seep through his pants, numbing his firm flesh beneath. His blue eyes, darkened by the lack of bright light stared into the distance but didn't see anything. She'd run after Kai, his Amber had chased after his ex-friend. That was a blow to the gut. He'd expected her to be there for him, but she hadn't been. He should have known that Kai would get to her.

He always did, in the end. Most girls preferred Kai to him, it had always been the way but Kai had never been interested in them. They were always second best when it came to hockey. Now he'd lost his Benz to him, the one person who he had believed would always choose him over any other guy.

Crisp frost crunched underfoot and had him looking over his shoulder, as the light that had been spilling onto him was suddenly blocked. "So this was where you ran to."

He laughed bitterly at Ruin's monotone comment. "Yeah this was where _I_ ran to, where did Amber run to?"

Ruin rolled her eyes. "I think you and I have some talking to do."

0-0-0

Amber burst out of the front door and caught sight of Kai disappearing into the house across the back yard. Scowling, she shoved her fingers into her pockets and wished for her denim jacket, though her blood was running hot enough to fight off the bitchin' cold. The wind was strong enough to blow your face off but she ignored the stinging sensation in her cheeks and hunching her shoulders, she struggled to walk through the back yard without being blown away. She couldn't understand how the sky was so clear with the strength of the wind, surely there would be some clouds, which would make the atmosphere a little warmer.

She focused on the glow of light coming from the kitchen window and shining through the large French windows. As she closed in on the house, the wind died off as the building sheltered her from it. She placed her hand on the handle and yanked it open… or that had been her intention. She hadn't been expecting the goddamn door to be locked! Who locked their doors in Bakuten for Christ sake?

She contemplated going back to her home; then she shook her head. He and Tala shouldn't have been fighting in her house with her mother so close. Didn't they understand she was in a fragile state at the moment? Moreover, why the hell was he fighting with Tala in the first place? Some how she got the slight feeling that it had something to do with her… but another part didn't believe that there could be a reason to fight over her. After all what would they fight about? Making a decision, she knocked on the door just as foot steps pounded up behind her.

She glanced over her shoulder and her brow winged up. "Something wrong Ozuma?"

"Before you go jumping to conclusions and start blaming Hiwatari, you should know it was Tala who started it."

If anything her brows rose higher. Tala? Tala didn't start fights. He verbally abused people, taunted them, sure but physically starting a pointless fight? No, not Tala Valkov. It wasn't his style. "Are you sure?"

"I saw the whole thing. Tala hit Kai for no reason."

"Oh… Still they shouldn't-" the door opened and Kai stood framed in the opening with the warm orange glow surrounding him. His dark eyes looked down at her and the only thing she could see within them was the small glint of pale moonlight. His lip had split; his jaw had begun to discolor and had swollen slightly. Luckily, he didn't seem to have busted his nose and his eyes weren't black, yet. Everything she'd been about to spew at him died in her throat.

Ozuma could almost see the tension between his captain and his cousin and unlike every other time where it made him want to flee the battlefield, this tension made him uncomfortable in a big way. As he watched the two of them, the light began to dawn. His eyes widened. Oh well, this was a surprise. Hiwatari and his neurotic and often annoying baby cousin… it was weird but not altogether unlikely. Silently he backed away from them, not wanting to see any disgusting displays that would definitely end up disturbing him.

Kai didn't hear Ozuma leave, but he noticed the figure walking away out of his peripheral vision. Instead, his gaze had completely focused on her. He knew why she was here. He'd heard her quick footsteps behind him and he was sure she was stewing over him fighting with Tala and as typical of her, she was probably here to give him a headache over how he dared to hit her precious Tala. Even if he told her he didn't have a clue why his supposed friend had started laying in to him, she wouldn't care. Her loyalty would only be to Tala. No doubt, she'd accuse him of being a complete bastard and ban him from…

He bit his tongue, hard, when he felt himself becoming lost in her tawny eyes. He loved how large they were, like windows he could so vividly see each emotion that passed through them, usually but not tonight. He blinked and shifted, which snapped her out of her thoughts.

"What do you want Benson?"

Her brow furrowed at the cold tone, but she pushed her wounded feelings away. It was just as she'd expected; he didn't want her anymore. She'd suspected it, but when he'd talked to her earlier… well… dammit, she wished she understood her emotions better.

"Well… um…"

"Spit it out."

The order and the harsh tone got her back up. She bristled and folded her arms, tilting her chin up and glowering up at him with her blazing eyes and her tender mouth in a stubborn line. "Alright, next time you and Tala decide you want to duke it out, would you please have the courtesy to do it somewhere far away from my pregnant mother."

Despite his neutral expression, inside he was surprised. That was almost civil and rational compared to the rant he'd been preparing himself for. So stunned was he that the only retort he could come up with was: "He started it."

"Really, I don't care. Look, I don't know how it started but I figure I'll find out soon enough." she slipped her hands into the back pockets of her jeans and looked round uncomfortable now that she didn't know what to say.

"Well fine then." he answered, his gaze dipping to her mouth.

"Right." she murmured. She felt her lips buzzing and her gut clenched just as things deeper inside her tingled.

He was just beginning to lean in when a voice called out to them. "Oh Amber leave him alone. For Christ sakes it's Christmas!"

They both looked sharply to their left where Kirby appeared from the shadows. She looked pointedly at Amber and her foot tapped impatiently. Amber looked from her cousin to the boy in front of her; then rolled her eyes. "Fine, I'll be there in a moment."

"Now!"

"Ok." She scowled at her cousin's rudeness and turned to leave when Kai's murmured comment made her stop.

"Sometimes I really hate your family."

She wondered briefly if she'd heard him correctly, then turned to face him. "What?"

He frowned at her. "Nothing."

"You said you hate my family."

He hadn't said that out loud, had he. Well, he hadn't meant to but it seemed he had and it was true. You had to hate their timing. "I said sometimes."

"Ugh, whatever. I don't know why I bother with you, _sometimes_." she growled.

"Neither do I."

"God you are so bloody arrogant." Her eyes blazed with heat and her cheeks were flushed with temper. Her fists clenched on her slender hips.

His eyes dipped to her mouth once more and he contemplated about ignoring all the signs, just so he could taste that mouth. Amber caught where his gaze was and just as he began to dip down, she stepped back hurriedly, almost tripping off the step she'd been standing on. Her pulse was jumping in her throat and her breathing was uneven. Dammit.

"Stop that." she hissed under her breath, casting a glance over her shoulder to see if Kirby had caught his momentary lapse of concentration. It was the only explanation for this… this _thing_ that kept happening between them.

"I wasn't doing anything," he growled gruffly. Damn chit was just trying to drive him insane.

"The hell you weren't." she spat back in an undertone.

He leaned down until their eyes were level. "Don't worry I won't try to do anything."

She scowled, her lip curling up in detest even though a pang of disappointment speared her heart. "I hate you."

His eyes flickered and his face closed down as he drew back. "Bye Benson."

Spinning round, Amber headed back to her cousin. "Stupid male!" she muttered under her breath as the door shut behind her.

0-0-0

Tala pondered over what Ruin just said and dabbed his lower lip, which wasn't bleeding as much as it had been. Amber wasn't pregnant. She hadn't even had sex with Kai and he'd just punched his friend for no good reason. Of course, he didn't feel one bit guilty for doing it. He deserved it.

"You're going to have to apologize." Ruin pointed out the blatantly obvious.

Tala snorted. "You think?"

Ruin ignored the sarcasm with a roll of her almond shaped, brown eyes. "And when you apologize, Kai's more than likely going to want to know why you did it. What are you going to say? 'Oh I'm sorry Kai, I was punching your lights out because I misheard something Amber said and thought you'd slept with her?'" she mocked his deep voice. "Or better yet, you could tell him you were jealous."

His head snapped up. "What would I have to be jealous about?"

"Oh please. Every time she shows an interest in a guy who's not you, you go nuts. You keep on being so possessive of her and you're going to end up pushing her away because she won't stand for you hurting people she cares about."

"I do not."

"Do too." she muttered holding up a hand when he went to retort with something that would probably be 'do not'. She was too fed up to play along with his childish antics. "Look Amber doesn't want many boys, not in a serious way. I think she's falling for Kai and you should be happy for her."

"He's not good enough."

Ruin sighed heavily crouching down to sit beside him watching the distant clouds began to creep closer as the wind herded them. "According to you and Bryan no one is."

"I don't want to see her hurt!" Tala shot back exasperated that Ruin was siding with Kai. Kai, who was always fighting with his Benz, who had a girlfriend and who spent more time sniping at Amber than anything else.

"Why do you think he'll hurt her?"

"Because he will! He won't be able to help himself. Even if he doesn't want to, he will."

"Oh and how will he?"

"By rejecting her feelings." Tala grumbled into cupped palms as he blew on them to warm them up.

"What makes you think he doesn't feel the same?"

He blinked at her. "You think he does?"

"I think there's something there. And you don't give her enough credit. She's not going to go marching up to him and declare she's in love with him. She's barely figured out her own emotions, she's not going to hand them to someone else unless she's sure of him."

"I just worry about her."

"So do I. But you don't see me jumping to conclusions and smashing someone's face in." Ruin muttered, running a hand through her hair exasperated. "Now you have to find a way to apologize without making Kai suspicious because I don't think Amber wants him to know."

"He kissed her."

"He did. And she ran away. I don't really know the ins and outs and knowing her, she'll solve this on her own. That's the way she usually handles things once she has them sorted in her head. Just talk to her, apologize to Kai and make sure she doesn't lose her trust in you because once you've lost her trust, you've lost her friendship."

Tala nodded softly. "Yeah I know."

"So fix it," she said getting to her feet and pulling out a crumpled envelope. She slid her finger into the gap and slit it open, emptying the thin rectangular piece of paper inside. After a quick scan, her eyes darkened. "Typical." she spat angrily.

"What?" She handed him the slip of paper and folded her arms, leaning against the doorway as he read it. "That's a lot of money."

"It's a big bribe is what it is. Bastards expect me to turn up so they can play happy families at their stupid party and hopefully set me up with some rich man's son."

"Well you can't be set up," Tala replied handing her the letter back, which she promptly ripped up.

"Because you're mine, even if you're pissed- no especially when you're pissed with me."

"Are you trying to soften me up?"

"Who, me? Would I attempt the impossible?"

"You would if you thought you were going to get laid out of it. Which you aren't on account of you being injured."

He got to his feet with a wince and crossed to her, maneuvering her so he caged her in. "Well if you kissed-"

She smiled invitingly up at him, slipping her hands up his torso. His head dipped to hers and he noticed the wicked gleam in her eyes too late. He hissed in pain as her finger found a sore point and dug in.

"Bitch."

"Indeed I am and you'd better remember that Valkov. I'm not the girlfriend type, I'm not going to hang on your every word, I'm not going to need to be with you all the time, I like being on my own. Dates seem like a pointless waste to me, and I don't get jealous so I don't like it when people get jealous around me."

"I know all this."

"I'm just making sure you do." She leaned up and captured his lower lip lightly with her teeth.

Tala smirked. "So that means-"

"Means whatever you need it to mean," she muttered before fusing her mouth to his.

**End of chapter 15. Chapter 16 should be the good part… was supposed to be this chapter but that got screwed. These chapters are way too long. I don't know how to shorten them and I didn't even have that many characters to deal with. Meh, hoped y'all liked. Reviews are below.**

Oh and check out my new fic Taken for Granted.

Summary: Amber has always believed in one love for each person, but now her one love is dead what will become of her? Is she going to be single forever? And how is she supposed to mourn her beloved's death when he's haunting her night and day, popping up to bug her in her new school or at her new job at the local stables? Hopefully relying on her family, her old friends and her new ones she'll get through this hard time in her life, but maybe some one will help her deal with her grief easier than anyone else can. Kai/OC. Dealing with Life, love, religion and death in the picturesque scenery of County Donegal, Ireland. Amber POV!

**Ryouya-Kyuuketsuki: **No I didn't take down Love/Hate, it was removed by the site for having explicit content. But it's better this way because I was getting annoyed with it and I happen to prefer my newer fics, Taken For Granted and SLTS, they're more realistic I think.

**Zimo: **Well howdy stranger! I noticed your sabbatical from FF and then you return with a vengeance with two new Cowboy Bebop fics. It's a pity I've never seen the cartoon or film, if I had I would have made an effort to read them but I'd only be confused. I know what it's like to lose interest in a fic, sucks a billion because I feel I've let others and myself down but if you can't write it, there's no point in trying because you'll only end up not doing it justice. As for pointless chapters, well I guess you make a good point. What's a story without character development, huh? If you don't understand a character how can you understand why they do things? The opening, um, it was not bad. It just flowed out of me when I sat down to write it shortly after chapter fourteen. I have chapter 18 basically planned out in my head, hopefully, even though seventeen isn't quite finished yet. St. Paddy's day is coming up soon? Are you excited? I sure am... Lol. Anyways it's really nice to see you back again. We've missed you loads. Oh and Russia will be appearing in chapter 18!

**Weffie: **My work is fab:basks in glow of review: Ok, well I really hope you enjoyed that installment of SLTS.

**Darkfire75: **Did you finish this fic? I don't see it as character development, I see it as mindless drivel. Lol. It's just me neurotically typing down the musings and mindless babblings and then saying it belongs to someone, lol. Well maybe not. I just like getting into peoples' heads. I mean the human mind so fun to explore. Characteristics of people, how they react to others and themselves is fun to write about and if you don't develop a character then you can't understand why it does something or why it reacts a certain way. I just like human behavior. But on saying that I find it makes my story boring compared to others, it's slow. It took me so long to make the main characters kiss and even then it never worked. But if you love then I'm very grateful because you're enjoying reading something I'm enjoying writing and I'm glad I can share it with someone. Love/Hate pairings are fun to write, but they don't make for a very healthy relationship at times, lol. I hope this chapter lives up to your expectations.

**Sigourney: **I'm glad you're not complaining about the length but sometimes when I'm writing the chapters and I'm only half way through my plot line, I'm wondering what the hell have been writing? Does that make any sense? I've given up plot lines for the chapters, it never works and I always leave things out. Wow, Sonia is really making her mark in this world which I'm ecstatic about because she's not like any other characters and she's actually winning over Mariam fans... admirable. Yeah Sonia and Ozuma belong together, Mariam's just confused. I like Mariam a lot, so I won't make her this complete slut bitch because there's enough in the world. Cow pat, dog shit... Amber and Kai had a conversation revolving around crap which is very weird, but I just had to put that into the conversation. Those two are very different but at other times they have similarities. Yeah they almost kissed and Hitoshi ruined it, the big meanie! Well I was writing that chapter back around Halloween and I was listening to a Christmas CD and I didn't have the lyrics, so I thought that was a good way of saying what was playing in the background so the chapter would still retain it's festiveness and everyone knows most of those carols more or less. I don't believe Sonia was thinking, she got frustrated and kicked her foot at the ground and possibly her shoe flew off, I'm not sure on the details because Sonia hasn't informed Ozuma yet, lol. I'm so pleased people aren't giving out to me for Hitoshi being so much older than Shahero, well four years older or so. But you can't deny true love, even if you can try. I thought his name was Mikel, but it turned out it was Miguel, so I changed it. I might go back and change it later, if I can be bothered, lol. But Miguel and Mikel are one and the same. It was my mistake. Kirby... well you're probably one of the only people who liked her dressing up for him. Everyone else was like, he should just like her for who she is, but Kirby isn't changing, personality wise, she's just finding out who she is. I wish I had a Bryan, which is why Bryan is the way he is. Amber's living the life I want to a degree. But I was neglecting Bryanny for a bit, so he got his time with his cousin. Mariam and Amber are different in that perspective, Mariam lives her life the way she wants and makes herself happy, Amber doesn't. You can't dislike Mariam for that, because a lot of people do that, but Kai's a determined man and if he wants something bad enough, he'll get it. So Amber better watch out. No problem about not reviewing for the last while, I appreciate the long one though, mucho thanks.

**Grandsummon: **Hey Sarah... ok can I ask if your pen name comes from Yunie's overdrive because if it did, it only just hit me there now... :sigh: I'm sooo slow. LMAO you're review made me laugh so much. How giddy were you when you wrote it, eh? It wasn't so explosive, ne? But I think that's because Amber was still out of it from her Dad's so that's why she didn't erupt big time. She's growing up and maturing...:sniff: They are more open because they haven't grown up together, so they don't have these set ideas in their heads of what they're relationship should be. Like, Kai hasn't been Amber's worst enemy for 17 years old and she isn't just suddenly having feelings for him, ya know? Yeah Kai thinks she's beautiful which is sweet. Yes Amber is too loyal for her own good and that's her biggest fault. Kai's very decent and why not? He had good parents who raised him right, he's not the type to play with people's hearts for a laugh and in the show he was pretty decent too. After all he could have gone on and on about how great a blader he was and how they wouldn't have won anything without him, but he tends to sit back and let the others have the spot light. He's the perfect hero, lol. Yeah but it wasn't his intention to kiss Amber so suddenly after breaking up with Mariam but Amber wouldn't leave him alone. What could he do? LOL, calm down. Mariam isn't Sonia's enemy, Sonia's enemy is herself. Sonia's shoe caused quite a stir, lol. It's just showing Sonia's temper that only comes out when she's frustrated. No understands religion anymore, I just try to follow the commandments, which is basic common sense and I believe in right and wrong, but I'm not one for believing in the devil, it's as bad as blaming the fairies for the milk going sour. If you don't put the milk in the fridge then it's your fault it's sour. This story won't deal much with religion, TFG on the other hand, it deals with religion a lot because it was a big deal in Donegal because we were so close to the Border. We had the gold suited Santa in the shop so I figured Ian would love it, especially if it was mechanical. I have a new idea for him, based on the Godfather... :snickers: Lol, the Irish comment soo true. We can't play any game without inventing new rules, heck we even invented a game stuck between soccer and rugby so we could control the rules, lol. Kai and Amber, I love writing them when he's trying to get rid of her and she won't leave him alone, it's so easy and natural to write the quirky comments and retorts that fly between them. The shower conversation, I do like that scene. Yeah Ruin's parents won't be winning any trophies but she pretty much ignores them now and she can stay with Amber as long as she likes. Kind of handy to have a mom like Treasa, pregnant and still taking people into her house. She should have become a foster parent or something, actually I did have an idea for that but stalled on the first chapter, lol. Shahero and Hitoshi kissed in this chapter too, yay! No that wasn't sexy Amber lol, that was Amber being forced to wear a godforsaken heathen skirt that made her look like a champagne glass. Yes I adore Mariah and Rei and I don't think Beyblade put her to as good a use as she could have been. She's like one of the best female characters they ever had and not half as annoying as Hillary. Voltaire and Kai scene in chapter 17, just heads up for you. Jaysus I feel sorry for your mom, really she doesn't have easy at all. It's just one thing after another, is she getting over the vertigo thing? And how's she this month? When September ends is almost my fave, it's in chapter two of TFG, so it gets a new meaning to it, lol. No Amber/Kai fluff in this chapter, I don't think. :cough:Next chapter:cough: Ah, now we get to the firework... um... well on New Years Eve I was at my friend Lynns for her party and her boyfriends friend (so typically Irish thing to say) brought fire works to go outside and watch them. So we went out, around to the back and I was standing by the corner, because I was cold and in heels and I wanted to go back in as soon as possible. So the tosser puts the firework in the ground, only he shoves it in the ground and lights it, and instead of rocketing into the air, the firework can't get off the ground, so it explodes and scares the shit out me. Now I thought I was being smart by heading down the side of the house to get away from it, but as luck would have had it, it shot off in my direction and if it wasn't for David and Edele yanking me back, I would've done some serious damage to myself... So there you go. I hate Clowns, and Mime artists and ventriloquist dummies. Because their faces are all fake and happy and they freak me out. And Sharks and Snakes and Spiders and Rats, all demon creatures...:shudders: Yes it was shouted out by Enrique, lol. I hope you like this chapter, not so fluffy but major Tala and Amber moment.

**Achava: **:cheesy grin: Yeah Happily Ever After couldn't happen in... well maybe in a normal story they could be together in chapter fourteen, but not in a Zadien, incredibly long numerous chapter, story. That would be blasphemy, lol. Man... they should be together, they were supposed to be together two chapters ago but well the characters took over and screwed that idea. But Amber couldn't just leap into his arms especially when she's feeling guilty for him breaking up with Mariam and making her friend cry, so... yeah... chapter 16 is finished, thank you, now just to finish chapter 17 and start chapter eighteen.

**Chiharu-Chan: **I found a G-rev picture gallery recently and I copied a few of the pictures to look at when I'm writing a scene... :sigh: Stupid Brooklyn is now taking up most of my folder and I'm not hating him quite as much, especially since I got pictures of him with his animal friends that I'm sure he blackmailed. LOL. Nah I like him now, not as much for he hurt Kai, but all the same, I don't mind him and he's going to be in a good couple of chapters coming up soon. And he's got a special part in my new fic, he's not hated by me no more and I'm quite worried. I'm in love... with Mystel... this is not good! Why's he so cute! But not in adorable cute Maxy way that you want to pinch his cheeks, though that wouldn't' be so bad... but in this gorgeous way that you just want him to smile at you. One picture did this whole, tearing me between Kai and Mystel. I was a one man woman, now I'm torn. This isn't fair. So Mystel will now have a lot of scenes in my story and will be in the sequel, no doubt about it. I'm sorry you've lost interest in the Oc's but alas that's the way it goes and Enri and Johnny don't get much of a look in in the story, will eventually remedy that.

**Paris Super Girls: **Suppity? Mistletoe is a plant consisting of green leaves and white berries and it's said that if a girl and boy stand under it they have to kiss. I can't actually write the guys thinking, "wow she's fine as hell" because it's Derogatory and offensive to the girls. I like my males to think with their brains and not just what's beneath their trousers, they're not just ruled by their hormones and they have a personality where they actually respect females. Lust is grand and dandy but it doesn't make a relationship. I'm glad you liked the Rei and Mariah piece. Mariam does think she has feelings for Ozuma, she used to like him before, but she's confused and with Kai sort of neglecting her, she's turning to Ozuma. It'll sort itself out, don't worry. Salima, yeah poor girl is coping with unrequited love which is harsh, but she won't do anything because Rei is in love with Mariah and Mariah is her friend. I don't like her with Kane, for some reason. Could be because I like Aspin. I'll find her someone, don't worry. Hehehe, Kai understands Amber better than she thinks. He did kiss Mariam, he was making sure his feelings for her were dead, because he didn't want to break up with her and then go to Amber and then go back to her, or stay with Mariam because he didn't know his feelings had changed. I haven't quite dealt with Kirby and Miguel, if it's not sorted in this story then it will be sorted in the sequel. Yeah my last year was filled with nostalgia and I missed my friends desperately, so I think Amber would be feeling the same because she's very close to them, especially Ian even if she doesn't realize it. They are all in their last year of High school and will be going to college next year. See, I don't get this. I hate spiders with a passion, if there's one in the bathroom with me, then I will watch it the whole time, even if it's on the wall and no where near me. But Spider man is my favorite comic hero, so how does that work? Don't feel stupid or a bad writer. I've been writing since I was eight and you just have to practice and put your heart into it and most of all, don't write what you think the readers want to read, write what you want. Well done on passing your semester by the way! Usagi rocks! Lol. Nope I've never heard of Peach Girl and I don't think Sae has either, so no I don't think there's a link. No Li isn't cold hearted, he never was. He just didn't know how to have fun because he had a lot of responsibilities for a young age. Rika and Terada was played down in the American dubbed version, they said she was scared of him, not that she liked him. Oh Rei and Mariah have a baby, love that idea, hehehe. I like Mariah as a name, it just suits her. I like Tyson too, but I like Rei spelt that way and I like Tala better than Yuri or whatever. There's some names I like in English better than Japanese but I like most of the Sailor Moon names in Japanese. Except for in the dubbed version, they called the Queen Selenity and the Princess Serenity which I think stopped so much confusion for me. So Kai has Russian, Japanese and French blood in him? Cool! LOL, well we don't know that one of Voltaire's parents weren't French. But that bit about Voltaire (the French version) being against the kind wanting complete power, now that's interesting.

**Reyan Kashin: **Ugh Gay bob was like that, always being a prick and refusing to let me review anything, now I've a new computer that refuses to let me listen to my music or watch my DVD's. LOL you can be inspiration in a box or a body, cans are just awkward, lol. Yeah teenage life is full of melodrama and it's so interesting to read about. I mean some break a nail and it's like the world ends, it's terrible. Never mind that there are wars going on, the salon's not open so how can they face the public with a chipped nail? Being a Drama Queen makes life interesting for everyone around you and everyone has a bit of a drama queen in them. Stealing characters... I love it! XD

**Seraph: **Well I thought it was pretty pointless :sticks out tongue: Your idea of luving is a lot different to everyone else's, wee man XD So I hope you like chapter 15, and the whole 30 mins it takes you to read it! Lol. I want my flashy LOL, it has all the colors in the rainbow!

**eMily06: **Aw thankies. :hands out cookie: Thinking about becoming a writer is different to becoming one though, but I'm getting involved in creative writing course to make me better. I hope you like this chapter too, some intensity, just a lot of laziness though. Christmas dinner, filling.

**Darkwolf-of-night: **Hey Kara, how's you? Amber's not jumping for joy because as much as she likes Kai, she feels guilty for Mariam crying. LOL. Ruin would be much more understanding than Tala I think. But yeah it'll be interesting to see. Well Amber gets to have Kai for two weeks so something may or may not happen. 16 is finally over and done, now I muddling through chapter 17 and chapter 2 on my new fic. So life's a never ending whirligig of fun for me.

**Arcada Avalon: **LOL, your head's weird! Yeah FFX and FFX2 all rock and the film's coming out, can't wait. Kai's doing that whole protect my mate thing by making Amber eat, it's a whole male domination thing. Lol I liked that line too, it's very them. Ah leave Hito alone, he did a good thing. Amber would have had major guilt for kissing Kai while he was with Mariam. I don't torture you, my characters control me, I just write what they want me to write. Yeah Kai likes her mouth, which is good I suppose because if he didn't then there wouldn't be much kissing going on. Well you have to admit, when the mushy girly thing get going, so do Shahero, Arista and Amber, usually in the opposite direction! Miguel loves Kirby, he doesn't know what's going on in her head but he thinks she doesn't like him. Believe me he'll have his thoughts on the whole skirt issue later. As for her changing, well she's growing up and trying to find what the right style for her is. Yeah Enrique rocks, it's just he's very into girls and he acts a bit goofy and blond at times. But he's genuinely nice. LOL stuffing people in boxes is fun! So you're saying that someone would be eating with a double edged knife? Let's just stick with the fork, ok. LOL

**CoOkiE-WiNgS: **LOl, yeah the great Zadien sounds like some kind of magician or something. And here's my wonderful assistant, the neurotic Amber! LOl. I don't' think Amber's being selfless, more like perverse. She has no idea that she's pretty and she doesn't think anyone can like her the way she likes them, so she punishes herself by pushing away anything that could be good for her. Kai will knock some sense into her, thank god for him. True, her loyalty is often her best feature but it also ends up hurting her too. Life's cruel like that. Nah there's only so much constructive criticism a person can take, so thanks for the review.

**xxDreamer: **Thanks for the review. I'm glad you love this. I'm enjoying writing it. So I hope you like this chapter just as much.

**Nyx: **The candies and cookies were much enjoyed. It took a long time to give into those feelings huh? Then again, it took a while to evolve those feelings. So I hope this chapter matches up to your standards.

**Aki Kunikata: **Sarcasm is my one true passion, if I don't put sarcasm in the stories, then they wouldn't be mine, lol. Shahero and Hitoshi rock big time. You have to admit, he's the coolest assistant coach ever, eh? As for a brow bar, it's like an eye brow ring only a single bar that pierces through with small balls at both end to stop it slipping out.

**T.k-Kon: **Glad you liked the chapter. Hope you like this one too.

**Chikaitou-411: **I know I take so long to update, like once a month but it's because chapters are so long. I guess. But I'll be trying to update my two fics each month so at least my readers can read something of mine every fortnight. Sorry about that, it's taking ages to write each chapter, there's so much to involve.

**Armith-Greenleaf: **I think you hit the nail on the head. Amber and Kai are far too stubborn for their own good. I don't know, sometimes I just don't think anything happened or that it takes too long for something to happen, then again I love reading chapters with funny character development, so I suppose others could like doing that too. I like dark brown, I just like Kai's eyes:nods: I live in Ireland and every guy has light eyes even the ones with brown eyes, well they're light hazel brown and yeah I can see where you're coming from. I wouldn't mind a bit of the exotic because I'm fed up with murky browns and blues and greens, I like vivid bright colors. Ok I've seen Kai's g-rev get up and I can't agree completely, because his scarf has mutated and several times it seems to attack him by trying to suffocate it. But I'm so looking forward to seeing this series. It just seems to have been developed so well, the plot line the characters each getting their own separate part. I love Kai so ya know, I've no problems with you liking an anime character. I also like Mystel... should I? Is he nice? Because he's part of BEGA and I don't like Brooklyn or Garland or Ming-Ming... so is Mystel ok? I know it's depressing, no guy will live up to the anime guys. We're doomed to settle for second best, lol.

**Luvz Fluffy-sama: **Lol, you liked the Breakup? I feel sorry for Mariam, she's having it hard. Being looked over for her friend. I hate and loath spiders. There was one in the bathroom last night and I couldn't stop looking at it while I was on the toilet even when it was on the other side of the room, it was as though I was scared it would jump the whole of the room and land on me and now I can't find it anywhere... As for Spiders knowing when we go to the bathroom, it's like they have a psychic sense. Never mind a third eye, they have a third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth eye!

**Midnight Insanity: **Nah I can be myself with the Rankin side of my family because they're all as mad as hatters. Like Aunty Elaine tried to hide mom in the freezer so she wouldn't have to go home while Uncle David phoned me up one night declaring that he'd be up in an hour or so to take me to the nightclub. I swear I just thought he was some weirdo that had found my number somewhere... He just about died of laughter telling Uncle Leslie and Mike about it...:growls: He soon shut up when I told him that I wasn't too worried since I was used to weirdoes phoning me :snickers: But my Dad and Mom come from big families, so I'm bound to find someone I can be myself with. There's 10 siblings in my Dad's family and 9 in my mom's. So I have a lot of experiences to draw on and a lot of characters to work with. I love family dynamics and around Easter in the Fic we'll finally meet the illustrious Nana Molly, who I can't wait for.unknown: The Clover burn took two tries to get perfect, I knew what I wanted him to apply, just couldn't get the words so I'm glad you commented on it because it means I achieved Clover bitchiness... yay! Ah Clover's an easy target. Thanks for the review.

**Smiley-Joe: **Everyone's pretty much voiced their happiness at the break up... poor Mariam but then I can't really speak because I was going through a serious, I don't like Mariam, stage not so long ago. Now I'm feeling bad for her. Guilt's a bitch. I know, Ian's really just being bullied by these petite vicious girls, isn't it great? I'd say that Hitoshi would agree with you on the about time comment. He's been after Shahero for how long? Lol, I don't know, it wasn't really hard to come up with the personalities. Amber is a big part of me, the me I don't show many people, and Ruin is the more adult, older sister side of me, but she walked into my imagination in her gothic clothing with the name and the nick name all in tow... it was kind of odd. I just know that everyone doesn't have the same personality and I just write them the way I want them to be. I guess it's like when someone draws up a cast to an anime, each person looks different, no one's the same. I just take what they look like and work with the personality I feel would go with the expression in their eyes and their hairstyle and stuff like that. They all speak about a person. Oh yeah no doubt about Spiders knowing where you are. It's like I told Fluffy-Sama, forget a third eye, they have that as well as a fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth eye! I ran into a door once to get away from one... I had the cupboard door open and it opened into the doorway which was open, I forgot about the cupboard door as soon as the spider made a dash for me in it's spindly legs and 'crash' in less than a second my nose was squashed into the door. I hope you like this chapter too!

**Alexis:Digital Survivor: **Lol I'm so glad you love this story though I'm sure you say that to all the authors, you flatterer! Lol. Yeah poor Mariam, poor girl has no clue what's going on and Hitoshi's getting some luving, lol. Aye, Miguel and Kirby will at least kiss in this story I know, as for them getting together, I'm not sure if it's this story or the sequel. I'm hoping it's this story, I really do. I can tell you now that chapter sixteen is written, chapter seventeen is 3/4 finished and I have the first scene of chapter eighteen planned out in my head in Emily's perspective dealing with Miguel and Kirby... so I hope that goes the way I want or else it'll change, lol.

**WindWitch: **Yoders! Lol, tsk tsk, not picking up the hint. I just thought Enrique wouldn't pick up on the tension and be far more concerned on being a perverted teenage blond, lol. Mariam will get someone in the end I'm sure. She's pretty and she's got a great personality, I will try to think of someone for her, don't worry. You and me both are suckers for romance but I like substance in it too. Like for it to not just be lust but for them to get to know each other first and have reasons for liking each other rather than just physical attraction. There will be more Kirby and Miguel, but not in the next couple, but when they're back in school again, but there will be mentions of it. And Mikel and Miguel are the same, I think I told you that already but I'll just clarify that anyway. So I'm glad you liked that chapter, I hope chapter fifteen meets your expectations. Sayonara!

**Musei Kage: **Breakups are never pretty even mutual ones always hurt someone too. But Kai did the right thing breaking up with her if he liked someone else. At least he wasn't playing with either girls hearts and this now opens the stage to Amber and Kai being a couple, yay! Hope you like this chapter too!

**Coors: **You need to update! Like seriously, you do. :hands out cookies: Ok there's problems enough in the Benson, Hiwatari family loop, without adding Nona Del Areece and Voltaire, cos eww that's just gross. Lol Hito standing in front of a class of chibi bladers explaining how they too can be as hot as he, lol. Too funny. Right you lead Hito off, to punish him... Lol! XD Joker played ballet, hey! I like that! He'd be so cute pirouetting around the place. Miguel didn't hold a gun to Kirby's head to force her to change, she's discovering herself. She's not going to go out and start wearing pink but she may wear slightly more feminine clothes to discover if she prefers herself that way but Miguel loves her no matter what. Of course you liked the moment between Hitoshi and Hero, naturally you would. And the Clover burn, loved it. Hehe, more Amber and Kai, I can't wait.

**Miss Wright: **Kai and Amber being civil is always good, ain't it? Though it's never quite civil since Amber can't quite help being sarcastic, but I hope you like the progress between them now.

**Rampant Chaos:** I've been idolized, cool! I had people erect a shrine to me in a highly populated part of the Antarctic if you wish to worship in the temple of zadien, lol... I hope you liked this chapter as well!

**StarAngel Caelum SunSoar: **Intensity is always good, huh? Hope you liked this chapter as well!

**gb-S-t-E-r07: **Yeah there was plenty Hitoshi/Hero and Kai/Amber in chapter fourteen. And did you see the first scene in this chapter? I hope you liked it, cos I know you like Hitoshi and Shahero so it was for you and Coors. It's not that she lives in her own world, but it's that she tries to see the best in other people which makes her seem naive and just opens her to being hurt. Kai will always been the voice of reason for her I think, he doesn't shelter the same way Tala and Bryan does, he forces her to see things and take things they wouldn't but usually it's for his selfish reasons too, lol. I'm glad you enjoyed Love/Hate but that was the end of it. If you liked it, you might like TFG it's going to be my most controversial story I hope.

**0bs3ssi0n**: I hope this chapter finds you well! Man... harsh day for you huh? Ya see Amber didn't know that she was losing interest, neither did Kai. If he wasn't so wrapped up in Amber, then he might have noticed but he didn't. Yeah I agree with you, Kai has a very good personality which is why I like him so damn much, the brown eyes are nice too. But he's the perfect hero, he sits back and only steps in if people need him and when he does, he doesn't expect people to gush over him. He's very good at reading Amber, and yes he's a bit arrogant but he's not a chauvinistic pig the way Foxy is and he was right about Mariam. But alas, Amber has to figure that for herself, lol. So I hope you liked this chapter, and once again thanks for the email. TFG will be coming soon, I promise.


	16. Raining in the New Year

****

**Disclaimer**I don't own Beyblade or its canon characters. I do however own Amber, Ruin, the Benson family etc minus Bryan, Daichi and Ozuma. Shahero belongs to Coors. Arista to Arcada. Aspin to Animerle. Miyami to Unlucky-Star. Sonia to Spitfire-Sae. Kirby is Kindred Insanity's. Kassie is LadyMoonDemon. I think that's all...

A.N. Ooh, here we go. This is the chapter y'all have been waiting for. I hope you all enjoy it as much as I did writing it even though it ticked me off in places. It was still amazingly fun over all.

Chapter Sixteen: Raining in the New Year

The Friar's rest was always busy. People were always popping in, whether it was for some of the surprisingly good food, or for coffee, a chat with the staff to catch up on the latest comings and goings on in the small village community of Bakuten or to use the rest room. It was probably the focal point of the sea side town. Everyone at some stage in the day popped in and the 31st of December 2004 was no exception. The staff were bustling around in their pale blue polo neck shirts with the restaurant crest on the left breast and navy aprons and caps while the patrons were munching their food with fervor and commenting on the weather. Outside the rain pelted against the windows washing away the snow that had been slowly melting during the past week. In the distance the sea could be seen reflecting the gray clouds and every so often a wave would hit the cliffs high enough that the spray could be seen over the brink. The weather was another reason that people were stowed away seeking shelter in the welcoming atmosphere of the café.

In the corner, in the booth by the window over looking the town square where people were trying to shield themselves from the gales that had blown in from the south, was an ochre eyed teen. She paid no attention to the patrons or the familiar faces who cast inquiring glances in her direction. Instead her eyes were absently roaming over the various people popping in and out of shop doors across the street unwillingly searching for a familiar head of two toned blue. When she finally admitted what she was doing she gave a disgusted sigh and turned back to her book, skipping through a song on her Distillers album and raising her coffee to her lips. For a few minutes she was immersed in the story by Nora Roberts, her favorite author, and then the words would blur and her mind would travel back to where they usually dwelled these days. Kai Hiwatari.

She was thinking of him too much for her own liking and the more she tried not too, the more she thought about him. It was a never ending circle of viciousness. She was always finding herself searching for him when ever she was out -which hadn't been much since she'd come down with the flu at the start of the week- hoping for a chance meeting. Funny that even though he lived next door to her, she barely ever saw him and when she did see him she didn't know what to say to him and that led to her being bitchy.

She sighed and picked up her book again. And Nora Roberts' interpretation of women being bitchy to guys was 'sexual tension'.

"Ugh." she was so not in the mood to read a romance and yet it made her feel oddly comforted. As though she wasn't the only one in the world feeling like this, of course they just ended up having sex and everything worked out in the end for them. They were all much older, and weren't having their first teenage romance which could go either way.

She sipped her coffee and savored the heat of the liquid on her tongue and enjoying it more as it coursed down her throat. Water dripped from the over hanging roof down onto the pavement and caused ripples to reach out to each other and fade. The weather suited her mood. She felt glum. She had thought she'd have regained a bit of her fire, after all her visits to her father always took a bit out of her but she still felt like she was empty inside.

It had something to do with Tala being the way he was at the moment. He hadn't exactly apologized for fighting with Kai and she hadn't really expected one either, but there was a strained tension between them. Sometimes when she looked up at him -when he was over visiting Ruin-, she'd feel like he was about to say something and then he'd just shake his head and leave the room. That made her feel so lost, Tala had never ignored her before. It would have been easy to return the gesture if she didn't think that he wanted to clear the air between them. She supposed it would be left up to her, even if he was in the wrong. She knew him and Kai fighting had something to do with her, part of the reason for not talking to him yet was just because of that.

If she ever did get a boyfriend, though, would Tala feel that he was out of the picture? Would he just desert her? After all she hadn't pushed him away by not paying him enough attention, hell she didn't even have a boyfriend and he was already acting jealous. Dammit, she didn't need this. It was bad enough that Bryan kept giving Kai the evil eye. If Kai didn't have any feelings for her, then they were all going to look like idiots.

She tried to smirk at that thought, but failed miserably as all that her lips did was grimace. She looked up as the windows rattled and a large truck drove past. For some reason it reminded her that she had yet to retrieve Shahero's present from the gift store down the road which was another reason she was here. The shop wasn't opening till later so she was just wasting time sitting in the Friars Rest. Idly she wondered what Hitoshi was getting Shahero, she knew he'd get her something, it would just be interesting to see what it was. Amber was quite honestly, looking forward to the party that would be held in her house that night. She'd invited just about all her friends and as per usual, they'd all end up bunking down somewhere that night and probably end up waking with people's feet in their faces.

This year though there would be rules to follow. With so many couples and the likes, her mother had insisted that the boys would sleep in one room and the girls in the other, instead of just crashing wherever they felt like it. She'd be the one that would have to enforce them since she was older than Shahero and she was figuring that Bryan would ditch them half way through the party for his dose of alcohol, come back late and head to bed so he'd be no help to her.

She lifted her book again and returned her gaze to it but as the words seeped into her consciousness, something about the characters' mother reminded her of her previous phone call she'd received. She couldn't quite understand just why Nona Del Areece phoned the house. She hadn't gotten in touch with them in years, at least Amber didn't think she did. Maybe her mother had been keeping in contact with Rosa while she'd been at school. How would she know?

She fretted her lower lip. Now the auld bat had her doubting her own mother. Rosa was twisted, a cruel, vicious, self centered woman. Maybe she felt she had to be that way to run her family but the way that she treated people… well in Amber's opinion Rosa-Marie Del Areece was a heinous bitch. She had never had Amber's respect when she treated her like crap, but it was the way she treated her mother that really struck Amber like a fist to the face. A mother shouldn't be so heartless towards her child, it had been so unbelievable to Amber. Her mother treated her so well and she knew that if she had any trouble, she could go to her mother in a heart beat and tell her anything and even if Treasa disapproved, she'd at least be there to support her. Rosa on the other hand always acted like her problems were worse. Like when James and her mom had divorced, Rosa had said that her daughter had made her bed and she should lie in it instead of bringing disgrace on the family.

The callous way she'd said that to her heart broken mother had sealed her dislike of her grandmother, yet her mother still wanted her mother's approval. It was a big impossible demand, Rosa gave no one her approval even though she played her children off against each other, she didn't approve of any of them really because she didn't care for any of them. They were just a chore to them, a task that she had to perform to cross it off her list. She didn't need men, they were just a temptation that in the end weakened female's resolve, or so she said.

Amber's greatest fear was that she'd turn into her grandmother, everyone always said that she took after her grandmother more than her mother. It scared Amber so much to be likened to that woman. And sometimes, she felt that that was exactly who she was turning into sometimes. She never wanted to be that woman, to be that cold and careless of others emotions. To willingly manipulate people into doing her bidding, no she didn't want to do that yet she was aware that she could do that if she wasn't paying attention. When she was scared, she verbally tried to put roots of discomfort into peoples' subconscious so they'd leave her alone. Wasn't that what Kai had accused her of doing? Yes, she could be her grandmother if she wasn't careful.

But why did Rosa want to talk to Treasa now? Was it something to do with the baby? Amber couldn't bare the thought of that innocent child being subjected to Rosa's dark nature. But it was the only thing that made sense. Rosa was vindictive and a predator on the weak. She believed herself to be superior to all others and used words and tone to cut people down, to make them doubt their own worth and to lose their confidence. It was a twisted sort of mind control, to make people dependant on her and to make them believe they had to please her to survive. The one way James had been good for Treasa was that he took Treasa away from her mother's control, made her feel beautiful and gave her the strength to stand up to her mother. Amber liked to believe that by being born, mistake or no mistake, she'd also given her mother strength and support to break away from her mother's claws.

If Rosa was asking to have access to the baby, how would Amber stop her? She could talk to Hiroshi, convince him that Rosa didn't deserve anything from them, but he was a nice guy who would probably get sucked in by Rosa's words and stories of self pity, of being denied the chance to be a grandmother.

She gripped the handle on her mug tighter so her golden knuckles turned a yellowy white. She would talk to Jean and Nicolai, they both held sway over her mother and both would have knowledge of just how malevolent Rosa could be. But at the same time, she really didn't want to dump her own problems on them. On the other hand, they were her god parents, that was one advantage, when she was worried about something, she could go to them and they could tell her she was being irrational or they could tell her she was being dead on. She was pretty sure she hit the nail on the head when it came to the baby. It was something to do with it and Amber was not going to stand by and let it suffer the same deprecation that she'd suffered as a child. She was it's older sister and she had a duty to it, to protect it from anything that would do it harm and Nona Del Areece wouldn't just do it harm, she would rape it in every way possible well except physically. She didn't go for sexual abuse, it was more mental and emotional abuse.

"Keep thinking that hard and your limited amount of brain cells are going to leak out your ears."

Amber jerked with a gasp and looked over her shoulder at the young waitress who was regarding her warily out of friendly brown eyes. She opened her mouth, closed it and breathed deeply before letting it out in a slow whoosh of air. Her heart knocked against her ribs violently. She hadn't realized that the CD had ran out and that she was sitting in silence. Recovering slightly, she tried a smile but it was watery and weak as she tugged off her ear phones. "Oh, hey Kassie. How're you?"

"I think I should be asking you the same question. You ok?"

"Aye, I'm grand. I jus' got lost in me thoughts for a while."

Kassaidy Walkman arched a fine brow that was set on smooth tanned skin over concerned chocolate brown eyes. She'd known Amber for a while since they'd worked together here in the Friar's Rest during the summer and before that they'd gone to school together. Well she'd been in Kirby's year but in a place like Bakuten, you got to know the people around your age well, whether you liked them or not and she knew that Amber's accent thickened only when she was agitated. Frowning, she glanced over her shoulder to the big set woman serving the corner booth and motioned that she was taking a break.

She slid into the booth opposite the ochre eyed teen and cast a glance at the book lying open, face down on the table. "Is that book any good?"

Amber dully observed it as though she expected it to do something other than just lie there. Sighing, she rubbed her hands over her face, causing it to tinge rouge from the pressure. "Could be better, I s'pose." she nibbled her thumb for a second, then snapping out of her funk, she smiled at the younger girl. "So how's everything with you? Have you seen Kirb's yet?"

"Yeah I saw her on, what day was it? Um, Tuesday I think. So we went to that new shop that's opened over past the bus station. It's really cool. You should check it out, got some stuff you'd like." she replied cheerfully not acting at all like the shy girl Amber had remembered when she'd first started working at the Friar's Rest last summer. She'd been quiet and subdued for the first couple of days but you couldn't really remain that way with Maggie or Paddy and herself. Working with the public probably gave Kassie more self confidence especially when she was interacting with the customers all the time and there were so many of them just coming in and out during one day's work. Towards the end of the first month Kassie had been one of the nicest people Amber had come across in that work place. Seeing her now, Amber couldn't help but be proud of how confident she seemed even if it was just false bravado, it was a really good act.

"I might just do that." she said with a slight smile. "So how's working here working out for you?"

"Ah ya know, it's good. Maggie won't let me slack off, ever. But it's cool. I wish I had today off, but I have tomorrow off and I have two extra days off this week so it's not bad. Gives me a chance to get everything back in order before I head back to school."

"Ooh, school, fun." Amber quipped with a wry grin, smirking over at the curly blond haired woman who was making a face behind Kassie. "I think Maggie's complaining about you slacking off again."

Kassaidy looked over her shoulder, her dark brown hair in a sleek tail brushed her shoulders. She mouthed something to the woman behind the counter before turning back to Amber. "So how's life at the posh prep school?"

"Which I'm at on _Scholarship_." she said pointedly. "Ah it's not so bad. Got a new captain in my hockey team." her stomach muscles quivered as she thought about him and she hoped that Kassaidy hadn't picked up on the shift in tone when she referred to him.

Kassaidy's eyes lit up. "Oh, juicy. Tell me more, is he hot?"

Amber's fish impression was Oscar winning. "Working here is a bad influence on you."

"C'mon, I live with the gossip mongers of Bakuten, so give me some juice so I can join their wonderful clique."

"There's nothing to tell. He's new and he tells us how to play."

"I'll just have to ask Kirby about him then."

"You do that and while you're at it, ask her about Miguel." Amber's lips twitched and her eyes sparkled with mirth when Kassie's eyes brightened in interest.

"Miguel, as in Miguel Davidoff?" when Amber nodded, she sat up straighter in her seat. "Why, what's the deal with him?"

Amber just shook her head and smiled mysteriously. "I can't tell you since I don't know everything myself. You'll just have to ask her."

"Ok I will. She was acting a little odd on Tuesday though, thinking back on it. I hope she's ok."

"She should be. So how're your parents?" Amber asking, broaching the subject gently and not prying in an obvious way, leaving the question vague so that the younger girl wouldn't have to divulge any details if she didn't want to.

Kassaidy looked uncomfortable, then shrugged a little. "They're good. They came home for Christmas for a little while, but then they had places to go to. So are you having a party for Shahero's birthday tonight?" she asked with an obvious put on cheerfulness to the question.

"Yep. Which is fun, because Shahero's at home cleaning the house so it's not a complete and utter tip and so that it won't embarrass my mother and I'm out here waiting for Cosmos to open. And then I'll have to head home and actually prepare stuff. Man it'll be like every other year. We'll have good intentions for the party to actually be prepared for so we won't run out of food half way through the night, and like every other year, we'll run out of time and for most of the night people will be popping out to the 24 hour Mart for food and drink and the like." she made a face that caused Kassie to laugh.

"But it's all fun. So who's going to be there?"

"The usual bunch. All our friends from school who'll more than likely end up crashing at ours, and then the ones from around the town who usually just drop in because they got nothing better to do than to wind Shahero up by crashing her party."

Kassie grinned. "Ooh, I look forward to it. I might be late though, depends on how the taxi's are tonight."

"Catch a ride over with Kirby and then you can stay the night."

Something in Kassie's face shifted as she nodded, something deep that told Amber that her young friend had a secret motive for wanting to stay over. Oh well, as long as she didn't cause any trouble or break anything, Amber didn't mind at all. The more the merrier.

"Oy, shove up Kass."

They both looked up as a tall scruffy looking teen scooted into the booth beside the brunette. His light brown hair fell in a mullet around his long face. Green eyes twinkled with mischief and joviality as they moved over the scene outside before zeroing in on the fellow Irish teen opposite him. "'aven't seen y' around town much, Stripes."

Amber rose a brow and then rolled her eyes as he tugged on her striped hair. "Original Paddy, real original. But your Wolverine impression leaves a lot to be desired."

Kass frowned. "Huh?"

"X-men reference. Feel free to just ignore that whole thing." Amber dismissed casually.

Paddy shifted so he was more comfortable on the seat. "See in X-men, Logan, dat's Wolverine used t' call Rogue Stripes b'cause she 'ad two white stripes in 'er brown 'air."

Kass nodded with a bemused expression. "Okay." Before she could say anything more Maggie approached the table.

"Kass take over for Nadine at the till while I run out for more change. I seriously believe everyone in Bakuten has popped in here this morning, don't they have food in their own homes?" she muttered under her breath shaking her head at the three teens who offered her a brief smile as Kassie slid past Paddy and out of the booth.

"Busy day den Maggie?" Paddy asked then winced as Amber kicked him under the table and shot him a look that plainly said 'stupid question'. She looked to Maggie and rolled her eyes with a shake of her head causing the older woman to bark out a loud laugh which had the patrons glancing their way before returning to their meals and conversation.

"Maggie can I have my usual?" a man called out as he entered the café and Maggie gave an exaggerated sigh, made a comment under her breath about people never giving her a break before she bustled off to get someone to fix him his meal.

"I wonder why Rei's not working today?" Amber casually wondered out loud, then shook her head. "Must've got the day off. Whatever, as long as he's there tonight."

Paddy chuckled then turned back to the somber girl opposite him. "So 'ow's it goin'?"

She shrugged. "Not so bad, how's y'rself?"

"Oh, me I'm grand wouldn't y' know, no wait, y' wouldn't since y' never call me."

Her lips twitched. "Not my fault. I don't call anyone. Sure I talk to you on MSN those odd times we have it downloaded."

"Dat's different. I've missed 'earin' y'r sweet voice."

She rolled her eyes. Paddy always teased her like this, it was slightly odd and off putting at times but underneath the sleazy charm, which was what she sometimes felt it was -it certainly wasn't him being 'from the bottom of his heart' honest-, he was a decent guy. Sure Bryan didn't necessarily trust him but who did Bryan trust?

"Why don' y' believe me wh'n I say y' 'ave a lovely voice."

"It's my voice, I don't…" she grasped blindly for something to say so the embarrassment wouldn't flush her cheeks. "Piss off Paddy." she snapped with no real heat.

"See y' say t'at but y' don't mean it. Y'd be lost wit'out me."

"Why are you planning on leading me out to a forest and leaving me? Cause other than that, there's no way I could be lost without you."

"I could lead y' out t' a dark forest if y' really wanted me t'."

Her eyes rose to heaven then rolled back to regard him pitifully. Whatever cutting remark she'd been about to make to impale on his poor fragile male ego died on her lips as the door to the Friars Rest opened and the atmosphere suddenly heightened. Without needing to look, she knew what had just happened, or who had just happened to be more precise. Unable to stop herself, she looked to the door and felt her mouth go dry and her body tingled as Kai strode into the café. He ran a hand through his damp hair and wiped the stray droplets of rain from his clear beige skin. Something about the careless actions trapped her gaze so she couldn't drag her gaze away even if she wanted to, like a train wreck it was compelling to watch. He really was a beautiful specimen of the male species, maybe he wasn't beautiful in the conventional way but the sheer masculinity that cloaked him made him captivating.

Sensing her distraction, Paddy followed her gaze and his brow furrowed at the two toned azure haired male teen. He turned back to his friend and even though his stomach churned at the sight, part of him was amused by her reaction. "Ams, y' ok?"

It took three callings of her name and two taps to her shoulder to catch her attention and bring it back to him. She blinked her dazed whisky eyes and then realizing that Paddy had caught her staring at Kai, she blushed profusely. Shit this was mortifying. Making sure that Kai hadn't noticed her from out of the corner of her eye, she bit the inside of her lip even though she couldn't help the smile that flirted with them. "I'm… good."

"Ok, so who is 'e?"

Her eyes widened and that small perfect shaped mouth opened then shut with an almost audible snap. Instead of answering immediately, she took a gulp of her coffee, grimacing miserably when she realized it was cold.

"Wan' me t' get a refill while y' t'ink up a good answer t'at won' hur' me fragile li'l feelings?"

Mortified she rolled her eyes and passed him the cup. "Make sure they don't skimp on the coffee, for some reason they got it in their heads that I get hyper from the caffeine."

"Oh and naturally, y' don'." he retorted dryly.

"No, honest. I only get hyper from Pringles and Fanta. I'm odd, what can I say."

"Not'ing t'at would beat dat." he replied with a grin before heading over to the counter.

Casually, or she at least hoped she looked casual, she swept the place with her gaze. She finally spotted him with his back to her, placing his order with Kassie and then returning to reading what looked to be a car magazine. She sighed and slumped on her booth, raising her other foot onto Paddy's vacant seat. He was probably just ignoring her after her rude comments on Christmas Day. She hadn't even apologized for them, but he had said he hated her family. Fair enough, she often said those exact words but she was allowed to. They were _her_ family and sometimes they were really beyond a doubt annoying. All the same, she shouldn't have said that she hated him and he probably wasn't actually ignoring her because her thoughts probably didn't mean that much to him so he probably wasn't even aware she was there. Probably. Even if he was, he wasn't going to be sneaking peeks at her, after all he was much more mature and in control of his emotions than she was. More to the point, he probably didn't actually have any feelings for her. He had probably just been playing with her mind all those times he'd tried to kiss her. That was a typical thing for a guy to do when someone like her got under their skin and they wanted revenge. She'd seen it before.

Her attention turned to the rivulets of water running down in the window pane like tears and somewhere deep inside her, she felt an affinity with them.

* * *

Put the blame,  
Push the blame  
Who's to blame today?  
Point your finger  
Lose your mind  
All you do is pray  
Look out get down, fall down  
You're masquerade will do  
But in time, my friend,  
we all will see right through  
In-inside won't be here to stay  
King for a day  
That's all I'll say…

Shahero looked up and pulled her hand out of the back of the sofa with a frustrated sigh. They must all be poor, she decided, as she walked over to the CD player and back skipped it to the song she'd been listening to earlier on Amber's Lost Prophets Album. There were no coins down the back of the couch, how abnormal was that? Her mood lifted as the first rift of Shinobi burst out of the speakers.

Got it all too high  
Got it figured out  
I wanna do whatever  
Laugh until September  
And I seem to think  
That you are one to be with me  
Maybe I was wrong  
You were moving on

Bursting with renewed energy she skipped onto the sofa and began to bounce over the length of it, keeping an ear out for Treasa. She kicked off her sneakers and felt her toes sink into the soft plush material. The last time she'd heard this song was when she and Amber had been bouncing on her bed back at Preston on the same day that Tala had come back to Preston and then they'd taken on the Sharks. It was odd to think that that seemed so long ago when in reality it was only a few months. A lot had changed since then and not all of it had been for the good or the bad.

And I sit and wonder  
Falling under  
Get my way or nothing will move on

Another smile played on her lips when she remembered Amber telling Hitoshi that this song would be too advanced for him. She agreed, he wasn't the type to listen to anything too heavy even if the Lost Prophets weren't considered heavy, this song was the type of song that had you bouncing about, not Hitoshi's thing at all. It would take away his cool factor. She snorted at the comment but continued to bounce on the sofa and belt out the song at the top of her voice. She was seventeen! It was her day and she was planning to enjoy it and if that meant screaming her lungs out and pissing off the neighbors, then so be it. It was just a shame that Arista wouldn't be there for it. She was still in Russia, so the girls would probably have a belated celebration for her birthday when they were all back at school.

And I know you say  
I can care for someone  
But are you that clever  
that you smile forever?  
If it's something like here  
Cause I just don't feel it  
Baby it's a treaty  
Maybe you are not her

Thinking of Russia, she needed to email her Irish comrade and get the gossip from her. When they'd been at school together, they'd gotten in so much trouble both craving attention but getting it by means of causing as much disruption and chaos as possible. The first few weeks without Russia had left her feeling empty inside and her lust for life had faded, and though she'd missed her friend, she'd adopted Amber so that her sanity would survive. Amber wasn't the same as Russia, they were very different, but she was a good stand in. Nothing would beat the original though.

And I sit and wonder  
Falling under  
Get my way or nothing will move on...

She was becoming breathless from singing and jumping, so she gave up the singing and instead opted for just mouthing the words as she continued to jump up and down. After this song she'd get herself a bowl of ice-cream, a huge bowl of chocolate ice-cream, and sprinkles, she added as an after thought. If Amber was here, she'd have made her make her some Mars bar sauce which was scrumptious.

Everyone has gone  
You feel so empty,  
but I've got me a friend  
And I like it.

Her gaze swept over the living room. It was large and airy with cream walls punctuated with family pictures and portraits. A TV sat in the corner, positioned so each couch was angled to let the sitters view it. A glass topped coffee table sat between the fire place and the long couch. It was covered with everything from woman's magazines, papers with TV listings, car magazines, skateboarding magazines and one novel lay on the ground beside it. A bean bag sat in the corner by the small book shelf filled with every book Amber wouldn't give up even though she had her own book shelf in her room. A computer, -a very run down computer that didn't like Amber or so she swore- sat in the other corner by the door that led to main stair case. Another cabinet sat beside the door that led into the kitchen and the Christmas tree had been moved out to the hall by Hiroshi earlier that week. All in all, Shahero liked it. It was welcoming and it was home now to her. Yeah it had taken a while to get used to it but didn't everything.

"Air guitar!" she shouted out and began strumming her fingers over invisible strings, then getting an idea, she jumped off the couch, rushed over to the CD player on the cupboard, almost losing her footing when her sock clad feet shot out from under her. Recovering her standing position, she paused the song and sprinted for the kitchen to use the back stairs which was a faster route to her room. She screamed fast and sharp when she caught sight of the figure standing in the door way.

"HITOSHI!" she screamed outraged, her hand clutching her heart which beat rapidly from the fright.

He stroked his chin and smirked languidly. "Yeah?"

"What are you doing here?" she managed to choke out through her suddenly constricted throat. Fury had all but abandoned her and left her with a hot ball of need that burned in her lungs. Her chest suddenly felt too tight and her heart pounded violently on the skeletal cage to let it out. It was pounding so hard, so loud in her ears she was surprised it didn't just leap out and into his hands. Or would it, she wondered. Would he catch it, or would it just lie there exposed while he watched amused as it flopped pitifully on the ground between them?

"Came for the free show." he commented casually, sweeping his gaze up and down her but his expression remained aloof yet laughter -whether he was laughing at her or himself she didn't know- danced in his dark, forbidding eyes.

"Pervert." she muttered under her breath as she scooted past him, sliding over the tiled floor of the kitchen in her socks.

"Well if you hadn't had the music up so loud then I wouldn't have come over to tell you to turn it down." he pointed out as he pushed away from the door way and turned to look at her.

She jerked her shoulder. "It's my birthday and I can do what I want. Don't like it, then leave."

There was a pause before he said. "I will as soon as you turn that down."

She made no move to turn down that god awful noise and that's what it was, pure noise. He rolled his eyes at her stubbornness and strode into the door she'd just left. He found the dial for the volume and turned it counterclockwise and smiled satisfied when the noise dimmed.

From the other door way Shahero watched him amused, then when he turned away, she pumped the music back up with her remote. She had to admit, a confused Hitoshi was a cute Hitoshi, no doubt about it. Of course he'd probably have some problem with being called cute, but he was undeniably so at this moment in time. He turned it down again only for her to turn it back up again. He frowned and hit it which had her holding her sides against the fit of helpless laughter that consumed her. She watched as he scowled and muttered under his breath. He turned for the kitchen and she quickly hurried down the hall and casually stood by table pretending to be absorbed in her thoughts. She frowned as he didn't come into the kitchen. Tilting her head, she headed back down the hall and into the living room.

She jumped when the back door slammed shut and then released a disappointed sigh before she could stop herself. While the kiss they'd shared on Christmas day had been playing on her mind, it obviously had meant nothing to him. He hadn't even been trying anything since. He didn't even say anything to it being her birthday. Every other year he made lewd comments about birthday kisses but nothing this year when secretly she'd been looking forward to them. Men were complex but that was fine with her. She wasn't interested in Hitoshi, she was too busy to be interested in Hitoshi and she'd be going to college in a few months time leaving him behind.

The last thing she needed was to be tied down to a boy. With a bad tempered frown, she flicked through the CD with the remote then let it choose the song for her. A song she recognized as the seventh one, only because Amber made a big deal about it, burst out yet she couldn't for the life of her remember the name. Not really in the mood for it, she flicked back four.

She jerked as the remote was tugged out of her hands and the music was stopped. She whipped round to stare stupidly up at Hitoshi who was smugly tapping the remote against his open palm while a lazy smirk played on his sensual lips.

"I thought you left!" she blurted out, unable to stop the words from tumbling out of her mouth.

"Aw and you missed me?" he asked as he stopped the CD.

"HEY! My house, my CD, my CD system, my remote! You comprehend?" she blinked. "Oh man, I've been hanging around Amber way too much.

"You're telling me, you should really cut out that tongue."

"Now where would the fun be in that?" she demanded only realizing too late that she was flirting with him. His infuriating smirk slid across his face lighting it up in a dangerous way. Her breath clogged in her throat. Oh hell!

"You're right it would probably hurt. Keep the music down Kaeto." he said handing her back the remote in a manner that made her feel like he was the teacher handing back a confiscated item, which left her feeling like she was just a child. She hated that feeling, hated more when he made her feel like that when usually he made her feel that she was more than just a teenager, more than just a girl. He made her more, she realized dumbly. She had thought she meant something to him, but she was just another one of his conquests. The only good thing was that he didn't know that he'd conquered her and if she had her way he wouldn't. She just remain calm and aloof and… dammit!

"That's all you have to say?"

The question hung in the air between them, suspended in time. Slowly Hitoshi turned away, an expression of mild confusion settled on his features. "Well if you want me to tell you to turn your music off, then fine. I was trying to be nice by just telling you to turn it down."

"You're not nice!" she stated. He wasn't. He was smug and arrogant and confidant. He could be fair and decent and generous at times, but only for his own benefit, even sweet sometimes but he wasn't nice.

"Fine." he replied and turned to leave again.

"Dammit why are you being like this?" she demanded irked.

"Being like what Shahero?" he asked resigned.

She stared at him wishing he'd do something, something that would reassure her but he was acting so different. "Why are you treating me like I'm…" she trailed off unable to come up with the word that summed up how dejected by him she felt.

"I'm not treating you like anything. Are you getting bitchy with me because I'm not _forcing _myself on you?" He spat the word out as though it caused a bitter taste in his mouth.

She stumbled back appalled when she realized just what he was saying. That what she'd said to him had provoked such a reaction with him. She hadn't meant it, she'd just been scared. They'd been moving too fast and her family was so close, the words were just something that fell out of her mouth, something she said with no real meaning. And now she realized just how dangerous those words were and how much they could affect someone. "Oh god. Hitoshi…" she trailed off unsure what to say.

He shook his head, an expression of disgust on his face as he turned away from her. "Whatever Shahero. You don't care, why should I?"

"That's not true." she confessed, her voice barely more than a whisper but he heard her and froze mid step. "I didn't, I shouldn't have said that to you. It was a mistake. I never meant it."

He slowly turned around to regard her. "Then why did you say it?"

Why had she said it? Because she was scared, but it sounded so pathetic to admit to him that. She looked at him with eloquent blue eyes but any words that came to mind died in her throat when she got caught up in those dark troubled eyes. He was beautiful to her in that moment and the pain she saw lurking deep in those eyes stirred her deeply. Still she couldn't think of an answer that would make this all better. She had never been given the gift of the gab the way Amber had and usually she let her emotions speak for her but when they did, they got her in more trouble than she liked. And she liked trouble, usually.

Hitoshi just shook his head. What was he expecting? A declaration of love from her? She was still young. She probably was more interested in someone else. He was too old for her, there were so many things set against him and he just didn't have the energy to deal with them. He wouldn't have minded if he didn't care so much, but he did care. He cared more than he liked, more than he thought possible. He sighed and turned away. It was better to just leave, that way he might be able to salvage what was left of his heart and, though he was pretty sure he wouldn't get over her, he might find some way to move on.

She watched him walk away and panic constricted her chest. She couldn't breathe through the pain. Her eyes squeezed shut, trapping the tears that threatened to leak out. Before she knew what she was doing, she crossed to him and banded her arms around him, hugging herself to his back and effectively halting his progress.

He froze and looked down at her hands which had linked around his waist. He could feel her chest pressed against him, the soft mounds of her flesh squashed against the hard plain of his. His heart beat quickened, his breathing slowed. He felt as though the slightest movement would break the spell and shatter the moment.

"I'm sorry." she whispered achingly.

"About what?" he asked softly with a sense of foreboding mingling with a glimmer of hope.

"I do care about you." she confessed quietly.

The silence of the atmosphere was only halted by the clipped ticking of the clock on the mantle piece over the fire. The rain spat fat wet drops against the window and the wind moaned woefully outside and though chaos may have been erupting outside, inside the haven of the Benson home, they both heard nothing but her admission.

Shahero gulped and hoped that her ears would pop because the silence was a heavy pressure weighing down on her. Our maybe it was fear. Fear that he would laugh at her emotions and at her actions. He could have just been playing with her the whole time, flirting with her with no real motive behind it but she sensed his sincerity. At least, she hoped she did.

Hitoshi was unaware of the time, the place or anything else. His heart, which had leapt at her declaration, was now galloping lightly and his blood was coursing hotly through his veins. She cared. It may not have been the declaration of love that he'd been hoping for, but it was better than the rejection he'd been prepping himself for. Her breath fanned through the light material of the shirt he wore and a small smirk settled on his lips.

He shifted in her arms and she released them stepping back to eye him warily. He turned to her, his dark eyes searching hers for what he heard in her tone. Desire, fear, anticipation and nerves showed in those very blue eyes, but something so warm and sweet it was humbling outshone them. She may not have been aware of it, but he was. She was in love with him, all he had to do was coax her into realizing it for herself. A feeling of well being settled over him and he let out a breath, and a pressure that he hadn't noticed weighing on him since he came to realize his own feelings for her, eased. He slid his arms around her and felt how her own tensed body melted against him as she breathed deep and held onto him. He rested his head on her hair, taking in the very essence of her from the fragrance of her hair and the alluring scent that cloaked her skin.

Shahero's grip tightened on him as she nuzzled his chest through his shirt. She could hear the comforting sound of his heart and she slowed her breathing to match his. For a change, everything just seemed right. There was no angst, no worries, no pain. Just an odd sense of security and perfection in the moment. He smelled good too, she noted vaguely. And felt good, she added and tasted good. A soft moan escaped her lips as his hand stroked up and down her back and his lips brushed over her hair.

She pulled back as she felt Hitoshi tense slightly and she looked up at him. Suddenly she was bombarded with thoughts his embrace had kept away. Thoughts like, what did this all mean? How did such simple words change things? Where did she stand with him now? Were they a couple? How could they be when he was a teacher at the school she was a student at?

The train of thoughts came to an abrupt end when his finger traced the shape of her lips. The roughened texture of the pads of his fingers over the soft velvet of her lips entranced her and held her still. She gazed up into the inviting warmth of his eyes and her eyelids felt heavy as they began to droop. He seemed quite content to touch her. His fingers skimmed over the curve of her jaw and along the slope of her cheeks before moving down the bridge of her nose to her lips again. Heat spread over her face and her pulse thudded lazily.

She wanted him to kiss her, right then. It was the only thing she wanted. As though sensing it, he leaned over her, his mouth dipping to hover over hers, charging the particles of air between their lips so her firm flesh buzzed with energy. She could almost feel his lips seal over hers and could just taste the flavor of him on her tongue.

The back door swung open and slammed shut. Shahero's eyes snapped open and out of habit, she stumbled back, panting slightly. Hitoshi stepped back and ran a hand over his hair as he muttered something vicious under his breath.

"Hello, is anyone home? I swear if Shahero's skived off and left me to clean up, I'll skin her alive." came Amber's mutterings from in between the shuffling of fabric as she shed her coat. "Yo, Hero, you upstairs?"

Shahero fumed. What was her sister muttering about? She wasn't the one who skived off. She was the one who'd been here cleaning the house for her own birthday party which sucked! "Yeah I'm in here!"

She glanced apologetically at Hitoshi who closed his eyes and sighed heavily. Finally he opened them and looked at her. "Later." was all he said before he walked out.

"Oh good." Amber called back glancing up surprised when Hitoshi stalked through the kitchen. "Hey Hito."

"Nice timing Benson." he shot back, yanking the back door opening and disappearing out.

Scowling, she flipped him the bird as he passed the window and he replied in kind. With a roll of her eyes she caught a movement in the corner of the room and following the movement with her gaze, she saw Shahero. "So what did he want?"

Shahero shrugged. "Told me to turn the music down."

"Okies."

At the chipper reply, Shahero raised a brow. "What's with the change in attitude?"

This time Amber shrugged. "I don't know. I think I had an epiphany."

With a roll of her eyes, Shahero crossed to the counter and leaned back on it as Amber filled a glass with water and sipped at it, before taking a seat at the pine table opposite her sister. "There you go using those big words again. It's a good thing Daichi isn't here, he'd be getting all confused."

"Ha. Funny girl."

"I know, aren't I just."

"Oh you're a real riot and a half."

"So what epiphany did you have? Did it have anything to do with Kai?"

"Maybe. I don't know. I was just walking home and it started snowing-"

"It's snowing?" Shahero whipped around and looked out the window, then grinned as she saw the big fat flakes that were drifting down on the soft zephyr to lie and melt in the shallow puddles of water. Some fell on the grass and shrubbery and began to lie there, coating the greenery like a sifting of icing sugar. She grinned and darted towards the door, frowning when she realized she was still in her socks. "Come on!"

Amber stared at her bewildered as her sister came back over to her and grabbed her hands, pulling her to her feet and dragging her into the living room after her. "Where are we going?" she demanded with amused exasperation as she watched her sister stuff her feet into her shoes.

Shahero looked at her as though she was insane while she struggled to tug the back of her shoe over her heel. "It's snowing!" she stated growling in frustration with the shoe.

"Try unlacing them."

"Says the girl who hasn't unlaced her shoes in… just how long have you had those sneakers?"

Amber looked down at them and wriggled her toes inside. "I dunno. A long time."

Before she could say anymore, Shahero grabbed her hand and dragged her sister out of the door and out into the snow, the cleaning would wait for later as would the questions about Hitoshi.

* * *

"That's stupid."

"How is it stupid?"

"It came out of your mouth, therefore it's stupid."

"This coming from the Queen of Intelligent thought."

"It's not hard to be more intelligent than you."

Brooklyn Adams sighed exasperated at his female companion. Every time he said something, she had something to come back with. It could last for ages, he knew now from the many conversations he'd managed to lead her into and they usually ended up with her insulting him in some way or another. Though, he could admit, the heat in them was dying away to some extent.

Her navy eyes flecked with amber observed him, a small feminine feline smile played on her generously full lips as she claimed victory yet again in this war of words. Arista Belyaev was definitely an intriguing puzzle he hadn't been expecting to encounter on his family trip to Mother Russia to visit the old folks. It had been a, well he wouldn't exactly say a pleasant surprise, but a surprise none the less to find out that his grandparents were on friendly terms with her family, though he'd never known this because usually he'd managed to wrangle a way out of going. This year, what with dealing with Balkof, coming to terms with Garland and trying to fix his team, he just hadn't had the time to devise a devious plot. His parents thought the trip would give him time to get over whatever mood he'd sunken into. The idiots thought he was upset over a girl. Hardly. At least Belyaev, Arista he reminded himself, was a distraction from the parentals and their mindless interfering and psychoanalyzing. Which was what you got when your parents were psychologists, he supposed.

Part of his acquaintance with Arista was that he wouldn't ask about her team though he could ask about her friends, that was just being friendly and he actually enjoyed her company enough to be genuinely interested in her life. She was easy to talk to, barely held grudges and had a real warmth when it came to her friends. It was easy to be envious of them. The closest thing he had to a friend right now was Mystel but they could be polar opposites at times since the blond haired boy seemed to constantly be high on life. He'd once asked him if he was doing drugs, the blond had just laughed. Garland wasn't so bad, he supposed, a lot smarter than the rest of the brainless idiots he was left to contend with on the team, he was just quiet and wanted to play well, which meant he was a mindless drone when it came to Balkof's orders. All of the team lacked character and a sense of self. They'd jump off a cliff if Boris asked them too. Well maybe not Mystel, he'd probably just laugh at the waves. Garland would ask if it would make him a better hockey player, then if the answer was yes, he'd do it.

Mindless puppets, Brooklyn surmised. The whole lot of them were mindless puppets. But not Arista, she had spunk and wasn't afraid to say what she thought even if it did get her trouble. And when she was embarrassed she'd turn this delightful shade of pink, it became enjoyable to try to embarrass her as much as possible which wasn't as easy as it sounded. She didn't embarrass easily.

She spooned melted butterscotch ripple ice cream into her mouth and looked at the orange haired boy opposite her when he didn't reply. When he continued to just stare instead of speaking, she frowned. Absently she brushed her fingers over her chin wondering if she'd gotten ice cream on her chin but felt no sticky or cold substance. So she just decided he was having a brain freeze and continued to eat until his steady gaze began to burn into her. Scowling she looked up and set her spoon down, glancing round the small café before turning back to him. She waved her hand in front of his face and watched as life sprang back into his face, making it somehow more handsome than before. No handsome wasn't the right word for Brooklyn, because he was, like Tala, more effeminate in a purely masculine way which was an oxymoron, she believed.

"Oy, Dicklyn, you still in there?" she wondered calling him by the nickname she knew irritated him into retorting.

"Yes." he bit off, then he closed his eyes and reigned in his temper. "I was just thinking about what I would be doing if I was at home for New Years. What about you?"

"What would I be doing?" she asked and when he nodded, she shrugged and answered. "Shahero's birthday's on New Years Eve. I'd be at her's for the birthday/New Years Eve party with the rest of the team."

"You guys are actually close? I mean outside the team?"

His tone sounded so surprised she had to laugh. "Yeah, of course. Me and the girls are like sisters, we've been together since the very beginning and have loads in common. And the boys are-"

"Like brothers?"

"Pretty much." she answered.

"Wasn't that a bit odd when you were dating Tala?"

She squirmed. She really didn't like talking about something that personal to Brooklyn no matter how at ease she felt. That was another thing that bothered her. She felt at ease with the enemy too quickly for her own liking. "It was different then because we barely knew each other that well. We were young."

"Yeah but you don't know him all that well since he joined our team." he persisted not knowing why he was asking her all this, but he knew about her and Tala. Some part of him just wanted to know that there wasn't anything between them now.

She sighed and rolled her eyes. "Now it's different."

"How?" he asked leaning forward in his chair fixing her with those moss green eyes, so the table they sat at seemed more intimate; just the two of them and the rest of the world was blocked out.

"Well we don't like each other that way anymore. And he's sort of dating Ruin, I think."

"You think?"

She shrugged. "It's hard to tell with those two. Anyway, we're getting off topic. I'm willing to talk about my friends but I'm not going to gossip about their love lives."

"Does Hiwatari even have one?" he questioned, compelled to know how the ex-Shark was doing.

Arista's expression darkened. "You're not using me to glean information on my team. If you think you can then I'll leave."

Amused Brooklyn watched her until she actually pushed back her chair and looked as though she was about to leave. With reflexes he had honed on the ice, he reached forward and snagged her wrist before she could stand up out of his way. Her navy eyes flared with annoyance and he sensed her nerves when he didn't release her hand but he couldn't let her leave yet. He was enjoying her company surprisingly and he didn't want her to leave and not on bad terms either. He hadn't ever had a female friend before, most of them were just interested in his looks. It was nice to just talk to her without having to compliment her constantly and she knew just about as much about hockey as he did, though he had to question her taste in teams. It was refreshing to hear a female's perspective on life.

Arista watched him warily and felt a blush spread over her cheeks as the skin under his hand burned intensely. A few seconds more, unable to bear the exquisite pain much longer, she pulled her hand away and rubbed it briefly before placing it out of reach under the table. She looked up but refused to meet his amused pale blue/green eyes. They saw too much, she decided. When she was looking into them, she seemed unable to keep a coherent thought in her head. They were entrancing, pale blue/green or moss green sometimes changing to teal, they shifted like the changing of tides and she'd never seen eyes quite like them before. The fact that they were lashed with sooty black lashes and pure alabaster skin, smooth and looked so soft just made them more appealing to her. That mouth was curved serenely. He had the face of an angel and it made it so much harder to remember that he was her rival. She'd pictured him to be vicious and vindictive, after all he hadn't once apologized about hurting Amber's wrist that time and it had been a cruel maneuver to pull.

But the whole time she'd been here with him, he'd been nothing but attentive and interested in hearing about her. Sure he asked about her friends but only because they were important to her. It was nice to be noticed. She was always in the shadows with her friends. At school she was known as Arista Belyaev the goalie, or Arista the Octopussy, or Tala's ex-girlfriend Arista. To Kane and Ozuma who'd once been her closest male friends, she was now Arista the friend of Aspin and Sonia. However, here she was Arista Belyaev. Nothing more, nothing less. It was nice and freeing. She had no title to live up to. Sometimes she wondered if the other girls felt the same. She knew they were equals in the group and to be in a group of friends were one person didn't try to dominate them was a special blessing, but sometimes she wanted some friends to just be for her, not to be shared with the others. For the moment, Brooklyn was that special friend.

"I didn't mean it that way Belle." he said with a sigh, using his own nickname for her which had started off just being the start of her surname and then because belle was the French for beautiful, he found it strangely apt. Arista thought his poetic nature was screwy, but she didn't say anything more on it. "Hiwatari gets on my nerves. He always seems to land on his feet and always leaves everyone to clean up his messes."

She tilted her head to the side. "You really don't like him, do you?"

He shook his head. "I don't have any real feelings towards him. He just left me with one big mess on my hands that if he'd told me he was leaving, then I would have had time to prepare. Same with Valkov, they spared no thought for how the team would react to them just up and leaving."

"Way I heard it, Tala was just glad to get out of that school. He really hated it there."

"Of course he did. None of us like it there but you don't see me just bailing out on the team. I have more respect for my team mates than that."

Arista frowned. Some how she found that comment a little hard to digest but then she had to remind herself that she didn't know anything about their team, after all their school wasn't the same as Preston. "What's it like at Clonmel?"

"Nothing like it is at Preston, I'm willing to bet. It's not so bad. Everyone comes from money so most of the students are trying to be more dominant than the others. It's just a big clash of wills. But it's a school and in the end up, it'll be over in a few months. I can't wait to get out of there, move to college."

"I don't have any love for the classes, but I don't mind being at Preston. The teachers are cool and life's pretty easy going. I haven't even thought about going to College yet. Probably have to start applying for some when I go back." she replied thoughtfully.

"Come on, Belle, no use staying here when everyone's partying outside." he pushed away from the table and offered her his hand.

She tentatively took it, encouraged by his smile. "So how big a mess did Kai leave you with?"

Brooklyn raised a ginger brow at her calling the ex-shark by his first name. Were they on good terms, he wondered. She didn't seem to be Kai's type, but she held an ethereal quality to her beauty. The navy eyes framed by spiked lashes and the peaches and cream complexion that did the eyes justice. The firm mouth and the alluring voice that came out of it. Added to that was the unique silver hair tipped with gold, and though it looked metallic and harsh, it was silken soft when his hand had accidentally brushed against it. She kept her figure hidden under baggy clothes, much to his distaste but it gave him a chance to let his imagination run wild but the thought that she was possibly interested in Kai disturbed him.

"Well we had no captain, no vice captain, no forward and no center."

"Oh, I thought you said you were captain." she pointed out referring to her last encounter with him when he'd visited Preston Academy on the pretense of retrieving his goons.

"Glad to see you recall our conversations so vividly."

She just gazed at him coolly. He could take whatever meaning he wanted out of it, she'd just been repeating what he'd said.

Sensing he wasn't going to get a rise out of her, he cleared his throat and answered. "Fine I was but then Balkof brought in Garland to take over."

"He the silvery blue haired guy who was with you and your coach that night you came to our game?"

He frowned at how easily she'd extracted information out of him about his team. Obviously there were things about his team that her team and coach wouldn't know. It had never occurred to him that she would try to pump him for information, yet looking at her it didn't seem that that was her plan. "Yeah that was him. Anyways, how about we go dancing or something, celebrate the New Year in style."

A silver brow shot up then down. "New Years Eve was yesterday." she reminded him. "And I don't dance."

"Well, we'll celebrate the American New Year and I can teach you."

"Ok, how about I say, I don't want to dance. I don't want to learn to dance."

"C'mon Belle. What are you planning on doing? Just lurking about the town with a bunch of strangers?"

"You're a stranger."

"Now, that's just harsh. Are you trying to break my heart or is it just a natural ability of yours?"

She rolled her eyes despite the color accentuating her cheeks but because of the biting cold, it wasn't taken to be related to his flirty words. "Fine, we'll go to some club. But don't try to get me drunk."

"What, you don't drink?" he asked surprised.

"I said for you not to try to get me drunk, I said nothing about myself getting me drunk." she replied flippantly.

He grinned and his whole face lit up. "Works for me." He inched closer to her and put his arm around her slender shoulders under the pretence of guiding her through the gathering crowds as the night grew darker and heavier around them.

* * *

Kai stood looking at the Benson house and debated whether he should cross the yard and enter the house or not. Shahero had invited him to the party and he'd accepted but now he was having second thoughts. He still just didn't feel apart of their group yet. He felt like an outsider staring in and wishing to belong but still he didn't. Part of that had to do with a certain ochre eyed girl but he didn't dwell on that aspect much because it left him feeling frustrated with himself. Another reason for it was because of Miriam. He'd spent so much time avoiding the Tigers by being with her and now that had back-fired because he didn't have her to use as an escape anymore. Oliver, Robert and Lee wouldn't be any good to him either because they weren't really Shahero's friends so they wouldn't be here. Tala was still off with him since the fight, though Kai suspected that it was more to do with the red head being embarrassed by his actions, rather than still being angry with Kai. So for the first time since joining Preston, he felt alone.

He looked back at his own home where the warm lights still burned in the window though he knew only his father was home. Both his parents had settled into Bakuten's way of life easily enough. His mother was acting like a reborn teenager running off on last minute shopping sprees with Treasa and cooing over Baby catalogues and exchanging stories with Keiko Kinomiya and Anne Preston-Lee. It was unnerving that even his father had found a niche there. He would have Hiroshi Kaeto and Tyson's Dad over to watch sports, sometimes Hitoshi and him could be found watching reruns of Hockey games to think up new plays.

He wondered why it was so easy for his parents to fit in when he still felt like an outsider. He was always a bit of a loner, even with his parents he was always on his own to a degree. They were a unit, a partnership that couldn't be separated and he was just the tag along. He didn't have the security that Amber had with her family and he envied that. His eyes lifted to the Benson house where music and laughter floated out on the night's cold air. The party wasn't even started yet but he'd seen Miyami and Aspin arrive early to help out with the food. His mother was over there to take the stress off Treasa.

She seemed to have bonded with both Benson females in a way that made him jealous. He was just as jealous of Amber's relationship with his father, though he couldn't quite tell if he was jealous that she and his father were getting along so well despite the fact that Nicolai hadn't told her about him being her god father. Or was he jealous that his father was closer to her than he'd ever be?

She was getting under his skin so bad. They shouldn't have anything going between them but he knew they did. They complimented each other. He pushed people away and she pulled them to her, yet just as easily they could both do the opposite. Where he was pale, she was dark and vice versa. And it didn't matter how he tried to explain it to himself, the simple fact of the matter was that he wanted her and she was just delaying the inevitable.

"What are you doing skulking about in the shadows? You trying to give the girls a fright Hiwatari?"

He snapped out of his thoughts and glanced in the direction the voice came from. Kane stood there, hands in his jeans pocket and a bemused expression on his face. There was a crunch of gravel and Tala walked into the spot light that was positioned on the wraparound porch.

"Kai." he acknowledged with a nod.

"Tala."

Kane looked between them then shook his head. Instead of saying something, he walked up the steps and to the front door. Not bothering to knock, he walked right in.

Kai watched him disappear into the warmth inside and found himself asking before he could stop himself. "Does anyone knock on doors in Bakuten?"

Despite himself, Tala grinned. "Sure, then they walk in before anyone can answer. Bakuten's a small town and the only time the door is left open is if someone's already inside. Not a high chance of being burglarized when you have a neighborhood watch group." when Kai said nothing, he looked at him and noticed the remnants of the split lip he'd given him last week. "Look, I wanted to say sorry for pounding on you."

"Why did you?"

"It was a misunderstanding."

"Oh well I can see how you could naturally mistake me for someone on the list of America's most wanted." Kai muttered dryly.

Tala laughed but it was forced and they both knew it. "I can't explain the circumstances to you-"

"Because it has something to do with her, doesn't it?"

The red head nodded knowing who the bluenette referred to. "It does but like I said, I can't explain to you. She had nothing to say in it, so I… Look I'm sorry I hit you. Put in the same position though, I probably would do it again."

"She means a lot to you."

"Yeah."

"She means a lot to me too." Kai confessed.

"What do you plan to do about it?"

"I haven't figured it out yet."

Tala tucked his tongue in his cheek and gravely tucked his hands in his pockets. "Here's a piece of advice. When you do and you go for it, and if, for some reason, she doesn't respond, run for the hills because Bryan will take you out if she's not ready for it."

"Oh, I already know that. But thanks."

"Good luck." Tala commented, before he headed into the house.

Kai watched him leave and figured that was as much of a blessing he could expect and feeling slightly more hopeful about the situation he followed his friend inside. Maybe he wasn't as alone as he thought.

The kitchen was warm and welcoming, heated air was fanned from the oven which was cooking food that smelled really good. Other foods were placed on trays and covered with foil, the trays had been lined up on the counter and glasses were set on the table. Tyson was already in there moving from one tray to another as a bee did with flowers. Jean was watching him with a hawk like gleam in her eye and a familiar wooden spoon in her hand that she'd use any time that Tyson made a move she didn't like. Enrique must have arrived earlier because he was now trying to butter up Treasa, as she sat on a chair by the table and laughed at his 'smooth' lines. Music came out of the living room, that he recognized as the Offspring. Kane could be heard talking over it and Kai had to remind himself that Kane had grown up with Amber and had been to these parties plenty of times.

There was a sharp '_whack_' and Tyson yelped snatching his hand back. "But that one's broken!"

"Tyson, it's for the party."

"But I'm a part_ier_."

"Enrique step away from my woman. If anyone gets to flirt with Mrs. B, it's me!" Tala said with an easy grin as he sidled up to Treasa who shook her head with amusement.

"Hey Kai, how's it going?" Miyami asked as she stepped past him coming from the back stairs and crossing to the counter, rummaging in a drawer before producing a pair of scissors.

"I'm good, you?"

She smiled brightly at him. "Yeah I'm looking forward to tonight. It's going to be fun. Hey Treasa, you don't mind if I borrow these do you?"

"No go ahead. Do you want a drink or anything boys?"

Enrique moseyed over to the counter where bottles of drink sat while Tala slid into a chair beside the pregnant woman and began to inquire about her health. Kai leaned back against a counter and folded his arms watching them all.

"What's your Dad doing?" Jean asked as she came to stand beside him, absently pushing a stray bang out of his eyes. He shook her off and grimaced when she chuckled at him.

"He's getting dressed for tonight."

"Where are you going tonight?"

Jean looked at the navy haired boy who was holding a glass of lemon soda in a red tinged hand. "I think we'll just head into town."

"Who's all here Enrique?"

Enrique's brow furrowed as he considered Tala's question. "Well Miyami, Aspin and Shahero are upstairs. Kane, Hitoshi, Ozuma and Daichi are in the living room and Bryan's in his room."

"Where's Benz?"

"Oh well yeah, obviously she's here too."

"Yeah but where is she?"

"Upstairs."

"Hey everyone." Kirby stepped into the brightly lit kitchen where everyone was standing about looking naturally at home, except for Kai, she mused. "Hey Aunty T, Mrs. Hiwatari. Are the girls upstairs?"

"Yeah head on up Kirby, I saw Miyami with scissors."

"Oh, great." she quipped and brushing past Kai with a small smile for the loner boy, she darted up the stairs.

"HERO, KANE'S JUST BROKEN YOUR NEW GAME!"

Kai looked to the door that lead to the main stairs where the voice came from, shouting over a stream of music. There was a shouted reply and the slamming off a door, footsteps pounded down the stairs, followed by another door slamming. The birthday girl's voice could be heard shouting obscenities at Kane but before any one could think to referee, there was a thud and the occupants of the kitchen stared at the shoe that had landed on the floor.

"Is this normal?" Kai asked.

Tala eased out of the chair and moved slowly to the back stair case, jumping back as another shoe flew out of the stairwell. Kai recognized them immediately as Amber's trainers. Tyson lifted one of the shoes and looked at it.

"Do you think they're trying to escape?" he wondered, studying it intently, then his gaze darted up as two more pairs of shoes came thumping down into the kitchen. A scuffed pair of hiking boots, and a pair of simple flat soled black shoes.

A pounding of footsteps heralded Kirby's arrival. She looked round at the occupants and shrugged her shoulders in reply to their questioning looks as she gathered the shoes on the floor and took the last one from Tyson.

"Kirby, honey, what are you doing with Amber's shoes?"

"Miyami's trying to get her to wear boots, Aunt T, so we had to pry them from her cold lifeless hands and throw them away before she could retrieve them." The teal haired girl replied.

"Why can't she just wear normal shoes?" Tala interjected.

"No Miyami wants her to wear a specific pair of shoes."

"What type of shoes are they?"

"Three inch heeled ankle boots."

"Why?"

"In case and I quote 'she has to kiss some lucky guy'." Kirby shrugged. "Don't ask me, I'm just the messenger."

"But, she's never had to kiss anyone before, what's so different this year?" Tyson asked with a bewildered expression, looking to Enrique who looked just as clueless.

Tala exchanged a meaningful look with Kai while the mothers shared a knowing glance. Kirby left via the door into the hall, deposited the shoes in the cupboard under the stairs and then headed up the main staircase again.

"Why don't you boys go into the living room and relax for a while. I'm sure the girls will be down stairs once they're finished up there." Treasa suggested, hoping to have a nice discussion with Jean. Sensing her friend's intentions, Jean filled the kettle and switched it on to boil.

The boys trooped out of the kitchen while Jean slid into a chair opposite her best friend. "So what do you think about that?"

"The only difference this year, from every other year, is your Kai."

"Hmm. There's something between them two."

"No one's quite got under Amber's skin the way he does." Treasa commented.

"He's been pretty moody these past couple of weeks. He's always been happy with his own company, but now it's like he's missing something. I just wonder if what he's missing is upstairs going under mass torture by Miyami."

Treasa's eyes, the ones she passed onto her daughter, lit up with amusement. "It'll do her good to get dolled up for a change. Sometimes I wonder about her. She doesn't like shopping, she doesn't like makeup, and she'd lock herself away in that room of hers if it wasn't for me dragging her out. I know she's been depressed lately. I've been putting it down to her visit to James but at the same time, I've sensed that before -from her phone calls home- she was happy." Before she could say anything else, the creak of a floor board alerted her to someone's presence in the stair well before Bryan poked his head out. She smiled at the tall burly teen who had nominated himself to be Amber's body guard, the dragon that Prince Charming had to slay before he could reach her daughter. "Hello Bryan, are you heading out tonight?"

"Dunno yet." he grunted.

The back door opened and Ruin breezed in, tossing Bryan his keys and he headed back upstairs. She nodded at Treasa and Jean. "Hey, where's everyone?"

"Tala's in the living room."

Ruin nodded and mustered up a smile for the pregnant woman then headed into the living room, letting out a burst of noise when she opened the door until she sealed it away by closing it.

"Your house is so full." Jean suddenly just blurted out with a hint of exasperation mingled with disbelief.

Treasa smiled warmly. "I know. I'll miss them when they leave though but at least I have Hiroshi and the baby to keep me company now."

Jean nodded with a small look of wistfulness. "Do you know the sex yet?"

"I want it to be a surprise. What about you, do you ever wish you had another?"

"Sometimes I wish I had a daughter, but no. I have Kai and that's all I really want. I'm so proud of the u-turn he's taken since joining Preston. He was so distant at Clonmel." she broke off at a loud blast of noise, not music, noise.

Treasa frowned and considered getting up to tell them to turn it down but was saved the bother when there was a stomp of assured footsteps on the upstairs landing belonging to someone on a mission. She looked at Jean and grinned. "This should be interesting."

* * *

The living room door swung open with enough force so it bounced off the wall. The group of boys who were involved in a heated argument about something or other broke apart and stared at the door way where Amber stood in her usual confrontational stance, her expression showed she wasn't happy.

Kai, who'd been sitting on the floor by the door talking to Tala and Ruin who were curled up on the couch, found himself letting his gaze travel up slowly and languidly, taking her in slowly. The three inch heeled boots and the straight cut black pants made her legs look longer than possible and the skin tight material outlined all that was great about those legs. She wore a black v neck top over a white shirt with the tails un-tucked. The outfit hugged her svelte waist and whatever she was wearing under it accentuated the shape of her breasts. Her hair was pinned up haphazardly so that tendrils fell down softly to frame her statuesque face. The look was ridiculously sexy to him and had his mouth going bone dry before saliva quickly pooled. She hadn't noticed him yet, instead her topaz eyes which were outlined modestly with eyeliner and mascara and something shimmering had been added to the lids, were locked on the boys. Her skin was flawless and he could almost tell there was nothing added to it, except the blush her temper had naturally given her. Her mouth looked unbelievably tender and the long column of her golden neck was decorated by a silver choker with a diamond pendant.

It suddenly occurred to him that as long as he'd know her, he'd never seen her dressed up and that for the most part, she worked hard to dress herself down. Mariam had always dressed to impress but Amber dressed so that she wouldn't be noticed. It figured that she had to be forced into looking this amazing. It was obvious she didn't see herself the way he did and he wondered absently just who had torn her self confidence in her own natural beauty to shreds. She would be so much work, he realized. What he didn't know was would she be _too_ much work?

"Oh hey Ams."

"Hi." she drawled with a smile they knew too well. It was the nice, 'lure them into thinking that every thing's ok then kick them in the teeth' smile. She stomped into the room in the heels she was cursing for all she was worth, and she turned the music off with an audible snap of her wrist. She dusted off her palms and regarded the boys. "OK ground rules."

There was a collective groan before they shut up abruptly at her sharp look. "First up, Tyson, Daichi and your class mates including Kirby, are not allowed any alcohol. If I see you with alcohol, I'm kicking you out. No buts Daichi." she snapped out sensing the boy shifting to argue with her. "Secondly, the rest of you, I can't stop you drinking, but at least know your limits. I don't want a repeat of last year, got it."

"No fair, tarring us with the same brush as Arista and Shahero."

"I'm being serious Kane. I don't want to be threatened again and I don't want world war whatever breaking out in the house and more so, I don't want the cops showing up because someone decided it would be a good idea to streak down the street in subzero temperatures."

Everyone looked at Enrique who shrugged sheepishly. "Michael dared me."

"Don't care. Whoever wants to, can stay over, but there's a room for each sex- Daichi that's really immature."

"Sorry, hearing you say sex is funny."

"Actually I agree with him." Kane said with a shrug.

"Why's Amber talking 'bout sex?" Paddy asked popping his head round the door and stepping into the room missing the dark look a certain two toned bluenette sent him.

"Cause I'm planning on having it on the couch, got a problem with that?" she bit out caustically.

Paddy just grinned and dumped himself onto the couch beside Ruin, smiling disarmingly at her.

"No using any of the rooms, if you have an itch to scratch find a motel." Amber continued flashing a smile at Tala who acknowledged it with a raise of his brows. Her gaze swept over the room, stilling when it latched onto Kai who was lazily sprawled on the floor, leaning up against a chair, his eyes intent on hers. Her breath caught in her throat, she inhaled sharply, then turned back to her friends. "Who's not here yet?"

"Spencer and Ian, Michael and Bethan-" Ozuma replied.

"You make them sound like a couple." Kane pointed out.

"They are."

"Spencer and Ian!"

"No! Michael and- oh shut up Kane, you knew what I meant, you wanker!"

"Sssh! Tone down the language around my mom, please. And Bethan and Michael had plans so they can't come."

"What time are the parentals going at?"

Amber glanced at her watch, anything to keep her eyes off Kai. "In a few minutes. Everyone's not here anyways so doesn't matter."

Miyami walked into the room with Kirby, who left to answer the door when the bell rang. "Where's Johnny, Enrique?"

"Went to get ice cream or something."

"It wasn't my fault." Spencer grumbled under his breath as he walked into the room brushing a hand through his wet hair. "Who knew they'd be parked up that lane?"

Ian snickered. "They got one big fright when Spencer backed his car into them, but damn that girl was hot!"

"So did you exchange insurance details?"

"Yeah and my Dad is going to kill me."

"Shit not good." Miguel stated unnecessarily from the hall where he shed his coat, eyeing Kirby appreciatively.

"Hey everyone." Mariah greeted as she swept her hair out of her face. "My god that rain out there isn't letting up. You could get soaked just walking from the car to the house."

Rei appeared in the door way and nodded at them all. "Ams, where do you want us to stash our stuff?"

"Dump them in the good room." she replied with a sigh. This party was just going to be such a big headache, but it would definitely be fun, she hoped.

* * *

The group, after their initial awkward 'don't know what to do with myself stage', followed by the handing out of Shahero's presents, had finally settled themselves in the living room and were sprawled haphazardly around the room taking up all available space as they watched a DVD. For the most part the group was silent, apart from the odd side comments from certain more vocal members of the team. Those who hadn't wanted to watch a film had made their way to other areas of the house, Tyson, Zeo and Daichi had headed off with the playstation2 upstairs and every so often bursts of sound could be heard from across the hall. The parents had long left and the kitchen had been raided by each member after Amber and Shahero had done one round of playing the hostess and then had gotten too lazy.

Shahero was curled up on the couch with Hitoshi's arms encircling her, both looking quite content with the position which wasn't really a big surprise to the team. Paddy had positioned himself so that he was squished in between Amber and Kirby, enjoying the death glares he was receiving from the captains of the Varsity and JV teams, well until the blond one had stalked off. He had clued in pretty quickly to what was going on and he was taking advantage of getting under both guys skin. It was their own fault for not making a move, after all they had the girls to themselves all that time while they were at school.

"Colin Farrell is hot!" Mariah commented, shifting closer to Rei feeling a shiver course through her. They had turned the central heating down since it had been getting too warm in the already crowded room and now she was beginning to find it cold. She shot an envious look at the lilac blanket Amber had wrapped around her legs.

"Did you know that hot actually stands for Homosexual or taken?" Miyami wondered out loud, interlinking her fingers with Johnny's.

"Seriously?" Amber asked arranging herself on the couch so that her back didn't ache so much.

"Where did you hear that?" Ruin demanded skeptically.

"Arista."

"Well Colin Farrell isn't gay and who cares if he's taken? He's the perfect Irish guy."

Amber and Kirby snorted simultaneously. "There are no guys that look like Colin in Ireland."

The younger girl nodded her agreement. "It's true. On our trips to Ireland, we've yet to meet an Irish guy like him. But they do cuss a lot."

"All Irish guys are arrogant little pricks."

"HEY!"

Every looked at the offended resident Irish male sitting between both girls. They simply favored him with a look before returning their attention back to the TV.

"Enrique move your head!"

"I'm going to get a drink, does anyone want one?"

"Oh, hold up I'll go with you!" Miyami suddenly said scrambling to her feet and following Sonia.

"LINKIN PARK!"

The group shot Shahero a dark look for her rather obvious announcement to which she replied by sticking out her tongue.

"F'r da romantic weekend f'r two can y' name da song?"

The birthday girl pretended to think hard about that, then on a surge of inspiration she answered. "Figure 0.9?"

"Congratulation's y' win da first prize."

"Yay for me!"

"Shut it down." Aspin muttered.

"Oh he's gonna shoot that cop!"

"No he's not. He has to be arrested, you prat!"

"Why does he have to be arrested, if he's arrested then the films over!"

"Would you both shut up!" Tala snapped intervening between Ian and Johnny once again for about the fifth time that night. They snarled at the red head who ignored them much to their chagrin.

"Kane do you want Sex on the Beach?" Sonia asked innocently as she walked into the room with a small glass filled with a pinkish liquid. The whole room feel silent, and several gazes snapped to Sonia, while the rest turned to Kane.

"What?"

A burst of laughter filled the room as they snickered at Kane's shocked yelp. Sonia's expression was the picture of innocence as she lifted the glass into his view. "Miyami's making sex on the Beach, do you want some?"

"No." he replied sourly not enjoying how he was the butt of the joke, especially since Aspin was snickering quietly at him as her fingers played with his hair.

Kai sighed and got to his feet before disappearing out the kitchen unaware of two pairs of eyes watching him.

Kassie turned to Kirby. "Who's he?"

"Who Kai?"

"The one that just got up and left. The blue haired one."

"Yeah Kai. He's the Varsity Teams captain."

"Oh wow."

Kirby chuckled. "Yeah that's the general reaction when someone sees him for the first time."

"Amber never told me he looked like… well _that_."

Kirby frowned at that. "Well she wouldn't. They don't get along all that well. Clash of opposites or something."

"No, I never got that vibe from her. She was kind of acting the way you do when I ask you about Migue-" she broke off on a hiss when she felt Kirby's elbow jab into her gut.

"Hush up." The green haired girl hissed. Miguel was in another part of the house but that didn't mean she felt comfortable talking out loud about her crush for Miguel.

Kassie chuckled, her laughter only worsening when Amber shot her a curious glance. Both cousins were more alike than they wanted to admit.

* * *

"OW FUCK!"

"Ok go again."

"Dat actually hurts."

"It's supposed to be a minor buzz."

"Ah, no wonder. It's turned up to full."

There was a snort of laughter as the four teens sat watching the red light. They were playing a version of Shocking roulette, holding onto the rods, they each raced to press their button first when the light shifted to the green. The last person to hit their button was shocked. Each time so far it had been Paddy, but then he wasn't a member of the team so that was to be expected. The fact that Kirby thought it was funny to tap his button for him when he wasn't looking, didn't help either.

Kai brought it using the excuse to see who had the best hand eye co-ordination. Amber knew that was one big lie on his part and that the sadistic git was getting a big charge out of it -no pun intended- when he watched his fellow teammates get zapped, and curiously more pleasure when the Irish man was on the receiving end. When she'd called him on the former, he'd just flashed her a disarming grin -which had set her heart all a flutter- and told her to consider it pay back.

She growled at the thought then hissed and winced when a pressure on her finger caused her to push the button when the light was red. The shock of the buzz jolted her fingers into wanting to release the rod, but sheer willpower had her holding it, while her other hand caught the wooden leg of the coffee table. She absorbed the buzz of the shock instead of pulling away from it and when it died away after an agonizingly long numbing minute, she shot a dark look at her cousin Kirby who'd collapsed against the table in breathless giggles. Hand tingling, she acknowledged the awed murmurs of Enrique and Paddy about how she'd held on instead of dropping it.

"Don't start worshipping her yet, boys. She grounded herself so she wasn't really shocked. I say you shock her again, since she cheated out of getting shocked that time." Kai drawled lazily. "And keep her hands away from the table leg."

She shot him a desperate look then frowned when Paddy's hand closed over hers on the rod and Enrique started the game again. "Shit." she cursed. Who ever gave Hiwatari alcohol needed to be introduced to her fists because since he'd had those beers, his tongue had suddenly become loose and every torturous thought that fleeted through his mind had been exacted out on her. She really shouldn't have annoyed him so much after all.

She yelped as once again she felt the tingle of electricity flow up her hand. After it dispersed she sighed. "Hey that wasn't so bad. The way Paddy was screaming, I thought it really hurt."

"Was it on full?" Kai asked pushing away from the wall.

"Yeah." Enrique answered.

"Wanna try it Kai?" she offered with _that_ smile.

He opened his mouth to reply when the door swung open and Shahero shoved Ian into the room, his hands had been tied behind his back and the whole scene looked as though it had stepped straight out of one of those Hollywood action films they'd been watching earlier.

"Hi Ian, how's the floor smelling from down there?"

Ian snarled at the striped haired girl, struggling to get to his feet. Shahero grabbed his arm and hauled him to his feet, roughly tossing him onto an arm chair. "Hey, watch it!"

"Any particular reason-" Amber broke off and raised a brow as '_My Chemical Romance: I'm not ok (I promise)_' burst out of another room. "Daichi Benson, you better not be in my room!" She stormed out of the room and a few minutes later she could be heard yelling at her younger cousin as he laughed and the music rose in crescendo.

If Ian thought he'd had an easy escape, he was thoroughly proved wrong when Shahero stomped on his foot aggressively when he started sniggering at her sister. "You are a pervert!"

"Yeah well you're flat chested." he sneered back.

"That's such a male comment. No one judges guys on the size of their dicks!" Kirby snapped irked.

"I don't think you have anything to complain about, what size are yours' Kirby?"

"My dick?"

"Well no, but if you want to tell me."

"You are such a creep Ian!"

"It's a good question. Just tell me your cup size."

"No!"

"What about you Shahero? 00-O?"

The door swung open and Amber strode back in again holding her copy of her CD. The tension that had risen in the room was thick enough to be cut with a knife. She rose a brow at the boys who all looked relatively at ease while Kirby looked decidedly uncomfortable and had her arms folded, something she only did when she was cold or unnerved. Shahero just looked violently pissed off.

She stumbled forward when Hitoshi pushed her out of his way easily and looked at Ian. "Huh, you're still alive. You must have more luck than a rabbits foot."

"Why what did he say this time?"

"I was just continuing our science conversation."

Amber's brow furrowed as she tried to remember the science conversation, or one that would cause Shahero to be pissed and Kirby to be uncomfortable. She shook her head. There were too many that she couldn't find just one. "No you're gonna have to be more specific."

"It's the one we had when we were supposed to be revising." Enrique supplied helpfully.

"Oh the bra one." she _tsked_ in disgust. "That was so pathetic. Why did you want to know what size we were Ian, wanting to buy one for yourself? Here's a hint, you get a measuring tape, or better yet you can get someone professional to do it. You'd enjoy some woman feeling you up cause that's the only way it's every gonna happen."

Shahero's lip curled. Oh yeah, she remembered, that was why she liked having Amber around because there was no one better to verbally body slam Ian. She would have clocked him one but then she'd have risked breaking something and she wasn't in the mood to get grounded.

"Witty Benson, real witty. Did you think of that all by yourself?"

"Nope." she said simply. "Kai told me via our mind link!" she drawled dryly.

Kai snorted when Ian shot him an accusing look while the girl simply rolled her eyes.

"Let my hands go, I didn't think you were into bondage Kaeto."

"I'm not, I just like tying you up and watching you squirm on the ground like the miserable worm you are." she spat back at him.

Enrique coughed and turned away much to Kai's amusement while Paddy just hitched himself onto the coffee table and prepared to enjoy the show.

"Now I know why your mouths are so big, it's to compensate for the fact that your breasts are so small!"

Amber flashed a grin. "Now I know why your nose is so big, it's to make up for the fact that your dick is _non existent_!"

Ian sneered at them. Hitoshi stepped up and placed a hand on Shahero's shoulder, but she shrugged him off gently, before heading into the kitchen.

"Amber! Amy-chan! Amby-Pamby!"

The ochre eyed girl groaned and stalked out to the hall again to answer her cousin. Kirby just looked down at Ian, her sigh laced with disappointment before she headed out to find Kassie or Mariah. Paddy chuckled.

"Y' alright down der?"

"Untie me." the Russian midget hissed.

"Don' y' git tired fightin' wit 'em all de time?"

"They started it."

"Man, Ian. Someday you're really gonna regret slagging them off so much. 'Cause women, they all stick together." Enrique pointed out.

"Kaeto and Benson, ain't women."

"Yeah dey are an' dey deserve some respect fr'm y'."

"Besides it's Hero's birthday!"

A small smile played over Ian's lips. "Hey, you were the one who bought Kaeto lingerie, so you must have a fair idea-"

"Ian are you looking for the fastest way to end up in a coffin?"

"Looks dat way t' me."

"Look just untie me already."

Enrique looked to Kai as though he expected the bluenette to tell him to leave him. Kai simply nodded and left the room as Enrique untied the irked midget Russian while the Irish boy headed out to find someone else to talk to.

* * *

Kai found Miyami in the kitchen mixing herself another glass of sex on the beach. She looked up and smiled warmly at him as he leaned against the counter beside her. For some reason he felt completely at ease around the Silver haired Japanese woman. It wasn't hard to see how she was one of the most popular girls in their year. But it wasn't just that she was easy going and didn't form opinions on people until she actually knew them. Her reaction to him amidst the resentment from the rest of the team had been refreshing but besides that, there had been an instant bond between them. Even if they didn't talk every day or spend time together, it was still there.

She poured a slug of cranberry juice or something that resembled it into a pint glass and peeked up at him through bubble gum pink bangs. "Hey, you enjoying yourself?"

He blew out a breath and ran a hand through his hair. "You keep asking me that, the answer hasn't changed much. It's not as bad as I thought it could be. So crowded though."

"Yeah that's one of the bad things about knowing so many people." she said with a slight apologetic grin. "Comes with Amber having such a big family."

"I guess so." his eyes lifted to the ceiling as he listened to Tyson laugh uproariously while Daichi yelled something out. A few seconds later they were both hollering eagerly for Miguel and Kirby to join them. "What are they doing up there?"

"Exhausting Shahero and Amber's supply of games I suspect."

He crossed to the fridge and pulled out a long necked bottle of beer. His eyes lifted to the window above the sink. The darkness pressed like a thick blanket against the glass while the light caught on the rain that was trickling down the pane. The fat drops of rain were pelting the ground outside and watching the silhouette's of the trees bowing and being whip lashed from the strength of the wind gusting outside.

Miyami eyed him from the side. He was wearing something similar to what he'd worn to the school Christmas dinner/dance. "You should try wearing some colors other than black."

"I look in good in black."

"No arguments here about that, but I still think another color wouldn't be as depressing as black."

"That the designer part of you talking or are you subtly hinting at how you're secretly in love with me and want to spend time with me?" he teased easily. "Because I have to tell you, us men aren't all that great with subtle hints, or strong hints or even obvious hints. Seems we're not good with hints period."

Miyami laughed. "That doesn't surprise me. And yes it's the designer part of me talking."

He shrugged. "I think I'll stick with black if it's all the same to you."

"Don't you trust my skills?"

"I haven't seen your skills." he replied, sipping at the beer and tilting his head to look down the hall.

"You've seen Shahero and _Amber_."

Kai frowned at the emphasis she put on her friends name. "Yes." he replied slowly.

"What did you think?"

"You did good work."

She sighed dramatically. "Just good? I think I worked a miracle getting her to even let me put on the makeup never mind the boots."

"They are nice boots." Kai replied simply, not knowing what else to say. He knew what Miyami was trying to weasel out of him and he wasn't sure how he felt about discussing it with her. She was his friend, and he doubted she was the type that would gossip to Amber about anything he said, but all the same, there was some reserve about openly admitting his interest in the ochre eyed girl.

"Try telling her that." Miyami mumbled. "And she's always complaining about being short, but when the chance comes along for her to be taller, she bitches."

Unknown to him, his expression softened when he replied. "That's just her, she likes to complain."

"Ain't that the truth." Miyami laughed, amused by his simple statement that exhibited just how well he knew her. There was no accusation, no annoyance, no heat behind the words, instead there seemed to be acceptance. Part of her just wanted to ask him straight out if he had feelings for Amber, like he said, guys didn't respond well to hints but at the same time she didn't want to make him uncomfortable divulging something he may not even be aware of yet. She rolled some suitable ideas around in her head trying to figure out which would be easiest to broach with him when she looked up and realized that he wasn't even in the kitchen. Well physically he was but his gaze was far off, distant and concentrating on something else. She tuned her sharp hearing into what it could possibly be. She sifted through the nonsensical noise of her cousin and his friends joking and laughing, through the Eminem clashing with the Distillers which were vying for attention from two different rooms, passed Ruin's throaty laughter rose over it and then latched onto Amber's. Ah-ha, she thought unnecessarily. Amber's dry tone became clearer as she berated Paddy on something or other while he naturally flirted with her.

Miyami cringed slightly. Her friend was oblivious to Kai listening in on them and it would look from a bystander's point of view that they were flirting with each other, Kai would be no different in his thoughts. Sighing softly, Miyami felt the urge to clear up the matter with Kai, after all Amber wasn't here to defend herself.

"There's nothing going on between those two." she informed him.

He snapped his gaze to her and gave a gallic shrug. "Who?"

She raised a silver brow at him mockingly. "You know who I'm talking about."

His face remained blank, before he released a breath and his posture sagged. "Fine, I do."

"She only sees him as a friend, nothing more and he knows that."

"Just because they're friends doesn't mean they can't be more." he said quietly to himself, his dark mahogany eyes settling on the front door in the well lit hall.

"With Amber it does. Once you're a friend, you stay a friend, it takes an awful lot for her to move you from one box to another, and mainly that's because she's lazy." she tried to prompt a smile from him, even a smirk but his eyes were troubled and his expression was unreadable. She sipped her drink and contemplated him before speaking her next words. "Look, if you want something to happen between you two, you have to make it. She's no better at reading between the lines."

As Kai opened his mouth to say something, someone came thundering down the back stairs and he wisely shut up. Miyami shot Daichi a dark look when he stumbled into the kitchen, looking around frantically, before scrambling under the table.

"Do I even want to know?" Miyami inquired tonelessly.

He flashed her a grin that was all youth and mischievity. His bright emerald green eyes darting constantly to the stairwell as though any minute he expected someone to come down the stairs and get him. With a frown, he ran a hand through his hair and then looked over his shoulder as though he'd just come to the conclusion that there were four entrances to this room. His assailant could attack him from the back stairs, they could go down the main stairs and come down the hall into the kitchen, head into the living room and come in from behind him or go out the front door and come in the back door. Why did Treasa's house have to be so complicated.

"Is Amber out there?"

Kai rose a brow, then looked down the hall. "I don't see her."

"Shit." he cursed softly. "What about Shahero?"

"No."

"Worse."

"Daichi what's going on?"

Daichi offered her a weak wan smile then sighed. "I accidentally deleted Amby-Pamby's final fantasy game from her memory card and she's mucho pissed off with me. Which she has no reason to be. Everyone knows that Final Fantasy X2 is complete pants because it's a load of girl power crap.**(1)**"

Miyami arched a brow. "Are you sure she's only pissed about the fact that you deleted her game?"

He nodded, biting his lip and inching out from under the table. "Yeah, she's shredding Paddy to pieces over the girl power crap now, but she'll be coming for me soon, so I'm just going to live here, under the table for the foreseeable future unless one of you delightfully special, wonderful people would like to go out there and put in a good word for me." he looked between the two of them who both looked nonplussed by his speech. "Any takers? What if I say please? Or I could beg or offer to sharpen your skates."

Kai rolled his eyes. Anything to get the kid to quit being so pathetic and whipped. "Hn." he stalked down the hall placing his bottle of beer on a side table and looked up the stairs for any hint of the girl who's wrath, Daichi so feared. Which to him seemed absurd. There was no doubt about it that the petite girl had a temper to make up for her height but he'd never seen it fully unleashed, or not his knowledge, and he seriously doubted she'd take it out on her younger cousin. It seemed that Daichi was just as melodramatic as the rest of the family, then again from what he'd briefly seen of them during the past fortnight, he could understand it.

"Paddy you're an idiot."

"An' y're a cynical so an' so."

"Damn right I am."

Kai listened to the conversation and a pressure in his chest built. All he felt like doing was smashing his fist into that Irish boys face. The feeling wasn't new, ever since he'd seen the guy in the café with her he'd had the insane reaction that he could just barely control. There was no reason for this jealousy when it came to her, after all she showed no interest in him. In fact, he thought sourly, she'd ignored every move he made towards her, pretending that his feelings didn't matter. He should just move on and forget about her. It wasn't as though she was anything special. She was just a pretty girl with an infectious personality that drew people to her, only she was intent on pushing him away. He couldn't understand why he hadn't just moved on from her. Why had she gotten under his skin so bad? Why was he still pining over her when she had rejected him?

Because he still wasn't sure of her, he realized. He wanted some closure to know where he stood with her. Right now he felt like he was on hot coals whenever she was around and it was affecting his relations to the others. He needed to know who he was to her? A friend, a captain, a classmate or none of the above. Because once he knew where he stood with her, then he could figure out what she was to him.

He listened to the clipped slap of her heels against the wooden stairs and waited for her to round the corner. When she did, he was pleased to say that after the first initial jump of his pulse, he had no other reaction to her. See, he was getting over her already. She hadn't seen him yet, instead her gaze was straight ahead and up slightly, looking at someone on the landing over his head.

"I swear… boots…death of me." he heard her mutter it gruffly under her breath as she stepped down another step. "Hey what time is it?"

"Twenty t' Twelve."

"Seriously?"

"Yea."

"Okies." she stepped down and yipped as she miscalculated due to the heels she was wearing and she stumbled forward. "Woah."

Kai cursed, having sensed something was about to happen and had immediately moved forward, his heart pounding in his ears violently. His hands caught her waist as her flailing hands fell on to his shoulders. Surprised she looked down at him, the glimpse of fear in her eyes struck something in him that made him want to shake her viciously. Then her eyes shifted and stirred something completely different in him.

"Thanks." she breathed, her uneven breath fanned against his skin and had his gaze dipping to her tempting mouth, so tender and velveteen looking. He could feel the firmness of her toned body beneath the thin top she wore, and desperate to feel the soft skin he knew lurked beneath, he slowly, sensually slid her top up so that he could stroke his thumb against the silken golden membrane. He felt the change in her, the softening. She didn't tense, she didn't pull away instead she seemed to welcome his touching and because she was, he wasn't going to stop. His earlier thoughts were pushed to the back of his mind. He was getting a chance to indulge himself and he wasn't going to waste it. Screw getting over her.

"Amber are y' ok?"

She blinked and pulled away, her gaze remained on Kai, confusion filling her every pore. He'd been touching her as though-

"AMBER!"

"YES!" she snapped back irked that someone was interrupting her thoughts and confusing her more and more. Kai was watching her in a way that made her want to shrink back. There was something wild and feral in those eyes and despite the nerves, there was a darker part inside her that the look appealed too and a flicker of excitement flared to life causing her stomach to hop pleasantly.

"Are y' ok?"

"She's fine." Kai barked sharply. He was fed up of that goddamn Irish prick interrupting them and more so he was pissed with Amber. He was always angry with her, she just got under his skin and he wouldn't have minded too much if the feeling wasn't mutual, but to him it was obvious it was. It was fine if she wanted to deny herself, but to deny him, wasn't.

"Did da cat get y'r tongue?" Paddy called down and his footsteps gave away the fact that he was making his way down the stairs.

Kai caught Amber's arm and yanked her down the remaining stairs and out the front door since it was unlikely they would get interrupted out there. The rain was pouring down, sheet after sheet of water lashed down on the street but Kai paid no heed to it. Instead he led the girl away from the house and into the shadows cast where the light couldn't reach around the side of the house between hers and the Kinomiya's. It was as the rain slapped against them as they emerged from under the porch roof, that she began to struggle in his hold but he didn't let go.

"Kai what the hell are you doing? Are you insane?" she demanded exasperated, turning her face to the rain that fell unhindered to the ground, spots splashing against her upturned face. She scowled. "And this isn't even dry rain." she muttered.

If he'd been in a better mood, he might have lightened the tension by asking her to elaborate on the uniquely Amber-esque comment but he didn't give a damn about making her comfortable.

"Let go, I'm getting soaked here. It's all right for you, you might like getting soaked to the skin and getting a cold, but I've already had one this week!" she bitched, then groaned and deciding to be difficult, she dug her heels into the soft ground and began to pull away from him.

"Keep doing that and I'll let you go!" he threatened. "And you'll fall on your ass."

He felt more than heard her snarl, but before she could make another comment, he shoved her up against the wall of the garage, he pinned her wrists and pressed her against the wall. Water droplets ran down his scalp and clung to his bangs before falling down past his face while others decided to make a journey down his skin, numbing his cheeks and dipping into the contours of his features. He looked down at her, the faint light that shone from the house illuminating her features faintly, though most of her face was in shadow. Her eyes were bright and wary, her inviting lips were glossy from the rain. Her hair was plastered to her scalp and her clothes clung to her frame appealingly.

Her eyes narrowed hotly on his. "Ok." she said softly, obviously trying to keep a reign on her temper. "You've either suffered brain damage or you're drunk, I'm hoping for the former."

"I'm not drunk." he replied, needing to press on her the fact that alcohol had no influence on him bringing her out here. The last thing he needed was for her to blame any of his actions on alcohol. And even as he thought it, part of him wondered was she even worth all of this. She was temperamental, unpredictable and there were two guys in that house who would skin him alive for even looking at her wrong.

"So you're brain damaged? Kai it's soaking out here, you're going to get sick!" she pointed out exasperated. "Not to mention that I'm supposed to be playing hostess and running herd on my cousins, it's unfair to expect Shahero to do it on her own especially when it's her birthday and it's almost midnight, dammit! There are people in there-"

"Forget them!" he snapped. "I'm fed up having to be pushed aside because of them."

She groaned and closed her eyes, her mink lashes laying against her pure golden skin. "I have no idea what your damage is." she told him tiredly.

"You don't know what my damage is? It's you!"

Her eyes flew wide. "ME? What the hell did I do? I've barely spoken to you!"

"And don't I know it."

"Oh you are fucked up! Now let me go Hiwatari."

He continued to stare at her with those incredibly dark, incredibly unfathomable eyes. He didn't make any move and her heart suddenly began to accelerate as cold fear began to slide through her.

"Look Kai, my friends are going to notice I'm gone!"

"Like that guy in there? The one who's been all over you all night?"

"What-" she broke off and studied him with an expression of utmost bewilderment and disbelief. "If I were any one else I'd say you were jealous."

"I'm not jealous." he growled, but his eyes flickered with something akin to it.

"That's what I thought." she drawled wryly, despite the sharp bitter twist of disappointment. "Because it would be compmmph-"

She broke off as his lips crashed against hers with a force that would have smacked her head against the wall if it hadn't already been pressed against it. She felt the cold grit of the wall and the dampness soak into her already wet hair but her senses were more focused on the feelings of his lips against hers. Emotions played with her, running in to tug on her heart then darting back before she could identify them. His hands released hers, but before she could use them to her advantage and to get away from him before he did something he'd regret, his arms banded her to him, imprisoning her in his iron tight embrace. There would be no escape and part of her relished this. Her heart was pounding and she was sure his was echoing hers, which was stupid. This was Kai, Kai Hiwatari who… her head swam and when she felt as though she couldn't stand the pressure anymore, his lips gentled, yet he kept his mouth firm on hers.

His lips became more persuasive, coaxing her to let him do as he pleased, and unable to resist, she parted her lips to him, letting his tongue slip in and run along the delicate rims of her gums before choosing to toy with her tongue. She moaned softly. Tingles, not one but a dozen, of delight raced down the length of her spine before turning and rushing back up again ten fold as his hands began to slid over her back pressing her closer to him, the thin wet barrier of her top wasn't providing much of a shield between their skin. She could feel the lines and contours of his washboard stomach through his shirt and it had heat rising through her, so much heat she was surprised the rain didn't turn to steam as it dropped onto her skin. His tongue ran over the surface of hers, teasing her with the dark masculine flavor of him tainted slightly with something alcoholic which only served to heighten it. A soft whimper sounded in the back of her throat and she slipped her arms around his neck, one hand straying to stroke through the silken navy strands.

Part of her was screaming for her to fight him, kick and push him away, push him away before he turned her into a simpering female like all the others. But even as she began to listen to that part, another part easily argued that he wouldn't let her, Kai wasn't one to let her push him around. He didn't treat her delicately, despite her size and he didn't care about the reasons for her actions. He took what he wanted and right now it was her. She couldn't deny him that. She wanted to, god did she want to, but she couldn't because underneath it all, she couldn't deny herself either.

Dazed and reluctant, Kai pulled back, only removing his mouth from hers so he could breathe. As he raggedly inhaled the cool air that failed to quench the burning of his lungs, his eyes roamed over her face. There was a flush along the sculpted arch of her moist cheeks. Beads of water clung to her lowered lashes and rolled along the delicate bridge of her nose, along the curve of her jaw. Her bruised mouth drew his gaze again. Lush and tempting, a fresh cherry rose color that dared him to taste them again. He knew this was insane, but he couldn't get over that mouth. He hadn't realized it would be so potent, so demanding that all attention be given to it, but at the same time offering so much pleasure. Her mouth had been soft, but he'd known it would be, after all why else would he have wanted it so much? She'd tasted sweet but it had a bite to it, that, too, should have been expected. Her body was firm with the subtlest feminine dips and curves, and surprisingly it had fitted against his as though it had been fashioned to do so.

He'd wondered earlier if she was worth all of this hassle and grief on his side…

He stared down at her, looking into those cloudy topaz eyes. The tip of her tongue darted out and caught a trickle of water that had been tracing her lips, he groaned and he knew. "Dammit, you are!"

He dipped down again and covered her mouth once more. He felt her stiffen in reaction, and part of him thrilled at the prospect of her struggling. The delightful friction of her body rubbing against his had his grip on her hips tightening, pressing her closer in an effort to control her but instead of struggling, her arms banded round him, her mouth pressing forcefully up to slide erotically along his. Her passion exploded around in him a white flash of heat as their mouths mashed together, once softly, now desperately. Her hands splayed over his broad back, the play of her fingers insisting gently against the back of his mind for him to notice their ministrations. He ran a possessive hand up her back in one long uninterrupted stroke, running through her wet hair to rest on the nape of her neck, his fingers skimmed over the soft golden skin, toying with the myriad of nerves he knew to be there. Vaguely he noticed the movement of the muscles in her neck as she kissed him back but as he tried to take in everything about her, he found he couldn't. He was swimming in the scent of her and he couldn't think straight, he didn't want to, didn't need to.

He wanted to taste the skin he stroked, to run his lips down the water soft skin of her throat, to nibble, nip and lick, to elicit as many sounds from her that he could. A savage part of him took a distinct satisfaction in knowing he was the only person to make her moan and whimper softly, he was the only person who'd ever heard her react like this. He was the first one to taste her, maybe that was why the taste was so pure, so pungent and alluring. She was addictive, her mouth was a source of complete pleasure, all the lushness her body lacked was made up for by this mouth alone. He groaned and pressed her more fully against her. He no longer kissed her, but ravaged her mouth, devouring her from there down as though he'd starve without her.

Finally, carefully he drew back trying to keep his breath from hitching at the desire that clawed at his diaphragm, causing his stomach to clench painfully. He thought the kiss would prove something and it did, it proved that he wanted more from her. One kiss wasn't fair, it was cruel and punishing, like being offered the key to paradise then being denied because of something you'd done when you were 2 days old. One kiss wasn't enough to satisfy the craving for her that had blossomed ten fold inside him, he needed more and he needed a daily, even hourly fix of her. One kiss would never be enough.

She blinked and stared up at him, he was gazing at a point over her shoulder, not truly seeing anything but something sure had his attention. She was trembling all over, and her body was strung taut like a bow so that the trembling pained her. She was wound too tight and she felt like any second she'd snap and it was his fault. How dare he kiss her like that? To… She folded her arms and shivered feeling vulnerable and abused. Any minute now he'd smirk down at her and make some comment, she was… no she wasn't sure he'd do that. She wanted to believe he would, to believe that he was callous and mean because it would be easier to push him away and hate him if he was but she knew better than that. The only person who'd been mean in their relationship had been her, but at least he'd known where he'd stood the whole time. She'd avoided all semblances of relationships with boys because they left her uneasy and unsure where she stood and she needed to be in control. She hadn't been in control with her father, she remembered bitterly and look where that had ended. With him shacked up with Miss Priss and her mother… with a kind, generous, loving man, she conceded.

This wasn't how she'd ever imagined her first kiss whenever she'd allowed herself to indulge in those kinds of daydreams. Part of her was rejoicing in the fact that Kai had kissed her, the other part, the bigger part of her just felt broken. What happened now?

The rain continued to fall down with a lush wet pattering sound and puddles grew rapidly, joining together and forming larger ones. She watched the ripples each splash made as though they were the most interesting things in the world, anything to stop her looking at Kai.

He looked down at her and sighed. She looked so small, so lost and without realizing what he was thinking, he found the words 'I'm sorry' on the tip of his tongue. Scowling, he pushed away and turned from her. Damned if he was going to apologize for taking advantage of an opening. That's how you won games, you took your shots when you had a chance, other wise you wouldn't score. He'd been alone with her and he'd taken his shot. How could he be sorry for it? He wasn't, he mused but she was. Of course she'd be angry with him, he'd just taken advantage of her. No doubt she'd give him hell about violating her. He heard her shuffled movements behind him and tensed, waiting for the verbal assault he was sure was coming.

"Why-" she cleared her throat, feeling pitifully weak and pathetic, something she wasn't used to feeling, even against the strongest and biggest of people. "Why did you do that?"

He shook his head, refusing to look at her. "Why do you think?"

"Well obviously I don't know, otherwise I wouldn't be asking!" she snapped. She growled and blew out a breath. "You're really hard to talk to, you know? You are so fucking defensive and you have no need to be!"

"Why don't I?" he bit back, marveling at how quick they'd shifted from quiet to attacking in an instant. He supposed that was to be expected with such an extreme person as Amber. She didn't do middle ground.

"Because _you_ kissed _me_!" she scowled, tossing her chin up and matching his blazing temper with her own sparking one.

"Why the hell shouldn't I?" he demanded.

She opened her mouth to retort then audibly closed it. That question had thrown her and made him shake his head in exasperation and something akin to amusement. Who ever had hurt her in the past had really worked her over. Funny though, he didn't think this was anything to do with her father. James loved his daughter, he wouldn't put her down so who had knocked Amber down and shredded her confidence in herself? If there was one thing he could vow, it was to find out who that was.

"Be-Because! I'm me and you're you!"

Kai snorted. "So glad we have that sorted!"

"You don't just go around kissing people Kai!"

"You're right, I don't. I've only kissed you, Ember."

"Quit calling me that!"

"Why not? It suits you. You're always blowing hot and cold."

"I am not!"

"Oh? Not much more than five minutes ago, you were kissing me and now you're acting like the injured party. It's driving me insane, Ember. You go from one extreme to another and god help the person who gets stuck in the middle because generally they haven't a clue what's going on."

Her brows furrowed and her gaze turned down cast. "I do, don't I?" she whispered softly, then her gaze whipped to his again. "But you kissed me!"

He sighed and crossed back to her, leaning against the wall near her but not too near that he'd scare her off. "I think we established that already. I kissed you, you kissed me right back. Sooner or later, I prefer sooner, I'm going to kiss you again and you're just going to have to deal with that because whether you like it, which you do, or not, it's going to happen."

She shook her head and looked up skywards into the rain. "Shahero's right; there are aliens and they've taken away half your brain." she muttered.

"You can be as flippant as you want, it's not going to distract me."

"Ugh, I hate you."

"Uh-huh."

She scowled and turned to face him. "Why have you suddenly developed this urge to kiss me?"

"Who says it's sudden?"

"Well until Christmas you were dating Mariam."

"And I broke up with her because I couldn't stop thinking about you." he replied in a conversational tone he knew was going to grind on her nerves.

Her scowl darkened. He was doing that on purpose! Being all cool, calm and collected and making her feel ridiculous, it was just so typically him and it got under her skin so bad. She just wanted to cut that silken tongue out of his devil's mouth!

"Look Benson, it's not that hard to understand, I want you."

"But why?"

He pushed a hand through his wet hair, feeling strands stick to the back of his palm. "Dammit, Ember why do you need everything explained? Why can't you just accept my feelings and give us a chance?"

She went silent, suddenly knowing exactly what was scaring her. If Kai didn't explain his feelings to her, how could she possibly understand and if she didn't understand, who's to say his feelings for her wouldn't just die out leaving her heartbroken? She sighed and groaned. She couldn't live her life on what if's. And not everything was mapped out for her. She had to take her chances when they were in front of her instead of letting them slip away, how else would she find happiness?

"You're annoying."

He smirked feeling her resistance crumble. "You're a pain in the ass, god knows why I like that about you."

The corners of her mouth quirked upwards in semblance to a smile. "You're also sick and quite possibly twisted."

He grunted in agreement doing a quick scan of her. Apart from being soaked to the skin, she looked fine. The palour that had been lurking beneath the tan of her skin had begun to dissipate, and he was glad of it. She was eating more and taking better care of herself but that might possibly have more to do with her mother than anything else. He knew she'd been to the doctors during the week, he'd heard his mother mentioning it to his father and though he'd wanted to question them on it, he didn't. She wasn't sick, not that he knew of. It had probably just been for a check up, if it had been serious, his father would have made a point of talking to her about it. After all, as her coach he needed to be updated on her health.

She shivered and snapped him out of his stupor. He knew he should get her inside but he just wanted to spend a little more time with her. After all, she was surrounded by people, hardly ever alone. But he'd probably feeling a morsel of guilt if she came down with the cold and she'd end up blaming him for it.

"Come on, Benson, let's get you inside before you get soaked."

She turned her face up to the rain, feeling it trickle down her face. Now that she was used to it, she liked the feeling of it. It was refreshing. "When I visited Ireland, they used to have these long days with nothing but rain for hours. Me and Kirby, we once got really bored and Ozuma and Daichi were hogging the play station. There was nothing to read and nothing to do, so when I get bored, I get cranky. Or that's how Nana Benson sums it up. I picked a fight with Kirby for no good reason and we started screaming bloody blue murder, so Nana grabbed both of us by the scruff of the neck and threw us out in the rain. We howled and screamed for her to let us in, and then to get me back for everything, Kirby jumped in a really massive puddle and splashed me. I was furious, so naturally I splashed her back. A few minutes later we were soaking wet, cold, but completely and utterly happy, and then Nana comes out and we think, we're gonna get it now. She's gonna give us a right basting. Next thing we know, she's jumped into a puddle and got us both, then she grins at us, all toothy and full of mischief, and says, "der y' go, y'r not bored now, are y'?"" She smiled and chuckled softly, reminiscing in something he couldn't understand.

"Did she do that a lot? Play with you?"

"Whenever she had time. Other times she'd be ordering us out to dose sheep and feed the chickens or muck out the sheds. She lives on a farm so everyone's expected to chip in. Especially in the summer, so much work to get done then. If you didn't do as your told, she'd threaten to brain you with a bucket and my Nana is one scary woman. When I was five, she pulled out her false teeth and handed them to me. I had no idea what to do with them, I mean the woman took out the inside of her mouth; I could do nothing but scream and run to Uncle Rory. He just laughed and Ozuma spent the rest of the day making fun of me to the younger ones, until Julia threatened him with something, I never knew what it was though. Just one of those childish things I guess. There was always an older one coming along to threaten or scare us. They used to have a secret club and you were only allowed to join once you reached a certain age. Thirteen I think." she sighed casting a look at him.

Rain was streaming down his face and dripping from the points of his bangs which were once plastered to his forehead and now were mussed by his hand raking through them. His eyes just seemed darker with the lack of light, they were somber probably thinking about something to do with his own family. She didn't know much about him, he on the other hand knew her almost intimately. It was very unnerving and yet he didn't question himself ever. He had kissed her and hadn't been afraid of her pushing him away, she'd never have been brave enough to do something like that.

"It must be nice to be you." she said after a while.

He raised a brow inquiringly. "What makes you say that?"

"You're so sure of yourself. You never question your duties or even other people. It just doesn't matter to you. I wish I could be like that, to have that confidence in myself."

He nodded knowing what she meant. He got frustrated with her inabilities to make decisions for herself, looking to others for guidance or just sitting back and letting the world pass her by. He considered how to broach that topic with her without sending her on the defensive. "I guess it's because I was brought up to seize every opportunity with both hands when I get the chance. Life isn't always going to come to you. If you want something, you have to go out there and get it."

She nodded, contemplating his words. "I suppose you're right."

"You know I'm right."

She shot him a pitying look. "It's easy to go for what you want when you know what you want. Sometimes I feel that I'm looking at a path that's covered in fog and I just can't see where it leads to."

"Maybe it's covered in fog because you aren't moving anywhere. Maybe if you start taking a few steps, the fog will clear. You may head down a few paths that lead to dead ends, but at least you'll know not to go down those roads again."

She stared at him, her eyes wide and shocked with a hint that she was impressed. "You could be right."

"Well, tonight's the start of the new year, take it as yours. This year, go out and do what you want. Ignore your friends wishes if they clash with what you think is best for you. You can only be wrong and they'll accept that you can make mistakes. You're scared of messing up, don't be. Everyone fucks up sometimes."

"I fuck up, I fuck up big time."

He smirked. "You fuck up, sure, but never in a big way that affects your life and causes change to it."

Silence fell between them. In the distance there was a rise of noise as the party inside began to count down from ten to one. Silently, Amber counted along feeling her heart flutter nervously and her stomach to contract as she began to wonder what would happen when they got to one. Would Kai kiss her again? Would he want to? She frowned. Screw it, if he did, he did. There was no use worrying about it because that wouldn't do anything but make her ill.

"Five…four…" she counted softly, feeling a small smile tug on her lips as she felt Kai's palm slip behind her, to rest on the small of her back. The slight pressure urging her to face him. "Three…" she stepped into him, feeling the body heat against the surface of her cold skin. "Two…" she tilted her head up and lost herself in his eyes, wondering how they could look so warm and soft, yet still be so dark and forbidding. "One…" she breathed, her lips curved as Kai dipped down, stopping as his lips hovered over hers.

"Happy New Year." Hewhispered softly;as his mouth closed over hers with a murmur of approval as fireworks around them exploded in a violent fervor.

* * *

**(1)**Don't complain to me or argue the girl power comment, I have heard this comment or variations of it from every guy I've mentioned this game to even though I personally like it, so the comment on Final Fantasy X-2 is not what I personally think.

**Adrea**: I'm very pleased you love this story so much. It's also one of my personal favorites. It's fun to write and the characters are so brilliant and fun.

**Buttercup**: I have no idea what Brooklyn's surname is. Different authors use different surnames, I use Adams but I know that's not right. So I'm afraid I can't properly help you. You can never write too much for my reviews, I personally love long reviews because it means I can respond to them.

**Chiharu-Chan**: Yeah I've been bitten by the bug I'm afraid. sniffs I never had a problem with Fan fiction depictions of Brooklyn but I did have a hatred for him in the Series itself but he makes it very hard to dislike him when you see pictures of him looking lost and broken or flirting with the animals. All the same, he's not getting off so easily even if I do like him better. Mystel on the other hand, Mystel is gorgeous. So bright and refreshing filled with youthful energy and good humor. He's amazing and just what the Sharks need. As for my OC's and the Oc's I've been charged with not being Mary Sue, to be honest, I'm not sure what a Mary Sue is really. I have a vague idea, but nothing concrete. So I'm glad the girls aren't considered ones. Yay! . Lol, you're putting up SLTS? Cool! Wish I'd thought of that for my book reports. God I hated them because I read what the teachers would call trash because it's not Bronte or Dickens, it's just normal mind blowing romance with substance and really hot guys… My teacher always regarded me weirdly. Stupid Mrs. King being a great big meanie.

**Alex**: Alex, you know guys do not talk things out, it's fists first, questions later. God forbid there be a rational explanation that could stop them beating the shit out of each other. Bryan is just a very quiet person, he keeps to himself a lot and only speaks when he feels the need to. He's the silent but comforting presence in the background who prefers to observe rather than fill the void with mindless natter. I'm not keeping him to the series Bryan but he's vicious and my Bryanny is not. If we all lived near you, we'd all be in different schools and years to you, wouldn't be that much fun.

**BlackMoonSky0000**: I'm glad you liked it.

**Storms-Winter**: Lol, oh they were always going to be stubborn but I love it. So much fun to write and makes for a more interesting story, no? Well for the moment, Tala and Ruin are very much a couple, though that's a very strange term for those two. Sonia and Ozuma is pretty much on a break at the moment until I strike up a moment between them again.

**Achava**: You're not the only one who hasn't a clue how long this fanfic will be, lol. But we have some fluffiness here for the moment, but it's me and I love messing with relationships because I like to make them a little more real so nothing is ever solved until the very end. Besides this fic can't end until the Sharks have their Showdown with the Tigers.

**Kaze ni Tenshi**: No worries, as long as you enjoyed the chapter. That's all that matters. Hope you enjoy this chapter too.

**Nyx**: Well this chapter should answer that last question? Hehehehe, finally huh? Now that they're together, everyone's going to be sitting tight wondering how long this will last, huh? Yeah… god I love being me.Wanted: Wow, you could have just said once that you'd finished it. I'm rather quick on the uptake compared to some people. Lol. But I'm pleased you decided to come back to me and read my stuff again.

**Angel night**: Aw thank you. I'm glad you enjoyed this so much. I enjoy writing each and every chapter, though sometimes I'm positive I'm being possessed because there are days I daydream and then I reread my work and wonder how the hell I came up with this. This is one of those chapters, lol.

**Grandsummon**: Well how do you like? Is it good? Did you love it? Now I'm giddy to hear what you think of it. I have no idea why he was shoeless… um… it's like the jaw scar I have to mention sometime. Ok, so he was sitting by the table and his foot began to itch so he tried to scratch it with his other foot, but it wouldn't work, so he tried removing one shoe to scratch, still no relief, so he took off both shoes and relieved the itch and then Amber walks in and his mind completely focuses on her. How does that sound? (completely sounds like I'm bullshitting and making this up on the spot, but hey it's good!) You were possibly the only one rooting for Kai. Tala and Amber make my day, lol. Tala and Ruin, well that was just for fun. And yeah the quite decent thing made me think of those Victorian Tv shows, lol. Treasa is unbelievably nice but her mother threw her out, so Treasa feels that she can help these teenagers by taking them in, besides she loves Amber and wants Amber to have company. Amber will find out eventually, I swear. Kai doesn't start smoking, it would be bad for him. As for Hitoshi, he's twenty I reckon. Tyson is completely oblivious to the kiss but he's well aware of his brothers interest in Shahero. Not much Kane and Aspin but there will be sometime… oh yeah chapter eighteen. Lol, the overdrive link, very snazzy! I don't know what made me think of it you know, it was like being struck with lightning, this perfect moment of clarity and I knew where you got the name. I guess I just saw the person behind the name and grand summon was just the way to refer to you… I don't know. Ah well if you haven't seen the godfather the prank won't mean much to you. But in the film there was a horses head in one of the mens' bed, and well… just follow that thought and you should get it. If not, it's in chapter nineteen. I feel… I don't know why I dislike Hillary but it's like when she says 'well they're not a real team, not like we are' and I just want to scream at her, 'you're not a member of the bloody team, bitch!' God she infuriates me so much when she says cheesy things like that. Aye there'll be a confrontation but I can't guarantee it'll be explosive but it will be different I can assure you of that.

(:growls: I had my whole review answers written out here and then Microsoft pops up to say they've encountered a problem. Well wait until they encounter me the bastards! Can't believe how annoying this is!)

**Reyan Kashin**: The pentagon has a super computer? How come no one told me? It'll be perfect to hack into the security system that the anime characters are protected with. Woot, let's go find it! As for Teenagers, well most of the best cult films are based on teenagers and their lives, insecurities and angst. Such as Buffy, OC, Smallville, One Tree Hill… etc. As for saving the world, well the world hasn't saved them has it?

**Dark-Cherry Angel**: Aw thankies. I'm glad you find it funny. I love humor and it makes things in life much easier to deal with.

**Peachgirl1608**: Sorry. I wasn't trying to be offensive or anything. I was just going with the generalization, I didn't mean any offence. I'm glad you like the story though.

**Mike-x**: Tension and needs? LOL. You're weird little man. But yeah I guess if you can feel the tension and needs, go you. Now do you understand the new fondness for rain? LOL… it should be flashing.

**Armith-Greenleaf**: Yeah Shahero and Hitoshi are very interesting to read and write about. Well Ruin and Tala are official at the moment. Yeah Amber spends quite a lot of time thinking about Kai in both chapter fifteen and in this chapter too, lol. Well the fight, it was two guys being guy like I guess. I'm not sure on whether boarding schools are fun, I guess they have their moments like most schools. But you get to know the people better because they're always there but you get very little privacy I suppose. I went to a normal school so I didn't board but a few of my friends did. Noodles are thin strips of pasta used in soups. 'Pot Noodle' is an instant meal, you can put boiling water in the pot and it'll cook in 5 minutes. Yeah character development and interaction is my favorite part of stories but I suppose there has to be scene description as well in order to understand where the character is and how the atmosphere affects them. Well if you want to know about Ireland, you can read my story Taken For Granted which is based in Ireland and it has a lot about the scenery and the people of Ireland. Lol, that was a shameless plug. I agree with you on the BEGA front. I don't like Ming Ming and I do think Garland is kind of stuck up from the pictures I've seen of him, he's sort of aloof and a try hard but then again, that's because of his family I suppose. Mystel is a sweetheart. Brooklyn is a dick but on saying that he gets a really good part in TFG and Dubh Croi. So that's weird. Well I updated roughly a month later, lol.

**ParisSuperGirls**: Yup Hitoshi is in love, lol. You liked the fight? Ozuma is in love with Sonia or something like that and yeah Mariam is just confused. I'll try to figure out someone for Salima, just no one seems suited for her. I'm glad my chapter was able to cheer you up. So who did Momo end up with? Toji or Kairi? Kai is always cute! LOL.

**CoOkiE-WiNgS**: Hi works. Um Bryan will be paired with someone. Whether it's in this one or the sequel I'm not sure. I have a character I want to use with him but it may be difficult because first of all, I'm not sure how people will feel about it and second, she can't be in the sequel that much because of circumstances. Oh well I'll work it out. If you want anything from me, it's always better to email because I'll have a better chance of replying.

**Midnight Insanity**: Hey. Yeah Hitoshi and Shahero are adorable. They're working so well together and more so now, huh? Amber… she doesn't see herself as maternal because maternal to her refers to Mothers and babies, lol. Yeah Ruin and Tala are more like a partnership. I'd say friends with benefits but it's more than that I guess. I think Kai's appeal lies in the fact that he's been a victim of his grandfather in this series but he doesn't stay one long. He's got this big heart he hides behind a cold 'I don't give a shit' attitude. As for Love, well he doesn't think he loves her, but he does care about her. I doubt it'll take him long to figure out there's something more to his feelings for her. There's no doubt that family is great but at times it's stifling and for the most part, like at family gatherings I just want to hide from them. It takes a while for me to thaw towards them. As for the sibling relationships, yeah they're so nice to write in amidst the angst and dramatics. Hope you enjoy this chapter just as much.

**Luvz Fluffy-Sama**: I don't know, your name always reminds me of Sesshomaru (sp?) from Inu Yasha which I've never seen but decided to read fanfics of… Don't ask I was bored. Whisper is one of my fave Evanescence songs and as for the Lost Prophets CD, Amber didn't freak out because it could only be at home or at school. Either way it's safe. Tala just over reacted like all guys do. Too protective of his Ami-chan but oh well. He'll solve it eventually. Is your sister ok? And yeah Spiders are so creepy, I can't even watch them on TV… maybe I'm just a major wimp. Long reviews make my day so no worries on the length.

**T.k-Kon**: Well Tala just added cute and naïve Amber plus Bed plus Kai who is handsome and popular with girls and got sex. I guess he just had sex on the brain and with his one track mind ended up in a very wrong and bad place. He felt he failed her so he tries to redeem himself by beating Kai up. :shrugs:

**Unknown**: Aw, I'm glad you liked it. I have chapter eighteen finished and I'm about to start chapter nineteen so you have two more chapters to read at least lol, unless I'm hit by a bus. (Touch wood I'm not)

**dark wolf-of-night**: Yeah Kai was surprised when Tala attacked him, lol. I think Amber was just too drained to raise hell over Nicolai being her godfather but that's not too bad. As for Ruin and Tala, yeah they're good together so hopefully that'll remain. And everyone seems to be rooting for Tala to win the fight, lol. As for Bryan well, he gets his say in chapter seventeen. Coors updated and like you I've run out of things to read as well.

**Kaieshakai**: Well this chapter should satisfy your curiosity, eh? Tala is a dick for assuming Amber's pregnant but he's just over protective of her and wants her to be ok.

**Galactic-Girl-Amber**: I think I love this more than Love/Hate. Don't get me wrong, Love/Hate was good but I think it's more amateur compared to this and Taken For Granted.

**Coors**: So how's that flu working for you? Yeah there was a heck of a lot of smooching going on, oh well that's all good. Tala was a bit of an idiot but he will be on Kai's side when a certain blond comes wandering into the picture. And you're much worse than me when it comes to updating. I update two fics within a month, you on the other hand take forever, but like you say I get sneak peeks and input and you get sneak peeks and input.

**G--b-S-t-E-r07: **We've reached the half way point finally. Yay! You like Hitoshi and Shahero better than Kai and Amber:sniffs: Oh well, I have to say I like both equally. But there's something about Shahero and Hitoshi together that just clicks. They're perfect. But after this chapter there isn't much action between them two until chapter nineteen. Yeah Amber's family is a pain but Kirby felt she was rescuing Kai from one of Amber's impromptu attacks. Tala and Ruin knowing makes things a little easier I guess. Tala is overprotective but a little of it's out of guilt. As for TFG, I want to bring in Kai and Hitoshi gradually, I don't want it to be like any of my other fics.

**Chikaitou-411**: Lol, it takes me a couple of days to write this stuff but I love it so much. All the intricacies of the various groups of friends and couples. It's great.

**eMiLy06**: I love chocolate chip hazelnut cookies. They're scrummy. Yeah it's official between Ruin and Tala which doesn't really change their relationship but it just binds Ruin to him more formally.

**Sakura Silvy**: Love/Hate has been removed by because of explicit content. I'm not going to be posting it again because I'm more interested in writing my new stuff which I feel is better and less amateurish. However if you'd like to read the last chapter that wasn't posted, just email me and I'll send it to you.

**Zimo**: Yeah it's weird him being alive, but Nicolai is great to write about. Lol. How was Paddy's Day? I can't remember mine, not because I was intoxicated, more like it was so mundane that nothing about it sticks out. Yeah I understand your dilemma. If you don't feel like writing then leave the fic for a while and then maybe return to it when you have some inspiration. That's what I did for DC. Yeah Russia's popped up in chapter eighteen. I hope she's in character. She's not drunk, drugged up or anything like that because I just can't write that and make it sound realistic but I can do a lot of angst between her and Zareth, sound good? Oh you're doing TY? Cool. I hated my TY because I didn't get to bond with my class and because of the Foot and Mouth deal, we couldn't leave the school. Anyway if you ever need anyone to talk to, an unbiased outsider, my email box is always open.

**Terra**: Thank you.

**Moi**: Yeah I like that line too. It seems to sum up how he's not quite an adult but he's not a teenager either, he's stuck in the middle with this group. No I guess Kai doesn't help himself, but he feels that he has to win Amber over before he can integrate with the group. He's still the outsider but he's not concentrating on the group just Amber for the moment.

**Observant- not mean**: Well if you remember the question feel free to ask me. I hope you enjoy this chapter too.

(Microsoft Word encountered yet another problem. :Growls: Stupid program)

**Miss Wright**: Yup Shahero and Hitoshi are adorable and more so in this chapter. They're so cute and perfect. Ruin and Tala are moving along nicely. And Kai and Amber have made more progress, a full step forward. Yay!

**Alexys**: Ah, I'll lose my shine soon enough. I think it's inevitable for all authors. Yeah it was a chapter filled with a lot of angst and emotion. This one isn't so much but chapter nineteen falls back into it's usual fun-ness I hope.

**Wind Witch: **Well this chapter tells you that Kai won't give up on her, right? I explained in the email Tala and Kai's relationship and Tala did apologize so there's really nothing to worry there. Yeah the guys get the hard deal but when you think of it, most stories show the girls as the ones being wronged so the next half can be dedicated to the boys being a-holes, lol.

**Destructive Habit**: Yeah Kai probably was wondering that, lol. And you can always count on your friends to put you straight. Why else would you have them, lol. Thanks for the beta-ing Court.


	17. With or without you

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Beyblade. I do however own Amber, Ruin and co. Shahero belongs to Coors. Kirby to KindredInsanity. I don't think the others show up.

A.N. _Ugh, I've had better weeks recently. My phone line is broken and I can't use the internet that much. I've phoned the company but they can't seem to fix it. They say they have, but they haven't really so I have to complain all over again. It's shitty. So don't expect many updates until the a-holes get their asses in gear. _

_Listen up all people who like MIYAMI! Understudy, the creator of our loveable Mims has brought out a new story about her called Smash! Check it out. I swear you won't regret it!_

_Well I hope you enjoy this chapter. _

Chapter Seventeen: With or without you

The sunlight was pale and milky, glinting off the lapping waves below the cliff edge. A slight breeze whipped up and skimmed through the crisp grass like fingers through a lover's hair. Remnants of frosted crystals were wedged in the cracks of the black tarmac, reflecting the light. The cry of gulls echoed mournfully through the small park basketball court which was empty and void except for the one lone skater. The scratchy roll of the wheels over the ground was a lonesome sound punctuated only by the sharp whack of a stick meeting something solid and the ping as it bounced off the bar of the small square net positioned at the edge of the court.

Amber sighed heavily. Yet another miss. Her slap shots were out of control and she couldn't seem to get a grip on it. She was a sharp shooter, known for her accuracy with her shots and her shots were going haywire. She stopped and rested her hands on her stick. She was getting rusty, all those practices that Nicolai had made her do weren't paying off. She'd gotten sloppy over the holidays and this week she'd basically ignored doing any practice due to fact that she kept being distracted by Kai, her family, Kai, her friends, Kai, and just about everything else she could be distracted by and did she mention Kai?

She chuckled as she rambled on in her mind. Kai was definitely the bright spot to her holidays. And an oddity she hadn't been expecting. She'd kind of set herself up to never have a boyfriend during her high school life and then he suddenly waltzes into her life, treats her like an annoyance of sorts and stirs up a bunch of emotions she hadn't wanted. She supposed he hadn't wanted the emotions either. That was to be expected. People like him did not date people like her. But the odd thing was, that part of her felt that they worked together. Not all the time, naturally they had their fights and battles for dominance because both were used to getting their way but for the most part they really got on well.

Was a boyfriend just a male friend that you could kiss and touch whenever you pleased and who, whenever he looked at you, made you feel incredible and beautiful? She snorted and skated up to retrieve the puck. Who cared? She wasn't about to do some deep thinking about something as simple as dating Kai. She didn't need answers all the time, trying to understand people just ended up creating more problems than there was need for. She wasn't Sonia or Alyssa, she never needed order, or she never had before. People did things, sometimes without motive. It was more interesting to just let people make their decisions without trying to understand them, and besides, whatever was between her and Kai was a chemical thing she figured. She'd never understood chemistry, give her biology any day.

She took the puck down the park and turned round, cradling it easily. He was a damn good kisser, she conceded, not that she'd ever tell him that because he got smug. He said he didn't, but she knew better. He got really smug when she became dazed. It was irritating and often prompted her to do something violent much to his exasperation, and some amusement.

She wound back her stick, then let it whip through the air. It connected with the puck, blasting it over the tarmac, through the air and towards the net in a blur of motion.

Ping!

"Go in, you bastard." she growled sourly. What kind of sharp shooter missed a perfectly good shot aimed at an open net?

She brushed a hand over her hair and groaned frustrated. She wasn't going to be much good to the team if she couldn't score. She was a right wing for a reason. She was supposed to be able to take the puck from the center or the right back and blast it into the net via a wrist shot, a one timer or a slap shot. She was good at slap shots, she could wind up and blast it with enough power and still have it accurate. It wasn't a thing where she could just knock a puck powerfully but not have any aim. She could aim _and _blast it!

Just not anymore. "Sucks to be me." she muttered chasing after the puck again.

"Ok let's try this again." She tapped the puck with her stick, casting it deftly across to stop it with her stick then casting it back again. She winded up a shot, then shot the puck down the center field and straight into the back of the net. "Great, like any goalie in a butterfly position wouldn't be able to stop that one."

"Maybe if you didn't wind up so much, you'd have a little more control."

She jumped at the voice then glanced over her shoulder to spy her coach standing on the side lines, his hands in the deep pockets of his jeans. The wind stirred his navy hair, pushing the bangs away from his eyes which were a shade darker than his son's she noted. Of course the only reason she knew that was because she was constantly finding herself staring into Kai's eyes. She frowned, not liking her attitude. She was not lovesick over Kai Hiwatari because if she was, then it would really suck to be her. Of course, it was perfectly natural to admire his looks since he was her boyfriend… and it still sounded weird a week after Miyami had forced her to say the words at four o'clock in the morning.

"Don't you need to wind up though?" she asked confused.

"If you were winding up, as much as you were doing there, an opposing person could come along and either deke you or sweep the puck out from under your nose. It's almost as bad as passing the puck to them."

She frowned knowing he was right. "Then how long should I wind up for?"

"The key to a good slap shot is hand-eye co-ordination. Knowing where the goalie is, is imperative to getting the puck into the net."

"I know that already. I'm a sharp shooter for a reason. I have great hand eye co-ordination, just as long Kirby isn't around." she added under her breath, still feeling bitter towards her cousin's prank on New Years Eve, which led to her getting shocked, not once but twice. Which she still hadn't gotten Kai back for her, which reminded her. She still owed him for telling Ian about the spider. Yes he had saved her from the fall and she was grateful to him, but it was still pretty damn mean of him to get her with that spider.

"You might see better if you pulled down that hood."

She gave him a threatening look, before giving in and removed the powder blue hood. Wispy bangs fell around her unique face. She'd tied up her hair in a plain pony tail that fell down sleekly between her shoulder blades. It was a clean, fresh and natural look that suited the lines of her face but the exotic coloring she'd inherited from Treasa gave it that extra punch. It never ceased to amaze him that she never tried to accentuate her looks, but that was just her.

"Fine. What now?"

"You rely too much on your slap shot. Boosting the puck into the net is great but it's too easy for the goalie to catch it unless it has real power it in. You'd be much better to work on your wrist shot. Take it off the ground and send it into the top corner. You have great accuracy, you don't need the speed of the slap shot." He said approaching her.

She nodded. "Wrist shots have never been my forte, my wrists are too weak."

He frowned. "You can work on strengthening them. You're having trouble with your slap shot and I'm not sure it has anything to do with your aim. Are you in any pain Amber?"

She glanced at him sharply. "My neck's a bit knotted but no real serious pain." she told him with a nonchalant shrug of her shoulders. He had the slightest hunch that she was omitting something, but he didn't press. His relationship with her was still fragile. She hadn't blown up at him over finding out he was her godfather, though he sensed the distrust because he'd never told her. He'd explained to her that he hadn't felt it was his place to do so, and that secretly he'd always hoped she'd remember. And surprisingly she'd accepted that with no real drama. For that he was glad, he wanted to forge a friendship with her. He also wanted to ask her what was going on with her and Kai but he figured that would have to wait. Kai wouldn't react too well to a question like that. His love life was out of bounds when it came to his parents, but discussing it with Jean, Nicolai got the impression that Kai's relationship with Amber wasn't nearly as simple as his one with Miriam.

"I'll have Hitoshi take a look at it."

"If you think I'm letting him put his hands anywhere near my neck, you've got another thing coming. He'd more than likely strangle me." she grumbled. Flipping the puck at the net, it went in but she sighed. "Too slow. Any way to speed it up?"

"It would go in faster if you built up speed with movement."

"Hmm…" she trailed off and began to skate a wide circle, on her second circuit, she broke off it and began to push the puck with her towards the net, passing it between her stick, back and forth in an easy motion, then when she crossed the imaginary blue line into the opponents half, she scooted up to the net, circled behind it and whipped the puck into the top corner.

"Nice one timer. But that wasn't a wrist shot."

"I know, I know. I'm not a wrist shot player. I only make wrist shots when I'm not actually intending to do one, in the heat of the battle round the net, my stick hits the puck and because of the frenzy in which I'm just needing the goal, it gets turned into a wrist shot. Tala's always been able to do them, though. He once tried to teach me, but I just liked the power of the drive in the slap shot. I'm not powerful usually, it's nice to see some strength behind the puck when it slams into the net."

He nodded understanding what she was saying. But wrist shots took more finesse than slap shots, and he believed she'd be a hell of a wrist shooter if she'd just give it a go. It was easy with Kai, he'd been a blank canvas when it came to teaching him moves that required skill, not brute strength, the same with Brooklyn. Both boys understood the dexterity and flair of certain moves that the enforcer types just couldn't grasp.

They had willingly learnt the moves and diligently practiced so they could improve their game, always wanting to do their best while the others just wanted to bash people and smash the pucks into the nets. Shooting a puck was easy but a simple shot could be saved by an experienced goalie such as Arista. That girl had one hell of a talent. She was a quick stick but a quicker glove. She played in the butterfly position which was hard to get through and she could read a player quickly, assess the situation and know instinctively where the puck was going to drive. If the puck was on the ice coming towards her, she'd get it. But a wrist shot was a different story for her. That was just a flip over her and there'd be no way to stop it if it was on the stick side, glove side however, she'd have a better chance. Brooklyn loved glove side. Most goalies had a quicker stick and shooting it glove side was awkward at times, but Brooklyn aced it. It would be interesting setting Brooklyn and Arista up against each other.

"Just keep practicing it. But I want you to have it down by the JV show down. Oh and don't tell Hitoshi, wouldn't want him alerting his goalie to your new weapon."

She tucked her tongue in her cheek and then clucked it. "I wouldn't mind getting one over on the JV, the baby brats have been getting mighty full of it lately. There would be some satisfaction in showing them that not only am I wiser, smarter and so much prettier than them, I'm also a better player. Do you know their plays?"

Nicolai nodded. "I've been watching them, and when Hitoshi isn't looking, I've been going through his files." he said with a slight smirk. At her look he shrugged. "What? He sits in on our meetings. He knows our team inside and out. Why shouldn't I know his team?"

"I guess so." she said softly beginning to feel slightly awkward now. Not only was Nicolai her coach, he was also her godfather and the father of her boyfriend, though she tended to think this godfather deal wasn't such a big deal after all. It just meant he was kind of like another uncle, like Seth and Rory, though whether that was a good thing or not remained another thing. She'd have to be careful around school from now on, Nicolai might take an overly fatherly view on her and try to tell her what to do and that made her uneasy. Where did she stand with Nicolai on this front?

As though sensing her unease, Nicolai cleared his throat. "So how did your party go? I never got a chance to ask and when ever I asked Kai, all I received was a grunt."

She smiled and Nicolai wondered if she noticed how her face softened at the mention of his name. Yeah there was something definitely going on between her and his son, he just wasn't sure what it was because whenever he stepped into a room where those two were, their attitude was pretty much the same as it had been. They were more comfortable with each other, but that was understandable since it was Amber. She was a likeable person unless you were just trying to not like her. Kai had never out and out hated her, so he wasn't immune to her charms and Amber liked people generally. She was a sociable creature, she'd need interaction if Kai was the only person around, she'd put away her problems with him if needs be. But still, he couldn't shake the feeling that things between them went deeper than just amicableness.

"It went good. Shahero loved her variety of presents, always good. We watched a couple of movies throughout the duration of the night. I disowned Daichi, Tyson, Miyami…Yeah it was a good night."

"What did Miyami do?"

"Woke me up at 4 in the morning to interrogate me."

"What about?"

"Pssh." she made the sound with a shrug of her shoulders, as though to say she didn't have a notion. "It's Miyami, since when does she need a reason. For gods sake she had me in high heeled boots, makeup and girly crap!"

Nicolai chuckled. "So the team was bonding ok?"

"In other words, you're asking if we tied Kai up and locked him in the cupboard under the stairs?" she grinned. "We didn't that night, that morning on the other hand, yes. But he threw a glass of water on us to wake us up at 8 in the morning and we'd only gotten to sleep at 3, were woken up by Miyami at four and we didn't get back to bed until 5 so we had basically around 3 hours of sleep. So Kai deserved it."

"Miyami interrogated you for an hour?"

"No, we went for a walk around the town."

"At four in the morning?"

She nodded as though it wasn't a big thing. It wasn't. It was becoming tradition to go wandering around the town at four dressed in their pajamas to be told by the night police officer to get home before he carted them into the station for the rest of the night. "We didn't go far, just up the main street, back down it and got busted by Deputy Deranged."

He chuckled and took the stick off her, and belted the puck into the nets hard enough that the net shuddered.

"Woah." she whispered awed. "How come you don't play pro?"

"Wasn't interested in playing pro. I wanted to coach, coax players to be their best and give them some support."

"Must be a satisfying job when someone achieves their best because of you."

"Sometimes it is. Sometimes it's infuriating when you can't get through to a stubborn headed player."

She looked at him, trying to figure out if that was a dig at her or not. When he smiled, she realized he was just toying with her. She smiled back, feeling a knot at the back of her neck loosen. So things hadn't really changed with her and Nicolai. Which was good. Too much change was going to be the death of her. She was afraid that everything was just going to build up and it was going to spill all over everyone. That scared her more than anything. She frowned, hearing the distant chiming of the church bells.

"Oh shit, what time is it?"

Nicolai glanced at his watch. "Eleven o'clock."

"Oh shit. I gotta go." she said skating over to the side lines where she'd dumped her bag.

"Where?"

"Dentist, check up." she called back.

"Fine, oh and Amber, don't get detention on Monday. I want to see you down in the rink directly after your last class."

"Aw come off it Nicky!" she blurted out.

"You need to work on those wrist shots and you won't do it on your own, so don't say you will."

"Aw but…" she sighed heavily. "Fine."

She skated off leaving him with her stick and puck. Looking at them both, he shrugged and began to take a target practice at the nets.

* * *

Kirby shook her head with a laugh and grinned at Mariah. If there was one thing she could say about the pink haired girl, it was that she was a delight to be around. During the past couple of weeks, she'd become much more attached to the Chinese girl. Technically Mariam was her best friend, had been since she'd come to the school but when Mariam had been hanging around with Kai so much, Kirby had found herself tagging along with Mariah, Emily and Salima more. Though she noticed the tension between Salima and Mariah, she knew it was to do with Rei but Salima just had to accept that he chose Mariah and they suited each other so much better. Emily was becoming bogged down with school work and she couldn't understand how it was affecting her relationship with Max. Max was getting tied up with hockey though Kirby sensed he was losing his passion for it and that worried her. She'd talk to Miguel about it, maybe get Tyson to approach him on it.

The girls couldn't really understand her desire to play, none of the girls in her year played and because she was on a team with boys, she didn't have any female friends in her year. She tagged along with the junior and the senior girls. Mariah understood hockey, which was another bond between them and Mariah wasn't boy mad. She had Rei and they had a partnership of sorts. She didn't get iffy when he wasn't by her side and she didn't blow her top when he was seen talking to another girl. Hell she made an effort to be friends with Salima even knowing she was interested in Rei and it wasn't to be bitchy. Mariah was just a genuinely nice person. It had taken Kirby a while to notice that, she'd been put off by the pink hair. How shallow was that?

"Kirby, I can't eat that last piece. You have it."

Kirby regarded the lone slice of pizza on the table and shook her head. "No."

"But it's lonely."

"I can't eat it. Look it has a face."

Mariah frowned and leaned forward. "You're right it does. Ok you can't eat it, but if we leave, they'll throw it in the waste for the rats. Do you want rats to eat Mr. Pizza Slice? They'll nibble on his flesh and eat his eyes and nose and tiny mouth."

Kirby snorted. "We're personifying a slice of pizza. How sad is that?"

Mariah chuckled. "I know." she blew out a breath and looked round the food court. "So how are things going between you and Miguel?"

Kirby shook her head, her hair swishing slightly and her crimson eyes mellow. "Not good. I think we should just be friends. Tamara seems like a really-"

"She seems too nice." Mariah confided quietly, leaning forward for more privacy. "She used to be really sweet and never said anything bad about anyone, but I just don't like the feeling I get around her anymore."

"I know, I don't like her. But Miguel does seem to care about her. Maybe I don't like her because I'm jealous of her. She has something I want, but I waited too long for. I shouldn't have always expected him to be around, I guess. So all I can do is be his friend."

Mariah nodded. "Yeah you can do that, I guess. At least you'll still be part of his life. I don't have to like it though do I? And I definitely don't have to be nice to Tamara. She's too pushy these days. And she's always complaining about my cheers. It's too difficult! It's too slow! Too fast!" she mocked in a whiney voice, causing her young friend to snicker. She smiled brightly, showing an elongated canine that slipped over her lower lip. Being out with the younger girl was fun, she didn't feel like she had to be someone she wasn't.

"Jesus, she sounds kind of Clover-ish!"

"Doesn't she just. Sometimes I feel like just telling her that if she doesn't like my moves then she can just quit the team. I have plenty of girls who would really like a chance to play. But then Bethan usually convinces me not to say anything." She tucked a strand of pink hair behind her decorated ears and nipped her lower lip. "So what do you want to do now?"

Kirby shrugged looking around the crowded food court. "Well we've pretty much exhausted the stores here."

"True. Whose birthday's coming up next?"

Kirby thought about that for a second. "Jeez, I don't know. Salima's got everything marked down on the calendar in the dorm, but I can't remember who's in January. Shahero's was last week, Amber's is in March, Mariam's in the summer. Miyami's is in April, I think. April or May, it's one of those two. Arista's was in November, Aspin's was at Halloween, and Ruin's is in the Summer, yours is in the Summer, mine is in February, Salima's is in March… who else is there?"

"I can't remember the boy's, except for Rei's of course. I remember that."

Kirby flashed a grin, sipping her flat coke. "The boys never want anything anyway. Just alcohol and girls."

"But for some of them, they'll be coming eighteen. We should go out of the school for it."

"That's if we're allowed to come. Remember, you're a junior and I'm just a sophomore."

"So? We'll be invited, me if only because I'm Rei's girlfriend. And you're a Benson, that's like royalty among the seniors."

The dark teal haired girl scratched her neck sheepishly. "The Royal family is not nearly as screwed up as mine is. I mean my cousin is dating her god brother!"

"I know, how weird is that?"

"Well they're not really related or anything."

"No." Mariah responded with a laugh. "I mean, Kai and Amber. Did you see that coming? Because… well I guess I kind of did. They have been spitting at each other a lot more than usual and they were so moody recently."

"No, I didn't see it. He was with Mariam and now he's with my cousin. I like Kai, I genuinely do, but if he hurts my cousin the way he hurt Mariam, I'll hurt him!"

Mariah nodded, understanding the glittering promise in her friend's eyes. She felt the same about both girls but Mariam had dumped guys and she wasn't nearly as innocent as Amber. A frown appeared on her features then they cleared with determination. Amber could take care of herself, but it wouldn't hurt for the girls to just keep an eye on them.

"So how about we rent out a DVD and go to mine to watch it? You can stay over and head to school on the bus with us tomorrow." Kirby suggested.

The pink haired girl nodded eagerly, before her face fell. "Oh I can't. I don't have my uniform or my bags and stuff with me. I'd need them for school."

Kirby's face, too, fell. "You're right. Sorry I wasn't thinking… Well why don't we go to your house, gather your crap and then back to mine?"

"Sure. Works for me, means I get to spend more time with Rei on the bus."

The younger girl grinned. "Wow, that thought never occurred to me."

Mariah chuckled and got to her feet, waiting for Kirby to join her. Linking their arms, they headed out of the food court, narrowly missing being involved in two sibling's food war.

* * *

Kai sat on the couch in the Benson living room aware of Bryan's dark menacing gaze pinned to the back of his head from where he stood by the doorway as though to block any and all exits, though Kai was tempted to try his hand at the window, he wasn't a coward and Bryan wasn't scaring him in the least bit. Sure there was a part of him that was imagining what it would be like to be peeled with a paring knife but that was only a small part, and it was one that Kai never had acknowledged until Bryan came into his life. No, wait, that wasn't right. He'd never acknowledged it until he'd become involved with Amber and Bryan began to watch him with those shrewd lavender eyes for him to put one step wrong. So far he seemed to be walking the fine line with skill and balance because he still had skin.

He hadn't even planned to stay. He'd just popped round on the off chance that Amber might be there and then he'd planned to spend some time with her. It had been perfectly innocent, except Amber hadn't been there which annoyed him slightly. If he could make time to go see her, she could damn well be there as well. Didn't she understand the fact that as her boyfriend, she was obligated to spend some time with him? Then again, she hadn't had any boyfriends before. He scowled, he wasn't in the mood to be sympathetic to her. It was her fault that he was this close to Bryan.

He hadn't even chosen to stay, but Treasa had caught him and she'd asked him to sit down and have some coffee with her, and who could say no to a pregnant woman? Especially a pregnant woman who was his girlfriend's mother, his mothers best friend and his godmother. Well, he'd been about to tell her that he had some stuff to do and that he'd see Amber later, but then Bryan had come down the stairs, seen him and Kai hadn't wanted it to seem like he was scared of the burly enforcer. He wasn't, it was just that Bryan was intimidating. No one would like to get on the wrong side of him. If he hadn't been dating Amber, then he and Bryan might have had some kind of neutral ground. They'd been making some progress at the New Years Eve party when Bryan had loosened up a little with alcohol, but then he'd let desire take control and had kissed Amber right in front of her cousin. Bryan had surprisingly not broken anything, though the class he'd been holding had sported a tell tale crack when he'd released it. But so far, Bryan had done nothing but glare at him. Kai felt he was reasonably safe.

Still being in the guy's house was like invading his territory and that didn't go down well with an alpha male of any species. Just as long as Treasa was in the house, though, he would be fine. All the same, why wasn't Hitoshi suffering from this treatment? He was dating Shahero and making it pretty public that Kai was wondering how it would go down in school. True, Hitoshi wasn't technically a member of the staff but he was still faculty and she was a student. Why Hitoshi couldn't wait another couple of months to get in the girls pants baffled most of the boys, but Kai was pretty sure he understood what was going on in Hitoshi's mind. He was staking his claim on the sapphire eyed tomboy before she could be taken by someone else. But for all that, Bryan hadn't so much as said a thing to Hitoshi to Kai's knowledge. And Shahero was just as important to the burly teen as Amber was, so that wasn't the reason either. Could it possibly be that Bryan trusted Hitoshi more? Maybe.

So here he was, sitting in the dead silence of the fresh, cream living room. The TV was on mute and there was an old episode of Spider man on which Amber would be watching. If she was here, he added sourly. In the kitchen the smooth voice of Elvis crooned out as Treasa sang along. She was fixing them some tea. Bryan had offered to do it, and while Kai was breathing a sigh of relief, Treasa had refused, saying she needed to walk about while she could. So he was left with Bryan, alone.

He frowned. He was being melodramatic and he was pretty sure that it was contagious, and he'd caught it from Amber. It was being around a pregnant woman and a lukewarm, murderous cousin. It was making him edgy.

Treasa entered the room with a tray weighed down with a teapot and mugs, which was probably something Hiroshi wouldn't be too keen on her doing. Bryan immediately jumped to his feet and took the tray from her and Kai saw exactly where Amber got her annoyed expression from because Treasa pouted then sighed and eased onto a sofa.

"So Kai, how're you?"

Kai took the cup she offered him when Bryan just took his and moodily sat down by the window. "I'm fine, thanks, Mrs. Benson."

"Kai, I've told you to call me Treasa. Everyone else does."

Bryan coughed something and had Treasa glaring at him coolly with one arched brow. "Bryan, do you have something to add?"

"No, you continue your talk with _him_."

"Bryan…" she trailed off with a sigh and rubbed the growing mound pensively.

Kai's eyes were drawn to the motion and he suddenly blurted out. "Is it kicking?"

Treasa's expression softened and she nodded with a warm smile on her face. "Do you want to feel?" the pride that tinted those words were obvious to Kai and had him wondering if his mother had acted the same when she was pregnant with him. Possibly. The thought of Jean being pregnant with swollen ankles and a sore back, amused him; he didn't know why, it just did.

But now confronted with having to press his hand to the rounded stomach of this woman unnerved him. He'd never been around pregnant people before in his life. Technically, he tended to avoid things like pregnant women with the weepers. He racked his brain for a plausible excuse as to just why he couldn't touch her. Not only was she pregnant but she was Amber's mother, it was just weird.

Bryan was the deciding factor though. Just as Kai had been about to excuse himself, Bryan had snorted and Kai knew he was laughing at him, inadvertently calling him a coward. There was one thing Kai was not and that was a coward. So he shifted over the sofa and warily, he reached out to brush his fingers over the swollen mound. Just as he'd been about to jerk his hand back, Treasa's warm hand closed over his and pressed it to her stomach.

His heart thudded in his hand and then he felt it. A bump against his hand and it suddenly hit him, this was a life being prepared inside her. This was how he started out, how Amber had started. This was how Bryan had started out. Completely and utterly dependant on another. It was a strange thing to become aware of.

"Did you feel it?" she asked him softly.

"Yeah." he murmured. "Do you know what it is?"

She shook her head with a small smile. "We want it to be a secret. Amber wants it to be a boy." there was mirth in her tone when she confided that.

He smirked. "Doesn't surprise me."

Bryan muttered something under his breath.

"Yes Bryan?" Treasa asked shooting her nephew a pointed look.

"Nothing." he muttered.

Kai listened to the white noise that filled his ears, then looked up as the back door opened. Footsteps thumped through the Kitchen and then the door opened slightly and Hiroshi popped his head in the door.

"Oh hello. What are you all doing in here?"

"We're just having some tea. Want some?"

Hiroshi shook his head, running a hand through his ebony mess of hair. "No thanks. I just came in to get my gym stuff." he came further into the room and crouched before Treasa. "Is everything ok with you?"

Treasa nodded with a tired smile. "Everything's fine."

"You're not wearing yourself out, are you?" he softly accused motioning to the tray of tea stuff.

"Hiroshi, I'm fine."

He nodded and rose again, brushing his lips over hers. Kai and Bryan both shifted awkwardly and Hiroshi chuckled noticing them. Then he frowned. "Are Shahero and Amber out?"

"Shahero went out with Hitoshi earlier, or more likely, he took her out earlier. She didn't have much of a say in it."

Bryan grumbled something under his breath as Treasa explained where Hiroshi's daughter had disappeared.

"Bryan." she reprimanded him quietly. "Amber has a dentist appointment, which I hope she remembered to go to."

"Are you working later?" he inquired in a low undertone.

She bobbed her head in the affirmative, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear and bracing a hand at the base of her back, she shifted on the seat.

"Do you need a lift in?"

"No, no. Aubrey said she'd call round for me."

"If you're sure. I can take you in if you want."

"No, you go to the gym." she urged, tilting her head back and Hiroshi bent low to press her lips to his sending a tingle down to her stomach that caused the baby to squirm inside her. She smiled and her hand went to his, bringing it down to her stomach.

Kai watched as Hiroshi's face lit up. Surely, he'd felt the baby kick and move before, it was odd that he got such pleasure out of it. All Kai had felt was surprise. It was one thing to hear about how babies came to be in biology but to actually witness someone go through it, well that was a different story. He looked away and caught Bryan's eye. He too looked uncomfortable but then again, where were his parents? How did Bryan feel seeing parents who actually cared about their children?

"Ok I'm going. Need some help getting up?" Hiroshi offered Treasa his hand which she gratefully accepted and he tugged her to her feet.

She turned to warily look at both boys in her living room, then her eyes caught a movement outside and she sighed relieved as she witnessed her daughter walk up the drive. Across the street a man opened his mouth and said something. Amber looked over her shoulder, turned and then cocked her hip, a hand resting on said hip. Her shoulders were braced back and then he said something else and Amber showed him her middle finger and jogged up to the front door.

"There's Amber." she informed Kai. "I've got to go to work. I'll see you both later." she said and headed out of the living room.

Kai sat in silence, his eyes fixed to the mute TV while voices floated into the room from Amber -which caused his heart to thump hard-, her mother and Hiroshi. She laughed then entered the living room out of breath.

She blew her bangs out of her eyes and took in the frame of her boyfriend, carelessly sprawled over the sofa looking delicious. She felt the familiar swoop of her stomach that she always felt whenever she laid eyes on him. Her eyes hungrily devoured him while he paid no attention to her then her gaze fell on her cousin as he shifted and she scowled.

"Oi, you!"

Bryan's head jerked up as did Kai. The latter expected her to be talking to him but no, her gaze was for the lavender haired teen completely.

"What?" Bryan asked gruffly.

She frowned and tugged on her pants. Kai surveyed them. White cotton pants with thin teal and purple vertical stripes. They looked out of place coupled with her sneakers, her crushed velvet hooded top and red turtleneck. "Are they…" he trailed off looking to her for confirmation.

She nodded grimly. "Yes they are my pajama bottoms."

"Why are you…" again he couldn't finish the question but instead he settled back in preparation for Amber's tongue lashing. He knew the traits of her well. Her brow was furrowed, her pretty mouth grim and her luminous eyes stony.

"Because," she ground out, looking directly at her cousin. "_Someone_ didn't tell me I was wearing them when I left this morning."

Kai pressed his lips together not wanting to alert her to his amusement. Bryan caught his eye and his lips quirked in an almost impossible show of amusement before he turned back to his cousin and sister figure.

"Didn't you notice them?"

"Obviously not." she retorted.

"I thought you wore them because you wanted to." Bryan replied quietly, his lavender orbs quietly taking in his cousin.

She glowered at him. "I had to wear them to the dentist. I don't mind some of the people in this town seeing me in my PJ's but I had to go to the dentist and worst of all-" she broke off and turned her back to them and pulled on her pants so that they tightened around her butt.

Kai's eyes darkened even as he frowned. Why was Amber showing… He trailed off and began to snicker at her, which turned to an outburst of laughter as Bryan too joined in chuckling at her plight.

She turned round and glared at them both and eventually her lips quirked. "It wasn't funny when Prick ass across the road pointed it out just as I was arriving home!"

Bryan smothered a laugh. "Shouldn't have worn such a dark color."

She snarled. "That's it, I'm not yelling at you until I actually have some pants on."

She turned and left the room, Kai's eyes following her until she disappeared from sight, then feeling a cube of ice sliding down his spine, he turned to regard Bryan who glared at him.

"What?" he asked in a clipped tone.

The Frosty lavender eyed Russian scowled at him. "If you hurt her, I'll-"

"You'll what?" Kai demanded, no longer feeling any intimidation of the larger boy. Well not right now. He wouldn't touch him while he was with Amber. She meant too much to Bryan for him to risk her wrath by hurting him. There were advantages to dating Amber that weren't just to do with the physical aspects, he mused. Of course if he did hurt Amber, Bryan would want his blood. It was something that made Kai uncomfortable, but he'd deal with it if it ever happened. For the moment, he had no urge to hurt the girl he'd grown to care deeply for over the past week. No, it had begun before last week, just had escalated when he'd kissed her.

Bryan sneered at him, his eyes flashing with distrust. "You don't deserve her."

"And you can't keep her for yourself." Kai snapped, idly wondering if he realized how incestuous this conversation was becoming.

"What do you want from her?"

"Nothing that she's not willing to give me. Contrary to your belief, I care about her."

"Why couldn't you just be her friend?" Bryan hissed.

"How could I just be friends with her!" Kai exclaimed in an undertone.

Bryan blinked surprised and froze, the words he'd been planning to spew at the azure haired boy dying on his tongue, before he decided to spit them out anyways. This was for Amber's benefit. He wasn't willing to see her harmed in anyway, she was special to him. "What about Mariam?"

Kai's blood flowed icily through his veins. "What about her? We broke up."

"Just like that? And how do I know you won't do the same to Amber?"

"You can't compare Amber to Mariam, they aren't the same and my feelings for either aren't the same."

Bryan scowled beginning to feel uncomfortable. He wasn't someone who talked about feelings, just as he didn't talk about female's problems. He just wasn't that kind of guy. "Just be warned, I will hurt you if you hurt her in any way, shape or form."

"No wonder she hasn't had a boyfriend before." the other teen muttered, leaning back in his seat wishing that the girl upstairs would hurry up.

"She hasn't needed one."

"True, she hasn't, and now she does. Deal with it Malkovich!" with that a heavy silence settled between them.

* * *

Amber tilted her head and scowled at her room. Yes, ultimate chaos had whisked through her room once again. Absolutely everything that she'd used in the past couple of weeks was scattered haphazardly and she'd have to clean it up in the next couple of hours before she headed back to school. She hadn't even considered packing yet. So not good, she thought with a scowl. Sighing, she decided to do it later. Yes, she was stalling, and yes, she didn't care. She wasn't leaving Kai downstairs with Bryan for longer than she had to.

Heading to the wardrobe, she yanked open the door then jerked back when DVD's spilled out from the top shelf.

"Ok, I don't remember putting them there." she scowled as she knelt down to retrieve them. "Mom." she decided. There was no way she'd put DVD's in such a hazardous place where they could attack her randomly. Throwing them onto her bed, she turned back to what she'd been doing in the first place. Pants, real pants that weren't even remotely see-through. She scanned the rail and found a pair of jeans. Oh yes, they weren't see through at all.

Tugging them out, she replaced her pajama pants with them and slipped on her sneakers. She was just about to head down, not ready to face the massive job that was her room, when she almost walked straight into Shahero. She blinked rapidly.

"Hey."

"Hey, I was just popping in to get some stuff."

Amber smirked. "Like an overnight bag?"

Shahero shot her a dark look. "What about you?"

"I don't need an overnight bag." Again with the dark look. "Ah, um, I'm heading out with Kai."

Her step sister smirked and looked her over. "Yep, figured as much."

"Figured what?" Amber demanded as she narrowed her ochre eyes at the blue eyed girl before her.

Shahero simply smirked causing the Irish teen to scowl. "You picked that up from Hitoshi. I'd recognize that smirk anywhere!"

For a second, the younger girl said nothing, then she frowned. "Hmm, maybe I'm spending too much time with that conceited prick."

"Careful that's your boyfriend you're talking about."

Shahero smiled lopsidedly. Hitoshi as a boyfriend, now that was something she hadn't considered, though it wasn't such a terrible situation to be at all. God, the guy could take one look at her and she'd have to stop her knees from melting and when he kissed her... Her body trembled at the memory of his hands on her skin.

Amber caught the expression and grinned. "So have you and him done _it_ yet?"

"Have you and Kai?"

"What! No! We're not like that."

Shahero arched a black brow. "Oh really? So when you two are alone, you just sit there pleasantly and discuss what would be a good dowry?"

"Wow… did you think of that yourself?" at Shahero's dark look, she quickly continued. "I mean, a dowry, do you actually know what that is?"

"Kiss ass Ams."

"Hey, no fair! That's my answer to everything!"

Shahero frowned. "You've been watching Sailor Moon again, haven't you?"

"Huh?"

"It would explain the crappy comebacks and the whining."

"Bite me."

"As I said, crappy comebacks."

Amber stuck out her tongue and pushed past her. "Have fun with Hito-san."

Shahero scowled understanding that she only added on the san to point out that Hitoshi was older than her. Not a lot older than her, sometimes she was more mature than he was at times, but he was older than her. By four years and somewhere that bothered her. How would people accept it? Ricky wouldn't, she knew that. Her dad just wanted her to be happy. Bryan wasn't trying to kill Hitoshi that much. Amber genuinely liked and respected him. Treasa was happy for her, but even if she had a problem, she wouldn't voice it. She sighed. Maybe it would be easier if someone was against it. That way she wouldn't feel so bad. If someone was forcefully against it, she'd feel compelled to rebel and see Hitoshi anyway. But because everyone was for it, and because she was having her own doubts, it just made her feel awkward. She cared for Hitoshi, a lot. A hell of a lot. He made her feel happy by just being near her and that, in itself, was scary. Oh well, he was a great kisser, so that was that.

She shrugged flippantly and was about to head to her room when a door down the corridor opened and Ruin stepped out in an oversized T-shirt that Shahero vaguely recognized as Tala's. She looked to Amber for verification. The ochre eyed teen nodded and grinned.

Ruin, sensing the shift in atmosphere, sent them a dark look. "What?" she bit out, her voice rough from sleep and her eyes were still cloudy. Her hair was a riotous mess and her skin was flushed slightly.

"Rough night Ruiny?"

Ruin choked back her urge to tell the blue eyed nymph to shove it where the sun don't shine but thought better of it. Instead she smirked. "Wouldn't you like to know?"

"Actually yeah." Amber piped up and strode down the hall. "You hiding Taly-baba in there."

"He hates when you call him that." the gothic woman informed her.

"Yup, I know. Hence why I call him that." was the reply as the smaller girl pushed her way past and into the room that Ruin had previously occupied. The bed was empty as was the wardrobe when she checked it. There was no one under the bed and no one behind the door.

While Amber continued her fruitless search, Shahero entered the room and looked out the window in case the red head had escaped out it. Ruin just watched them with an expression of bemusement. These two were like little kids looking for their Christmas presents early, it was almost amusing and possibly might have been if she'd had more sleep last night. But she'd only arrived home at 5 and she still hadn't quite recovered the amount of shut eye she wanted before she headed back to school the next day. "Are you quite finished?"

"Yeah I guess." Amber mumbled knowing there was no one there apart from them and she had nothing to tease her friend with.

"Don't you have boyfriends to bug?" there was a teasing lilt to the question and both girls squirmed.

"Yeah."

"Somewhere."

Ruin smothered a grin at Shahero's flippant reply. "Well go find them. I have sleep to get. So scram."

"We're scramming." Amber muttered, casting a glance at the ceiling as if by some force of nature, Tala could be found clinging to it. She shrugged when it was clear, well Spider man had been able to do it, why not Tala? They both had the red and blue thing going for them.

Ruin choked back a chuckle as she caught her friends look, then waited for the door to close behind her. She grinned. "Alright you can come out now."

As expected the door behind her burst open and the two dark haired girls tumbled in scanning the surroundings. Realizing they'd been conned, Amber scowled at her friend while Shahero made a face. "Fine we're going."

Ruin simply laughed, then collapsed on the bed reveling in the looseness of her muscles. She pulled the sheets up over her and was settling back to go to sleep when the phone by her pillow trilled loudly. Groaning, she rolled over and glanced at the screen to see if it was worth answering. Spencer had mentioned something about ringing her to see if she would check out his car for him, they were planning on giving the body kit a remodel but since he hadn't gotten in touch, she'd assumed they weren't doing it this holiday. But maybe he planned to bring it up to the school to tinker with it some weekend when they didn't have a game. She winced. She hadn't done much practicing either. Some with Bryan near the start of the holidays but after that Tala had taken up most of her time.

An unbidden smile bloomed on her face when she noticed who was on the line. She rolled back onto her pillow and answered it. Tala's smooth voice cruised out and soothed all her nerves like a lovers hands. She sighed softly and let him ward away all her troubles.

* * *

Kai watched as Amber sauntered into the living room and he wondered if she noticed the extra spring in her step as she did. She shook out her hair so it spilt around her shoulders and his fingers prickled with the memory of how those silken strands fluidly ran through them. She'd changed out of her Pajama pants and into a pair of skin tight jeans that clung to her slender limbs. It certainly did his ego good to notice that since they'd started their relationship, she'd discarded those frumpy sweaters designed to hide her body. It was as though she'd gained more confidence in herself and her looks and he liked to think it had something to do with him. Yet there was a part that selfishly wanted to keep her covered so that no one else would look at what he'd discovered. He'd taken her first kiss and now the thought of someone else touching her made his blood run cold.

Whether Amber felt his possessive gaze running up and down her, she gave no indication. Instead she continued to discuss something with Bryan. He paid no real attention, settling for watching that delicious mouth move as the words floated fluidly out, moving at her pace. She spoke fast, as though she had to get everything out in one go otherwise it would never be said and sometimes, he had to ask her to slow it down. If she didn't, then the alternative was to just shut her up. He preferred the latter method, though telling her to shut it made her eyes blaze heatedly which made his blood thrum in reaction.

She stood with her hands tucked in the back pockets of her jeans, her hips cocked and one leg braced before the other while her shoulders were tossed back, her chin lifted. It always amused him to see her body braced for a fight while she was doing something as non violent as talking to her cousin about a TV show. Maybe it was just because she was used to people picking fights with her out of the blue, he didn't know. From his experience it was usually her picking the fights, but maybe that was just her defense. After all, the best defense was supposed to be a good offence.

He sighed and crossed his legs at his ankles, resting his arms along the back of the couch as he sprawled out. His gaze turned to the mute TV but his attention never wavered far from the girl before him. She commanded his attention just with her presence, an unnerving concept or it would have been if he wasn't all too aware of the effect he had over her.

As soon as his gaze was off her, Amber allowed herself to look at him turning her attention away from Bryan for a second. She frowned as her heart did a silly little flip in reaction to the site of him sprawled over the couch. He just looked so… raw and male and completely at ease with himself. Nothing seemed to bother him even with that stoic expression constantly marring his striking features, he never truly worried about anything. At least not non important things. That was a part of him that attracted her, his confidence in himself. How could she not be attracted to it? It basically sucked her in, dragged her to him like he was a magnet.

She yanked her attention back to her cousin when he cleared his throat. When her gaze landed on him, he rolled his eyes and sighed disgustedly. Even as she frowned bewildered, he got to his feet and strode out of the room. What the-? She whirled round and glimpsed him heading up the stairs, then her gaze found Kai.

"Um… what just happened? Is he mad at me?"

The lost tone in her voice tugged at his heart. He got to his feet and approached her, his hand rising to cup her cheek, reveling in how soft and warm it was under his stroking thumb. He heard the soft sigh, felt the flutter of air on his hand as she leaned into his caress. The hairs on his neck stood on end as his body reacted to her. "Not at you."

She closed her eyes and clenched her teeth, trying to ignore the involuntary trembles that were racking her body at his closeness. Her body had gone to that stage of painful awareness and strained tension. Her spine was ramrod straight, her knees had locked to prevent them from giving out beneath her. Even as her heart pounded at her to notice it, she tried to keep her thoughts on her cousin and as soon as she focused on the morose look in his eyes, a wet blanket extinguished the flames of desire which had been beginning to flare to life. She raised a hand to cover Kai's and she smiled at him, though he noticed it didn't reach her soft despairing eyes, before she removed his hand.

Taking a steady breath, she stepped back. "I need to go talk to him."

He nodded as though he understood her, but she caught the flicker in his gaze and it made her bristle. What was with guys? Each of them seemed to need her complete attention. She wasn't a toy to be fought over and there was only so much of her to go round. She tried to divide her time equally between all of her friends, they were all important to her, but right now Bryan was more important. With a shake of her head, she decided to deal with Kai later, Bryan had to be dealt with now. Though on saying that, she hoped to sooth Kai by brushing her lips against his, before leaving fast to avoid the temptation.

* * *

Once she climbed the loft stair case, she rapped on the door at the top, shaking her head with a smile when Ruin's throaty chuckle floated down the hall. Tala must have phoned her, because no one else could make her laugh like that. And that made Amber wonder how much she changed when she was Kai. She liked who she was, she didn't want to change much. Not so much that she was unrecognizable to her friends. Kai seemed different with her, there was a certain tenderness to him that made her heart soften and a warmth to spread through her like a balm. But what was she like? Obviously she changed because Bryan was angry with her. She'd never openly ignored him ever. She knew that he didn't like being ignored, not by her that was for sure. And she'd never done it before. She always made a point to give him her full attention whenever he was around, after all, she wouldn't stand for him ignoring her. They were sometimes like two peas in a pod. Sometimes.

She heard a shuffling on the other side of the door, but it remained shut. Uh-oh, this wasn't good, she thought with a sigh.

* * *

Inside the room, Bryan watched the door while pretending to be interested in his sketches. When he was younger, Nana Molly bought him his first box of paint accessories and surprisingly, he was actually quite artistic. What he hadn't known at the time was, that Molly had sensed the inner turmoil in her eldest daughter's son. She had figured the best way for him to express himself was through creative means. Molly Benson was never far off the mark, the woman had some psychic intuition. The grandchildren had always wondered at her ability to know everything. It was like the eighth wonder of the world. You couldn't put a foot wrong anywhere near the woman or even think of it, or she'd know immediately.

So once his artistic side had been tapped into, Bryan had found some relief in drawing and painting, mostly painting. A slash of vivid color on a crisp white page had some strange power to elevate his anger, or release his depression. He poured everything into his art and found peace in it.

There was another knock on the door and he stonily regarded it. Part of him willing the girl on the other side to leave him be. She had Kai now, she didn't need him. Didn't want him. She'd neglect him just like everyone else eventually did. His parents had never doted on him the way his aunts and uncles doted on their children. It had been quite a culture shock to visit his cousins or his Nana and realize the definite distinctions between their families and his. Ciara had always been stoic and pristine, concentrating more on her business and her ambitions than just being a mother.

Though on saying that, she had some strange sort of affection and pride for her only daughter Sinead that she didn't have for her son who took more after her. His father, Yurgi Malkovich had always been away on trips for his business and barely spent any time at home. From what Bryan could remember of him, Yurgi had always been unable to show his emotions but he showed his love by showering his children with presents and gifts. But then before Bryan's tenth birthday Yurgi and Ciara had engaged in some blazing rows. Yurgi had stormed out one night and never came back. Since then Bryan had rarely heard much from his father and he'd had no contact with his father's family.

Ciara, after the divorce, had buried herself in work and had exceeded herself with her bitchiness turning most of her put downs and disdain onto her son but Bryan put up with it. He'd known no other life and he'd never been much for caring what his mother thought of him. But then Sinead had moved out with her husband. She'd offered him a home with her but Bryan didn't want it, he'd only be intruding on their life. Instead he'd taken up Nana's offer to stay with her for the summer. As it had turned out, Amber and Treasa had been the only ones there apart from him and Molly, since Anne and her family had gone to the Canaries for the summer and Seth and his boys had to go visit Aubrey's mother.

So during those weeks he'd tried to ignore the younger girl who followed him where ever he went chattering cheerily and thoroughly driving him insane with her incessant exuberance and optimism. It didn't matter how many times he told her to bugger off, she just bounced back. Slowly she'd wormed her way under his skin with her witty quips aimed at the elder ones bossing them around that made him smirk because what she said was usually what they were thinking. That was part of her he'd been drawn to. She said what everyone thought. In his family, no one had said what they were feeling, but Amber had no problems blurting out her thoughts and feelings on injustice even if it did get her in trouble. He'd come to rely on her warmth and sunshine each day to relieve him of his loneliness. She'd cajoled him into stealing one of Uncle Rory's tractors so they could go to the river and fish. When Rory and Nana Molly had yelled at them, she'd taken the blame, then got herself out of trouble by saying that if she hadn't gone, then they wouldn't be having such nice fish for dinner which, she claimed, he'd caught. He'd been with her the day they'd gone to the marsh and he'd helped her rescue a stuck lamb from the mud.

So for all of her friendliness and dry quips, temper tantrums and intelligent fights, who would have known that a troubled young girl hid underneath.

It was one of the hottest nights during their stay and he'd headed outside to the porch so he could spy on a family of foxes that had been staying on the other side of the farm yard. When he'd reached the wall where he usually observed them, he'd been surprised to find a young girl cuddled up in a small ball sniffling quietly to herself. Unsure what to do, he'd been about to leave when she'd stiffened and looked directly at him. Quickly she'd dashed away the small liquid tears before smiling brightly at him, though it had been obviously forced. Unable to leave, he'd approached her and sat beside her. He'd been content to sit there quietly, but eventually Amber had broke the silence. Somewhere during their conversation she'd revealed that her parents were getting a divorce and something in him, right there and then, had clicked into place when she'd cried in his arms. A fierce protectiveness had swelled up and the image of her crying in her room with music blasting loudly to drown out the quiet civil conversation of her parents in the room beneath as they discussed the fact they were separating broke through the ice he'd sealed around his heart.

It was then and there that he realized he loved his cousin and he vowed to protect her from any pain she would have to go through. He didn't want her to ever become cold like him, but he didn't want her to hide her pain with a smile or mockery. When Amber asked him to stay at hers for the rest of the summer, he'd shrugged and figured there was no where else for him to go. What he didn't realize was that Molly had instigated the whole thing. She asked Treasa to take him in and she told Ciara to get her act together, but Ciara wanted nothing to do with him and she was moving back to Ireland. When he'd over heard his grandmother and aunt discussing the fact that Ciara was only willing to provide an allowance for Treasa if she took care of him, he'd been shocked to hear the anger in the usually quiet younger woman's tone. At first he'd believed it to be because Treasa didn't want him either. That belief lasted for a good five minutes before Amber had corrected him. She'd been listening longer than him from the other door that led to the kitchen. It had been a bigger shock to realize that Treasa was furious at her sister-in-law for deserting her son. What Treasa failed to realize was that Ciara wasn't maternal in any sense at all and what Bryan never failed to realize was that he was extremely lucky to get this chance.

Over the duration of the following months, he'd formed a tight unshakeable bond with his cousin. He'd met her friends, went to school with her and eventually built his life around her. She was his family, she was his heart. He didn't share her with many, just with Tala who she'd been friends with longer. He'd learnt to form his own friendships too. Through Amber he met Ruin. The lukewarm girl had always been emotionless and cold but she softened towards his cousin. He liked Ruin because she wasn't annoying, they shared a lot of similar opinions and she was someone he could have a decent conversation with. There was Tala, who was extremely intelligent and his fondness for Amber won Bryan's respect. And then there was Spencer, the quiet teen who had a passion for fixing things, whether it was mechanical or electrical. And of course there was also Shahero. Shahero, who he felt an attachment to almost immediately. But these people couldn't even touch his bond with his cousin. When things were bothering her or even when she just needed to feel comforted, she came to him. They were family, they shared an unbreakable connection.

Or so he'd thought until Kai had arrived. Within four months he'd wheedled his way into his cousin's life and had stolen a piece of her heart just for himself. There was no doubt that Amber had a big heart. With so many people in her life, it had to be big. Each person that Amber formed a relationship to, whether it was good or bad, was important to her. She'd do anything to ease their pain, it was just who she was. She couldn't stand to see someone hurting. Therefore, he was used to sharing Amber's heart with others. Nevertheless, he'd always had the bigger section of her heart and he'd prided himself on that. Then there was Kai. If Amber's heart was land, then he was expanding his territory the more he was around her. Soon he'd completely take it over and leave him with next to nothing and that scared Bryan.

He didn't like being scared. No that was an understatement. He hated being scared, he didn't do scared. It was a pointless emotion to him, but there was no other name that could be used to refer to the cold pit in his gut every time he thought of Amber with that azure haired faggot.

His thoughts broke off when his door swung open and slammed into the wall behind it, almost knocking over the easel that had been placed strategically near it so it would benefit from the light coming in the window and the sky light. His annoyed eyes flicked to his equally irked cousin.

"Leave." he growled.

"No!" she snapped back, shutting the door behind her and walking over to sit on the end of the bed.

He scowled but said nothing. His attention remained focused on his sketches. This one in charcoal of Nana Molly by the range in her warm kitchen. Scones rested on the counter. Her hands were dusting off flour as she stood in front of the window overlooking the back yard. Hot air rose from the fire that baked in the stove. It was a warm picture that inspired images of family and life. He lifted his gaze to his cousin when she sighed and began to pluck at his duvet cover.

Sensing his gaze she met his eyes directly. "Bryan…" she trailed off wringing her hands, then with a determined exhalation; she sat up and turned fully to him. "I didn't mean to ignore you down there."

He didn't say anything, but the flicker of his gaze told her he'd heard the words that had tumbled from her lips. She rolled her eyes. Why did he have to have such a stubborn streak running through him?

"If you're just going to ignore me now, then fine. I'll go back downstairs. I left Kai down there on his own to come up and see you."

'Always about him.' Bryan thought bitterly.

She growled under her breath. Something she'd picked up from him to convey her frustration, and got to her feet. Her gaze fell on the only photo in the room. A simple family one taken back in Ireland by the black cherry tree. The sky was blue over head, the greenery was lush and alluring, giving a tranquil yet vivid vibe of life to the place. The sun was beating down on them, not hidden by the pale sheet of clouds that usually covered the sky. White dots and red squares were scattered over the violet mountains bridging the gap between sky and land. Bryan was standing there being forced to smile by both her and Kirby while Daichi grinned cheekily and Ozuma was laughing at their attempts. It was taken by their Nana last summer at the family get together which was held every year so they could all stay in contact. Last year though, Rory's children had avoided coming, Stephanie had been away in Tenerife and Seanín-Óg had just not bothered turning up. Sinead had her own family, and the youngest, the boy had been acting up, teasing or something so they hadn't come over that day. The rest had made up various ailments to not show up, so in the end it had just been the usual group. The regulars and if Amber was honest, that was how she liked it best. She always felt comfortable with that group, with the older ones she just didn't gel with them that well.

It was as she looked at that photo that she realized that Bryan didn't really feel comfortable with the cousins' either. The uncles and aunts, well they were easy to get a long with but the cousins were so very different. But with Sinead and herself, he did feel at ease. He could be himself with them and not fear their rejection. But then Sinead had left to go live with her husband and Bryan would see that as her husband stealing her from him. More than likely, he was thinking the same thing was happening between her, Amber, and Kai. She sighed and trailed her fingers over the desktop before turning to look at him. How could she explain to him that Kai wasn't taking her away? She cared about Kai a lot, but she loved Bryan. He was a constant in her life who had, yet, to let her down. Yet she wasn't one to voice her emotions, she and he had that in common. However, that may have been the only way to get it through to him.

"Look…" she trailed off. Knowing her feelings was one thing, voicing them was a completely different thing entirely. Bryan knew she loved him, she showed him that all the time and vice versa but saying those type of things out loud, well that made both of them uncomfortable. "Kai's not going to take me away from you."

Bryan's head snapped up at the words that were blurted out by his cousin. The initial surprise died away and was replaced by a frown. He knew that she meant it, but that didn't mean that it wouldn't happen. So he said nothing. He didn't want Amber to lie to him.

Sensing that she wasn't placating him, she chewed on her lower lip as she tried to concentrate on what would get through to him. "So are you just going to give me the silence treatment? Because if you are, I have to tell you, not only is it immature, it's also unfair."

That pissed him off, and she knew it, he thought with a bitter scowl. "How so?"

"Well you expect me to trot along after you. Tala expects me to be at his side all the time and there's the girls, my other cousins, not to mention the team and I have to divide my time between you all equally. Usually I don't mind, but you aren't letting me live my life." she told him solidly, her voice never wavered and it didn't change tone either. She was very careful not to blame him indecently, she was stating the facts. Facts that he knew already but that he didn't want to acknowledge. "Kai…" she went silent, struggling for the words to continue.

"Do you care for him?"

"No Bryan I-" she broke off biting her tongue, instead she shot him a 'what do you think?' look that made a small smile flirt with his mouth.

"I don't want him to hurt you." he admitted softly.

"I don't want him to hurt me either, but I have to give him a chance. He's done nothing so far to warrant this hostility against him."

A lavender brow quirked. Sometimes he wondered what influenced his cousin's way of speaking. "Hn, you started it."

This time a slash of black arched. "Excuse me! Oh that was childish. And I had reasons which I will eventually apologize and possibly maybe explain my reasons for being a bitch."

"Can't justify nature." he muttered under his breath.

Her eyes flashed indignantly. "I'm not a bitchy person naturally. I'm easy going! Don't give me that look… fine!" she growled wondering how they'd gotten off topic.

Then again, she conversed with Tala and she should be used to jumping from conversation to conversation. Feeling the tension between them had been slightly eased, she thumped back down onto the bed and scooting closer, she rested her head on his shoulder, feeling slightly at ease when his arm came up around her shoulders. It was still a marvel to her when he did such simple acts. A few years ago when some one had done something so simple as to touch him, he'd have reacted by flinching. And within the Benson family, affection was often shown physically. However, now Bryan –well he didn't exactly welcome others touching him- but he didn't shy away when she did something like cuddle up to him. She figured a long time ago that it had something to do with her cousin being touch starved as a child, now he was just making up for it.

"If he hurts you-" he began slowly.

"Yeah, you can hold him down and I can hurt him, ok?" she flashed him a grin, then sighed softly. "I don't want you to be mad at me. You're my cousin, family, that won't change. It's just that my attention is being pulled in a new direction but I won't ever ignore you. Besides, you wouldn't like me to be a bitch when you have a girlfriend."

He muttered something under his breath that she didn't catch but the gesture made her grin as she recognized it.

"So, when are you going to ask Kassie out?"

Bryan's eyes widened for a second before the calm mask slipped effortlessly back into place. He had no clue how his cousin found out certain things about him. But once she'd locked on something, she worried at it, like a dog with a bone. He wanted to scowl but she was waiting for that reaction. If he gave no reaction, then she would drop the subject.

No such luck. "Are you _ever_ going to ask Kassie out?"

He gave his head a light shake. "Drop it."

"Why not? You like her, right?"

"Drop it." He muttered again. "She's too young."

"O-k. If you say so." _How was sixteen too young?_

"I do."

"Right. So are we good?"

He observed her silently. She'd never asked him that question before, even when they'd had disagreements. She must have thought they were on unstable ground. That bothered him more than he'd like to admit. They'd always been close ever since he'd come to live with her, she'd never been unsure about their relationship and now, she was worried and scared. He could read her eyes easily, she never hid her emotions, they were always there for everyone to see.

His hold on her tightened ever so slightly and he rested his cheek on her hair. "We were never bad in the first place."

She smiled and shifted so she could wrap her arms around him. "Good, because I'd hate to have to choose between you and Kai."

He stiffened. If she had to choose, who would she choose? As if sensing what he was thinking she smiled softly and sighed quietly. "You'd win." she confessed

Bryan nodded. He figured that would probably be true and he realized that his cousin was quite possibly the most perverse person he knew. She would hurt herself before hurting another, but not because it was the right thing to do, no, she'd do it because she had no idea of self worth. She didn't believe in herself and she didn't value herself, and all because she'd been put down by others as a child. It had such an affect on her and she wasn't completely aware of it. There was only so much friendship and family could heal, maybe Kai could heal the rest. And that made Bryan uncomfortable. Kai didn't know what he was dealing with and it would be unfair to both of them to tell him. But Kai could end up damaging her more, Bryan didn't want to put that all on one boy he didn't completely trust. So, he vowed that should anything happen to her, he'd be there for her, no matter what just as she would be there for him.

"Is everything ok with you and Tala?" he questioned finally after a moment of silence only disturbed by their soft breathing.

"Yeah." she replied warily, wondering what Bryan was refer- oh. "Oh, right, the him and Kai fighting thing? Oh yeah we're completely cool. He apologized and though he won't explain it, I really don't give a care. They're both back to normal and he promises that should he feel compelled to beat the shit out of Kai again, he'll drive them both out into the middle of nowhere so he doesn't disturb mom."

"So he's ok with you and Kai?"

"Well he's all loved up with Ruin, so I don't think he cares." she replied while applying lip balm to her lips. She rolled her eyes and groaned when she caught her cousin's probing look. "Ok, jeez, yeah he's fine with it but he also vowed to butt kick Kai into the next millennium if he hurts me. I told him to join the queue. Ya know, Kai's not even getting much of a chance here. I mean he's barely touched me and already he's getting death threats, don't you think you boys are going over board? You're acting like I'm some sort of princess or something. I'm not, and Kai shouldn't be punished just because he's going out with me, it's unfair. Not to mention the fact that he's our team captain, he deserves respect."

"This coming from our most respectful team mate." Bryan grumbled and made her smile.

"Ok, yeah, I was a big pain in the ass, but I had my reasons. Just give Kai a chance."

Bryan coughed something causing Amber to stick out her tongue in response even if she didn't hear it, she could figure out the gist of it.

"So now you're dating the captain, you're going to improve your behavior?"

She thought about it for a moment, then grinned. "Oh hell no, I'll be my usual annoying, ornery self, it's a part of my charm."

"God help Kai."

"I know, don't know what he sees in me but whatever. Anyway, I better go down and check on him. God knows who's popped in and decided to threaten him under the pretense of protecting me." she muttered getting off the bed and heading for the door. "Oh hey, Mom says she won't be back for dinner later, so that leaves it up to you and me to make something. So do you want take out, or what?"

He looked at her blankly and made her laugh. Every time her mother asked them that question, they always replied that they didn't know. Both weren't very decisive on trivial matters such as food.

"Yeah that was my thought. I'll ask Ruin later. I think Shahero's going to be out with Hitoshi, so she won't be back until late."

Bryan grunted but said nothing, moving to his computer and switching it on. "Did you have breakfast this morning?"

Amber opened her mouth to reply, then thought better of it. She'd forgotten breakfast. She'd been in such a determined mood to practice and she'd been preoccupied with the dentist that she despised, that she'd clean forgotten to eat… or technically she hadn't been in the mood to make any thing since her stomach hadn't been reacting too well to the fact that she had to visit the Dentist.

"Amber?"

"I'll eat something now, k? What's the difference between breaking fast an hour or two ago and breaking it now?" she replied before turning around and headed out.

* * *

Five to ten minutes later Amber walked back into the living room stifling a yawn. On seeing Kai with his legs stretched out on the sofa and his fingers lazily flicking through the various channels on the TV, she smiled. He could have gone home instead of waiting for her and it meant something to her that he didn't. Her eyes alighted on something on the screen before he flipped the channel.

"Oh flick back."

His head snapped in her direction yet his posture remained casually relaxed. "So you decided to return."

She nodded and stretched languidly before sauntering over to him and flopping down onto the spot on the couch his legs had previously occupied. Automatically his arm came round her, pulling her into close contact with him. She snuggled into him, seeking comfort from his warmth and from the strength in his tough, lean form.

She nodded. "Yeah and thanks for understanding when I went after Bryan. He still maintains he'll kick your ass, but he'll back off a little which for him is a big deal." she shot him a wry grin.

He absently stroked the soft skin that his fingers had sought out on her waist, figuring it was best not to mention the few times he'd had to talk himself out of going up there to find out whether she was planning to dump him or not. He knew how loyal she was to Mariam and she was only a friend. If Bryan wanted her to break up with him, Kai, then he knew she'd do it. Her family held a sway over her which pissed him off. The reasonable part of him knew it shouldn't, but the macho possessive part of him demanded that she turn to him. Thank god his reasonable part of him was mostly in control.

"So he's not waiting around any corners to rip my head off?"

"Nope, ripping heads off isn't his style." Catching sight of the smile that tug on his full mouth made her heart flutter painfully. She frowned. It bothered her how he had such a profound effect on her that even just something as simple as a smile made her react. Her skin was tingling from where his fingers drew lazy patterns over her skin, at first she accepted that because no one had ever done that before, but it was the same every time he touched her.

"Something wrong?"

She shook her head and pressed closer to him. "Nope."

"So what was it you wanted to watch again?"

She perked up, the glumness he'd sensed surrounding her dispersing as she eagerly reached for the remote and with a skillful tap of her left index, and a second later something wildly colored and 2D flickered onto the screen. He groaned audibly. A cartoon. Great.

"Ember, what age are you?"

"Mentally or physically?" she retorted without even a thought as her stunning ochre eyes remained rapt to the screen.

"Either. This is a cartoon."

"No shit Sherlock, now shush!"

His brow lifted at the order then more so when she cuddled closer to him, her head resting on his chest, her breathing in sync with his. He held her close, feeling the warmth pool in his gut because of her slender body pressed against him, the clean, fresh scent of her hair that filled his nostrils, and the memory of how she moaned when he kissed her echoed in his ears. He gritted his teeth wondering why he didn't have much control around her. He'd had control around Mariam when they were alone, he didn't constantly want to ravish her and she hadn't been as innocent as Amber. He really needed to be careful with Amber even if she said she wasn't fragile.

She shifted again, trying to get comfortable and didn't notice the flicker that crossed over Kai's face.

"Sit still." he growled through clenched teeth. "Now what are we watching?"

She stiffened and turned to stare at him, shocked and almost appalled. "You don't know this show? Don't you recognize any of it? The man in the wheel chair, the telepathic red head, the guy with claws? Didn't you read comics as a child or did you practice looking emotionless in the mirror?" she finished off with a teasing glint in her eyes.

He, with an exaggerated sigh, focused on the screen watching as a woman with white hair floated into the sky with her cape flapping around her legs. The wind whipped up, the clouds rumbled loudly and lightly struck the sky like snakes of white light. A boy with spikes sticking out of his skin fired stake's at the woman in the sky. The scene changed and now a man with metal claws coming out of his knuckles was running along the ruins of a pyramid. Yet again the scene shifted to a man with a bucket on his head who was attacking a group of teens with anything metal it seemed. A young brunette touched a dark haired Goth and the shrapnel that was spearing towards them went straight through without so much as piercing them.

Feeling Amber's gaze on him, he turned his attention back to her. "X-men." he finally answered after hearing the name Cyclops and Wolverine. He vaguely recalled seeing the cartoon as a child and watching the film but he'd never seen this program. Maybe once or twice while searching for something to watch but he'd never actually watched more than a second of it.

"Give the boy a banana." she cheered without much enthusiasm but pride laced the words.

"You watch this?"

"Yes. This is my favorite comic cartoon, quickly followed by 'Spiderman' and 'Batman' normal or Beyond. Are you saying you have never watched this, ever?"

"No, I tend to watch real programs with real actors."

"Who can't do anything and then you complain the effects weren't real. Puh-lease. Cartoons make people who they are."

"How many do you watch?"

She shrugged. "I have no idea. A lot, a heck of a lot." she amended.

"But they aren't real." he replied.

"That doesn't matter."

"It's unrealistic."

She glowered at him. They had this conversation before about other things that she watched. "What would you prefer to watch? Sport? It's boring unless you're playing or if you're actually in the same stadium watching. Soaps? Yeah they're so real. I mean here in Bakuten there's always someone being murdered and buried under the patio. Or how about a Film? Cause they're so realistic. Or maybe the news, I mean it's a bundle of joy."

He shook his head but said nothing, deciding that if she was intent on watching the cartoon then fine, he'd just distract himself some other way. With her. He shifted and scooped her up so she was sprawled over his lap. He nuzzled at that point under her jaw before moving to the spot behind her ear. She groaned and arched her neck to allow him better access. He stroked a finger over the water soft skin of her throat feeling a surge of power when she quivered under his touch and her head fell back, allowing him to seize her lips. As soon as his mouth closed over hers, he sank into her.

Her body twisted so she could wrap her arms around him and her fingers sought purchase to stop her from floundering in a sea of him. One of her hands moved to his hair, her fingers twisting the silken strands around them. The other hand slipped around his back, running delicately over the muscles she could feel under his shirt.

He groaned as her tongue met his, tentatively touching and retreating before meeting his again. Her lips tasted sweet and of cherry's, he knew it to be the flavor of her lip balm. His arms slid around her, pulling her tight against him as she melted like warm butter into his mouth overpowering his senses and igniting his hunger for her. His mouth became more avid, seeking more from her and that throaty little moan sent a shiver down his spine with a luscious warmth. Growing bolder, his hand slid up her side while the other distracted her by tracing circles on her heated skin. Usually when he tried something she wasn't comfortable with, she'd subtly move his hand back to somewhere she didn't mind it being and he respected her too much to push her, all the same it didn't stop him trying again later.

She broke away from him and looked at him through blurred whiskey colored eyes. Her skin flushed and her mouth bruised from his. Wisps of black and gold cascaded down to frame her face. God she was gorgeous and his, completely his. He leaned in again, sealing her lips with his, this time savoring the taste of her, stroking his tongue slowly and languidly over hers drawing out the flavor. Keeping the lazy mood, his hand slid along her ribs, his palm easily spanning her side. When his thumb brushed the underside of her breast she stiffened but didn't make any move to remove it. Slowly, not wanting to do anything to startle her, his hand skimmed along and covered her round breast, feeling the good solid weight in his hand.

Sparks shot through her almost violently. Her breath caught and he broke away, sucking on her lower lip before pulling back and moving to nibble on her neck. She moaned softly, unsure how to deal with the unbearable heat rising within her as pleasure throbbed gently in stark contrast to her erratic heart beat. She tried to distract herself by concentrating on the feel of his creamy skin under her fingertips but she couldn't for very long.

He placed a chaste kiss under her jaw before turning his attention to her turtle neck. Leaving her breast, his hand trailed slowly to her neck. He tried to force his breathing to slow as, he noticed, did she. Hooking a finger into the opening of her top, he smirked as he revealed a blotch on her pure golden skin. He lifted his eyes to look into hers and his smirk curved into a smile when he caught the flicker of temper.

"I'm not seeing why you're so smug, if Bryan had spotted that, he'd really want to spill your blood."

"Good thing you covered it up then, no one needs to know it's there but me." he murmured placing another kiss on her mouth.

She frowned at him. "Chauvinistic pig."

"Nice comeback."

She stuck her tongue out, then retracted it quickly when he made a grab for it. "Hey, we haven't done anything for that History project yet, ya know."

"Well I do remember trying to start something but you were far more interested in stalking your cousin."

She thought back on that day when she'd snagged Kai under the pretense of working on their project and grinned. "Man I was such a bitch."

"You got a thrill out of it." he accused.

"Oh hell yeah, annoying the hell out of you, there's no bigger thrill!"

He flicked her nose and chuckled when she swatted his hand away so she could scoot off his lap and return her attention to the 2D people. With a soft sigh, she pulled out her pendant and began to pay with it by twisting the fine chord around her fingers.

"We really need a topic."

"I know. I'll figure out one. It would be handy to know what everyone else is doing so we don't end up doing the same as them. Just as long as Shallow doesn't want to see what we've done so far."

"He said he'd be looking for it in May."

"Yeah for the completed one but he may just want to see where we are in our project. Just to check we have done something instead of leaving it to the last minute. Oh well, we'll jump that hurdle when we come to it."

She rested her head on his broad shoulder feeling completely at ease encircled in his arms, at ease yet not quite safe. It was an odd, yet exhilarating contrast and because her nerves were slightly on edge, her fingers were restless as they played with the pendant Tala had given her. Since receiving it, she hadn't removed it once from her neck but it hadn't been visible often because she'd been forced into wearing turtlenecks to preserve Kai's life. A smile tugged at her lips.

"Well that hurdle is fast approaching." Kai muttered. "We're back to school tomorrow."

"Ugh, I know. I hate the bus journey there, it's so slow and boring and why would anyone want to go to school on a Saturday, especially a Saturday morning. Sunday fine, but Saturday? There's cartoons on! Ugh someone was feeling particularly bitchy when they decided to do that."

Kai leaned his head against hers, feeling the tickle of her silken tips while her slender gold fingers played with his longer and paler ones. No rings adorned those hands which was a shame because he adored the shape and look of them, most especially how delicate they looked but damn it when she was being difficult they could be as strong as iron. He considered her words and wondered whether to bring up the topic that had been playing on his mind for the past week.

"Well if you arrived at the School on Sunday afternoon would you be ready for school on Monday?" he asked testing the waters.

She cast him a pained look that made the corners of his lips quirk. "Yeah, of course I would. I could use my extra Saturday to catch up on sleep and cartoons."

"Or spend time with your boyfriend." he prompted making her laugh.

"Suppose I cou-" she broke off and squirmed as his fingers poked her ticklish ribs. "Ah piss off, don't be mean."

When he left her ribs alone and had moved his fingers to where she could watch them, she breathed in a lungful of fresh air and settled back into his side again. She slouched further down on the sofa, her feet crossing at her ankles. Her top rode up unnoticed by her but not unfortunately by Kai as his fingers began to trace her navel. She purred softly, her eye lids feeling heavy even as her stomach contracted from the nerves flaring to life at his touch. She sucked in a breath.

"Your fingers are cold." she told him sleepily, one hand reaching for his fingers and wrapping her palm around them, encasing them in heat, she began to squeeze them.

He watched her feeling slightly awed by her. Although she so far had not initiated any of the kisses between them she was never shy about touching him or showing him affection, affection none of his other girlfriends had showed him much of. They were more interested in showing him how far they were willing to go so that he'd never be tempted to stray to more experienced girls. Not Amber though, she wouldn't be pushed and she showed that she cared and at the same time didn't make him feel awkward, as though he were just a trophy for show.

He pressed a tender kiss to her head. "How about I drive you up on Sunday then?"

She murmured her agreement, then bolted up straight and her eyes snapped in his direction. "Huh?"

Adorable. Sometimes that was the only word to describe her, then other times when she was flushed and dark eyed, she was a goddess, seductive and sexy with an innocent air about her. His stomach clenched in desire and to abate it, he brought her finger tips to his lips to nibble at them gently. He watched amused as her eyes darkened with awareness, her breathing slowed and her skin warmed at his ministrations. Power consumed him with the knowledge that he was the only one who could do this to her.

"I said I would drive you up on Sunday, if you wanted."

"With your Dad?"

"No, I said _I_, as in me, Kai Hiwatari, would drive you up…"

She stuck out her tongue, temper sparking in those ochre eyes as she yanked her hand away from his tempting mouth. "You don't have a car."

"Shows how much you know."

"You've a car? Since when? What did you do, put some magic beans in the ground and grow one?"

"Well I don't know how you think people acquire cars Ember, but I bought mine and fixed it up."

She sat up straight, her eyes narrowing because he'd made fun of her, which he had a tendency to do, which in turn made her feel stupid, and also because her interest had been piqued. "What kind?"

He smirked. "None of your concern. Now would you rather drive up with me or go on the bus?"

It wasn't much of a choice but being in a car alone with Kai without any one at all… a shiver went down her spine and it locked violently in anticipation as butterflies burst to life in her stomach. She chewed her lip and considered it. Kai wouldn't attempt anything, she trusted him and anything she dreamt up would be just that, dreams. But would her mother allow her? Shahero was going to school with Hitoshi, mainly because they and Tyson had snagged him at the start of the year when they'd found out he would be working there, to force him to drive them to school after holidays since the bus sucked! Even if Shahero tried to back out, which she wouldn't, Hitoshi wouldn't let her, and Tyson would be there.

"What about your Dad?" she finally asked.

"You'd rather drive up with him?" he drawled, wishing she'd hurry up and answer.

"No, I'm just wondering how he'll react to you driving me to school when he doesn't know about us." she motioned to the both of them with her finger.

"He'll not know anything, though why you insist on hiding this from him-"

"I'm not insisting." she snapped. "It's your dad's rules. I'm not quitting the team, if you want to, then go ahead. I need to play."

He rolled his eyes at her melodramatic speech, but he understood exactly what she meant. He felt the exact same way and he couldn't give up hockey, he just hoped his father wouldn't try to make him give up her. It wouldn't, possibly couldn't, be done. He was seriously coming to believe he was addicted to her.

She sighed and ran a hand through her hair. "Maybe we should tell him. I mean, unless we're keeping us a secret when we get to school." she frowned. "Are we?"

"No." he said shortly.

"Ok well, then he's going to hear about it from someone and I'd feel better if it came from us because well, I don't think he'd break us up, would he?"

Kai tilted his head back, shaking his bangs out of his thoughtful brown eyes and contemplated the various reactions his father could have. Nicolai was attached to Amber, there was no doubt about it and more than likely he'd think Kai would hurt her, after all everyone else thought it, why not his father? Then again, he might just accept it. Nicolai had always wanted Kai to be happy and for a change Kai thought he was as close to that foreign emotion as he would ever get.

"I don't think he would." she continued. "Besides I'm invaluable to the team and you're the captain so by default you have to be on the team."

He shot her a dryly amused look. It was interesting to him to hear her mockingly boast about how great she was when she didn't have that much confidence in herself. He was still no closer to finding out who had shred that confidence, but he figured Tala would know and if he approached his friend about it, on account of being worried about her, then Tala would cough up.

"You keep thinking that." he placated her and patted her head chuckling when her blazing gaze whipped up and snared his. The atmosphere shifted a notch and his eyes dipped to her mouth. For a instant he leaned in, then thinking better of it, he turned his attention back to the TV now showing a speeding blue hedgehog.

Amber's brow knitted. Hadn't he been about to kiss her? She was sure that that thought had flown through his mind but now he was avidly watching Sonic which puzzled her. He-who-did-not-like-cartoons would rather watch a talking blue hedgehog in red trainers than make out with her? She folded her arms sulkily, then thought better of it and instead produced a packet of jelly sweets from her jacket pocket. Reaching in, she popped a few in her mouth then cast Kai a glance when she felt him watching her. "What?"

"You come home from the dentist and the first thing you do is work on your cavities?"

She shot him a bright, forced smile. "Tradition states that as soon as you escape from the evil man with the sharp objects you must immediately banish all your terror by ingesting as many gelatin and sugary substances as possible."

"That's complete bullshit or in other words life according to Amber."

"Ha! Actually it's life according to Tala and Kane and I just happen to agree with it."

"So aren't you going to offer me some?"

She grinned cheekily. "After the last time I offered you sweets, I would think you'd be wary."

He glowered remembering the clove rock sweet she and Ian had offered him back on his first day. They'd come so far since then, not only them but also him and the team. They'd grown, matured for some, and bonded more than he'd thought possible. He had definitely changed and for the better, he felt. Still she was keeping him from sweets and that wasn't ever a good thing.

"I'll give you one last chance to be nice and offer me some."

"Ok you give me one last chance, but you're still not getting any." _Ha, that's what you get for preferring Sonic to me_. To make her answer final, she shifted and shoved her sweets into the back pocket of her jeans, then she smiled at him sardonically.

He met the look coolly, then gave a nod. Before she could read his intentions, he lunged and knocked her onto her back, his hands slipping around her svelte waist, his legs pinning her wriggling body to the couch. His hands took their sweet, torturous time moving from her waist over the bare skin of her spine, which had been exposed by the top riding up; down over the curve of her cute butt before dipping into the back pocket and snagging the plastic packet. Placing a kiss on the hollow at the base of her throat, he pulled back, and using his free hand to press on the spot at the small of her back that caused her hips to arch, he pulled his other hand free. He grinned down at her, a heart stopping grin that flustered her just as much as being bested did.

She glared up at him, her tawny eyes furious, raven hair with flaxen stripes splayed out around her and her cheeks flushed with temper. He was tempted to kiss her again, but figured she'd only try to bite his tongue.

"That was low."

He simply smirked and digging his hand into the packet, he plucked out a strawberry shaped sweet and watched as her eyes rounded.

"You wouldn't."

Carelessly he opened his mouth and slid the sweet into his mouth biting into it and savoring the tart berry flavor. She glared at him and snatched her packet of sweets back. With a determined expression she rooted through the bag then raised her dark angry gaze to his. "That was the last one and they're my favorite kind." she growled.

He popped the last bit into his mouth after swallowing the first. "What are you going to do about it?"

She snarled at him, then lightning fast she tackled him and knocking him onto his back she sprawled herself over him. His eyes darkened and locked onto hers, then without another word, she crushed her mouth to his. Surprised by her actions he stiffened, then groaned, his hand going up to cup her neck to keep that wildly aggressive mouth on his. Her tongue thrust into his mouth, twisting the strawberry half between their tongues. Unknown to her, his fingers tightened in her hair, his knuckles becoming white with the strain. With her agile body moving seductively on his, she was driving him wild. It was taking all of his will power not to roll her over and take control, but she had initiated the kiss, taking the first step and so he had to hold down his need to dominate.

She tried to focus on just the sweet that was constantly slipping out of bounds, its flavor mixing with the bitter chocolate taste that was essentially Kai. His hand were in her hair, tugging gently. The prickle in her scalp was exhilarating, adding a whole new twist to the pleasure of the kiss. If she'd known kissing a guy could be like this, she would have tried it before but then again, it probably wouldn't be anything like Kai's. His lips were as soft as velvet as they meshed against hers, his tongue silken and warm as it laced with hers. Her hand lay against his chest, feeling his rapid heart beat slapping against her palm as if it were the only thing keeping it trapped in his body. She whimpered softly, her brow creasing as her stomach contracted with need, a need for something intangible.

She broke away from him, breathing shallow and her head swimming. Sometime her brain cells would reform (if not they'd just leak out and make her hair grow even longer). She shook her head, her gaze focused on him despite the dots that danced before her eyes.

He exhaled, his breathing sounding harsh in his ears as he looked up into her eyes. He needed to stop this before it went too far, god he was already painfully aroused and he knew she could probably feel it, or she would once her senses kicked on. But… "Jeezus Benson." he breathed.

She grinned, almost laughing breathlessly, resting her brow against his, feeling the silk of his hair. She felt a smugness seeping in, she made him breathless and judging by another key factor, she had it on good authority that he was turned on by her.

"Ahem."

They sprang apart at the intrusion, and in their haste, they fell off the sofa onto the floor in a tangle of limbs. By some twist of fate, Amber landed on Kai which he was grateful for because he'd probably crush her lithe frame.

Curious, Amber looked up, her gaze taking in the black polished leather loafers, the black slacks that were carefully pressed, the black duster and the white shirt underneath that had a blue tie adorning it. Over a males throat which was pale against the black hair that brushed it and past a clean shaved jaw, the firm mouth that was in a grim line, the small narrowed nose, and…

"Shit." she whispered as she looked up into familiar cornflower blue eyes that were hard and not pleased. Amusement tickled her and she bit her lip. "Oh double shit." she chuckled, turning her head into Kai's throat in order to not laugh out loud. "Hey Daddy dearest."

Kai groaned. _'Fuck!' _If he got out of this house alive today it would be a bloody miracle. He quickly realized where his hands were and dropped them immediately, wondering how he could remove Amber from on top of him and didn't she know what she was doing to him, nuzzling his neck like that? "James." he croaked out awkwardly.

"Kai."

This caused more laughter to rack the young girl. "Oh, it's the Godfather. Better be careful Kai, you might end up with a horse head in your bed." she snickered and it intensified when he shuddered uncontrollably. She didn't think her father would do that…oh but it would make a nice payback for Ian. She rolled off Kai and laughed some more as her boyfriend got to his feet and brushed himself off. His cheeks were stained the lightest shade of pink, it was almost unnoticeable and would be if the tips of his ears weren't red. His lips were bruised from hers, his hair mussed and his eyes seemed darker. Christ he was gorgeous she thought as she gazed up at him, forgetting for a second where she was.

"Benson." he sighed as he rolled his eyes reading the look in her eyes. He leaned down and offered her his hand before pulling her to her feet. Not looking at her, in fact purposely trying to ignore her, he turned to James.

James looked from his daughter to his godson who he looked upon as the son he never had and wondered what the hell was he supposed to say. Did Treasa know their daughter was entertaining her boyfriend in her home? Was Kai even her boyfriend or did they just… He shook his head, he did not want to think such things about his baby girl.

"It's not what it looks like." Kai broke the awkward silence.

"Well, actually yes it is." Amber countered.

"Amber-" Kai warned.

"What? We were making out on the sofa." she said solemnly to her father, but amusement was lurking in her tawny eyes, her mother's eyes. "But if you'd prefer we move it upstairs then-"

"Amber!" James snapped. She'd inherited his mother's sick humor, finding it in the most unlikely of spots he noticed. He took in her appearance and ignoring the rumpled look, he paid attention to how she no longer looked drained as she had been during her stay with him. She'd been unhappy, he surmised and despite not seeing her as much as he would like, he when something was hurting her. Right now, she was grinning like a Cheshire cat while pretending to smother it. His blue eyes froze and pinned Kai. "Voltaire wants to see you now."

He tried to ignore the vicious satisfaction he felt pouring over in him in waves as the younger boy paled significantly before his jaw clenched and his eyes narrowed. He watched as Amber visibly flinched when Kai pointedly ignored her and felt a twinge in his chest. The twinge became a dull ache when she turned her frosted amber eyes onto him, while Kai stalked out of the room without a word.

"Cheap Dad, real cheap." she growled plucking out her phone and tapping at it before slipping it back into a pocket as she pushed past him and into the kitchen.

"I was just passing on a message."

"You could have told him in a less brusque manner. You're a lawyer, you're used to dealing out bad news in a way that makes it seem not so bad. Why didn't you use that talent?"

"Amber…" he trailed off on a sigh, running a hand through his black hair. He never knew how to deal with his daughter, she shifted so quickly around him and he knew he wasn't on her favorable side.

She looked over her shoulder at him as she filled the kettle for a cup of tea, though she really was just doing it to occupy herself. She was curious about this Voltaire. Yes Kai had told her about it, but she didn't believe any human would receive such a reaction from Kai, especially not an old pensioner. Then her thoughts turned to her maternal Grandmother and she felt her stomach drop in reaction. She was a scary woman but for all her scariness and her matriarchal strictness, she was still human and humans weren't infallible. Surely Kai knew this, but maybe his grandfather had made such an impression on him at such a young age that he couldn't be rational when it came to the head of the Hiwatari family, or maybe Voltaire had something over him.

These thoughts plagued her as she took three mugs down from the cupboard and poured in the milk. "Daddy?" she began softly before turning to regard the tall, lean man sitting at the table. "What's this Voltaire guy like? And what does he want?"

"Amber." he sighed. "You know it goes against all the rules to tell you anything. I can't break my client's confidentiality."

"But he must hold some kind of power to make Kai wary of him. What I want to know is if he has reason to be wary?" she asked slicing up an apple pie produced from underneath the cover of a cloth.

"You know I can't answer those questions, sweetie."

"But this has to do with Kai being eighteen, doesn't it?"

He shook his head in mild exasperation. "Maybe you should think of following _me_ into the family business."

"Aha." she declared spinning round. "So this has something to do with the Hiwatari family business."

"Now I never said that." he denied vehemently.

"Didn't have to." she argued. She frowned as her gaze slid to the window that looked over at his house. She hoped Kai was alright. Of course he would be, but still it would make her feel better if he wasn't over there alone with his grandfather, especially since she hadn't met the man so she couldn't peg him. She hated being in the dark when it concerned the people she cared about. Without knowing certain things, how could she- She shook her head. Kai did not need her to fight his battles, he could do it himself. If he needed her, which he wouldn't, then send for her. Still… "Aren't you Nicky's lawyer?"

"Well technically if anything were to happen to Nic, god forbid, I'd be in charge of handling such things as the reading of his will and other things like that so yes, why?"

"Well being Nicky's lawyer, that kind of puts you in the position of protecting his interests, right? And Kai would be considered one of Nicky's interests so by rights you should be apart of that meeting."

James chuckled and shook his head. "It's not a formal meeting. If anything, it would be seen as more of a visit. A grandfather checking up on his grandson."

"Or protégé." Amber muttered. "Couldn't you just g'on over there and check on him?"

"Amber, at least leave it for five minutes. OK?"

"Oh fine then. Here." she said sliding a plate with a generous slice of apple pie in front of him. "Kinda good you came, otherwise I'd have to wait for the rest to all be gathered before I could get a taste of this. This way, I get to try the apple pie and I get a damn big piece too!" Putting her concern for Kai to the back of her mind, and making a decision to distract him as soon as he returned, she tucked into the pastry enclosed apples.

0-0-0

Kai folded his arms and steely regarded his grandfather. The man was in his late sixties and didn't look a day over fifty. His hair was old fashioned long and gray with silver hues and an odd tuff at the front. His forehead was wrinkled with thin lines that deepened when he frowned as they did now. There were no laughter lines around the man's beady eyes. His mouth was down turned and his jaw was clean shaven. It wouldn't do for the respectable and feared Voltaire Hiwatari to appear anywhere less than immaculately turned out. He sat at the table, back ramrod straight and his posture exhibiting his dignified stance.

"What do you want Grandfather?" he finally broke the silence.

Voltaire raised a brow at the blunt question. Looking over his grandson, he noticed that he wasn't the same boy he'd seen for the past couple of years since he'd entered the Prestigious Clonmel. Why Nicolai had seen fit to leave such a high position in a school well known for its sporting victories as well as its academic ones puzzled Voltaire to no ends. Nicolai had always been a complication to him, he took more after his mother than he did of him which was why he'd seen fit to remove himself from his wife as soon as possible to stop him from poisoning his children's mind.

Nicolai had been too far gone by that stage, he'd gone through the rebellious phase and hadn't reappeared from it. Instead of joining the family company, he'd become a coach, not a teacher but a coach and had married _that_ wench who'd ensnared him with her feminine wiles. He'd tried to encourage her to leave his son alone, but unfortunately she'd run to Nicolai and claimed she was pregnant. Nicolai had married her of course. All Voltaire could do was sit back and watch his son ruin his life all because of a woman. But when Kai was born he was given a second chance. However, it seemed Nicolai had made his son weak.

The lonely aura Kai had carried like a shield against everyone had softened around the edges, and there was a lightness to the way he held himself. Voltaire didn't like this, he didn't like this at all. His creases deepened and his mouth became thinner.

"Watch your mouth boy."

Kai rolled his eyes and bit back a retort. How the hell was he supposed to watch his mouth?

"I do not appreciate insubordination, Kai. You would do well to remember that."

"Yes grandfather." he bit out hiding his temper.

"You're eighteen Kai and I want to discuss your inauguration into the company at the end of the school year."

His grandson scowled. He had been expecting this but that didn't mean he was ready to have this conversation. He didn't want to go into Hiwatari Corp, he wanted to make the decision himself even go into college.

"Tell the auld fart t' get a life and let y' live y'rs… Because your Grandfather is a controlling manipulative shit-fucker. You should be able to do what you want. You're good enough to play pro-"

Amber's voice and her belief in him echoed in his head and caused him to falter. Why should he just go along with what Voltaire wanted? He'd planned to play pro when he'd been fourteen, he could remember vividly planning with Tala to go to Canada when they'd been lying in their dorms after a particularly gruesome training session. He hadn't changed his plans, he and Tala still planned to play pro but his grandfather wanted him to work for him, and how could he? Just because he had a certain surname didn't qualify him for a job. He wanted to make his own destiny.

"No."

Voltaire's brows winged up sharply in surprise. "No?"

"I'm not signing my life away to do your bidding." The childish words, 'you can't make me' were on the tip of his tongue and were a clear indication that he'd been in Amber's company too long this past week. Not that he'd minded, mind you.

His back stiffened as the temperature in the room suddenly dipped and a shiver tried to make its way down his spine. His shoulders went back and his legs braced for whatever would spew out of Voltaire's mouth like acid.

Voltaire took a deep breath struggling for some remnants of calm. History was repeating itself. He should never have allowed Nicolai to take his son away and keep him from him. Kai was to be the heir to the Hiwatari economic empire. He pushed back from the table, and placing his hands on the table, he pressed down hard so his knuckles and finger tips turned white from the pressure as he rose to his feet, agitation flickering through his eyes.

"You don't have a choice Kai."

"Wrong." he snapped. He'd been raised to know that he always had a choice in life. His father had never made his decisions for him, he always asked Kai's opinion on anything that involved him, even on something as mediocre as should they renovate the house. Usually Kai would just give them a pathetic look, believing that they just couldn't be arsed making their own minds up and had decided to let Kai do it for them. But now he valued it.

"Kai, if you continue with this nonsense, then I shall have no other choice but to disinherit you from your inheritance."

Kai frowned. He'd received his trust fund from his parents when he turned eighteen and had used it, against his father's wishes, to restore his car. The car he planned to take Amber to school in, the car he planned to take Amber away from school in so he could steal her from her friends when school restarted. He'd get his inheritance, the full amount he was due until he reached his twenty first birthday. That was what he planned to set his life up on and now he was in serious risk of losing his nest egg.

"Do you want everything you've worked for, everything that rightfully belongs to you to go to my other grandchildren?"

Kai sneered. "What other grandchildren? There's only Russia." Yeah Russia, he thought, his cousin who lived in Ireland. His cousin, that Voltaire took pleasure in playing Kai off against. He barely remembered the girl, all he did remember was that she had always been Voltaire's favorite. Or so he'd thought as a child, now he was coming to the swift conclusion that Voltaire only made it seem that way, it was actually sort of sad when you realized that grown ups were just as petty as children. Why were they called grown ups when most weren't much more mature than when they themselves were teenagers?

"Well all the more for Russia then."

Kai's lip curled in disdain. "You wouldn't. You'd con her out of it too. You're so stingy with money that you will con us out of our inheritance just so you can have more lying in your banks collecting interest."

"That is no way to speak to me."

Kai smoldered at the tone his grandfather used. It was as though Voltaire believed himself to be more than just a mere man. Which he did of course, Kai conceded. Voltaire loved nothing more than playing God. He did nothing more than mess in people's lives, especially in the lives of those he dared to call family as though they were his own personal pawns. Kai despised him for it more so now than ever. To realize that through all of his childhood, he'd been manipulated into competing against his only cousin for Voltaire's sick amusement disgusted him. Maybe it was because he'd witnessed the interactions of the Benson and Kinomiya cousins that it struck a nerve in him. He'd been denied that relationship with Russia all because of the childish bastardly tendencies of the man before him. The way Voltaire acted reminded him of a spoilt brat, such a pathetic look for a man on the wrong side of sixty.

"You have a duty to the family Kai, one that you have to live up to."

"No, I don't." Kai stated simply, a muscle jumping in his jaw.

"Don't speak back to me, boy."

He bit back the urge to roll his eyes as he felt the urge to point out that he hadn't spoken back. He opened his mouth to deliver some home truths to Voltaire when the back door opened and his father stepped in, running a hand through his hair and muttering about the cold and how certain little girls should look after their stuff. He didn't notice his son and father standing at opposite ends of the table as he placed a familiar looking hockey stick in the closet behind the door used for storing all outdoor clothing and utensils.

As though sensing the tense atmosphere in his bright kitchen which Jean had wiped down just that morning, he turned to regard his son, then following his son's gaze, saw Voltaire. A shiver shot up his spine making it lock into place. "Father." the greeting came out curt and sharp.

"Nicolai." the reply wasn't filled with warmth either.

"Is there something wrong? Are you dying?" he asked with a twitch of his lips. Voltaire didn't bother him, years of living under his overbearing tyrant of a father had given him a fearless outlook where his father was concerned. Voltaire couldn't do anything to him, he was just an intimidating bastard of a man who held no sway over him, though he had no doubt the man would try to force Kai to do his bidding without his or his godfathers presence. Voltaire did like to control people but without back up, like all bullies, he was pretty much a wimp who knew big words. Contrary to Voltaire's beliefs, they didn't live in the medieval era and he could not command people to chop of his enemies heads.

The simplicity of the matter was that Voltaire was a bitter old man who'd just noticed that there was no amount of 'Just For Men' in the world to cover his gray hair. He also had avoided going through his midlife crisis because he'd been too busy engaging in global domination and now it had hit him hard that he was getting old, his joints were no longer what they use to be and though face lifts might keep him from looking his age, they so far didn't stop him feeling it and worst of all for the old miser, they cost him a pretty penny. It was sad when you came to realize that your father was a bitter old fool with a power hungry attitude and who preyed on others fears, using mental manipulation to make them fear him. He was a ruthless business man, no doubt about it but he wasn't the type of boss to inspire loyalty in his staff which was part of the reason he had to fire so many.

Voltaire liked to be tough but in all reality, he was just like a child throwing a tantrum to get everything the way he wanted only he used big words to make him sound big and threatening which when played on the mind, made people see him as something other than an old man. But there was no doubt that Voltaire could turn vicious, he grew up in a family where it was more common to throw expensive Ming vases than show affection.

All the same, Nicolai just felt ashamed to be his son, but right now his concerns were more for Kai than anything else. Voltaire seemed to think that he had some right to Kai, as though he owned him.

"No I'm not dying. I've come to discuss some business with my heir."

"I told you I'm not going to work in your business." Kai snapped, gaining courage and strength from the fact that his father was here.

"You have no right to refuse after everything I've done for you."

"Like?"

"If you turn your back on this family, I'll turn my back on you."

Kai rolled his eyes and made a face. "What family? It's just you! Catherine may put up with you but she doesn't have to see you nearly as much as we do. Pricilla couldn't care less what you do as long as you keep her in your will. I don't give a rat's ass either way if you cut me from your will. You mean nothing to me. You're already dead to me, have been for a very long time."

Nicolai couldn't help the swell of pride he felt as he watched his son stand up against the overbearing man opposite him. It had taken a long time and a lot of prodding and pushing from Jean and the Benson's to get him to do the same thing to his father so that he could live his own life. Some part of him had wondered if Kai would be able to stand up to Voltaire or would the pull of money be too powerful for him. He wanted Kai to make his own way in the world but he would never voice that to his son, it was his own decision to make.

"I think it would be best if you leave, Dad." he spoke levelly.

Voltaire seethed. "You turned him against me. You with your idealistic morals. I could offer him a good life, a secure job something he will never have if he continues under your guidance. I should have taken custody of Kai a long time ago."

"I'd advise you to leave before I phone the police Dad. You came here without invitation and I am sick and tired of your attitude towards my wife and my son. Now get out!"

Kai stood by his father, expression stony but inside he was surprised. His father had never spoken to Voltaire like this before, he didn't think his father had it in him to be disrespectful to the old man but here he was ordering him to leave. The phrase 'Go Dad' popped into his head before he dismissed it with a snort. He was going to have to limit his contact with the Tigers if he was going to start losing brain cells.

"Fine." Voltaire snapped. "But I'll make you regret this." He got to his feet and regally strode out of the back door, the ominous atmosphere in the kitchen leaving with him, like the dispersing of a disgusting odor.

Kai looked to his Dad and rolled his eyes. "Don't you think you should lock him away somewhere before he starts trying to take over the world?"

Nicolai scratched his jaw. "You might want to consider taking up his offer. It isn't exactly a fate worse than death to run your own company."

"That's not the problem. It's Voltaire thinking he can run my life. What's going to change in the time between me leaving school and me leaving college?"

"I know what you're saying Kai. But at least consider using Dad's offer as a back up plan, it won't harm you in anyway."

"I want a life, one of my own that he'll have no say in. Is that too much to ask for? I've been putting up with that sadistic old fool and as soon as I can, I'm getting rid of him. If you let him, he'd probably start trying to arrange a marriage for me. He's stuck in the past, and I'm not his play thing."

Nicolai nodded feeling how strongly his son felt about his father's interfering. "I'll try discussing things with him when he's in a more reasonable state of mind."

"Be on the look out for his, 'I'm going to die' routine. He's due to pull that one soon." Kai sneered as he yanked open the refrigerator door and pulled out a plastic bottle of juice. "Want some?"

His father shook his head. "I hadn't been expecting him, when he didn't turn up for Christmas I should have been on the alert."

"He tried to use Russia against me, again. Saying he'd cut me off from my inheritance. He thinks I'm as money hungry as he is."

Nicolai frowned at that. "Well then you showed him just how wrong he is."

"Hmm…" He dropped into a chair and rested his head on his arms, then looked up, his dark eyes troubled and angry. "You know what really pisses me off? It's the fact that he ruined my relationship with Russia with his petty mind games. I don't know what it's like to actually have a cousin to care about because he's played us off against each other."

"Not to mention the fact that she's in Ireland." Nicolai mused, taking a seat opposite him. "But what's brought this sudden desire to have a relationship with Russia?"

Kai sighed and leaned back in his chair. "I don't know. Maybe it's seeing Amber and her cousins. I just never had a chance like that. Voltaire played with us for his own amusement." he glowered darkly at the glass of juice he poured and fearing for the safety of the glass, Nicolai casually moved it out of the way. Exploding glass shards over Jean's clean floor was not what he wanted to see, especially since his wife had a temper to rival his father only she was not demented and actually very cunning. Not that he was scared of his wife though, just wary. "You do realize you were sired by a sadistic bastard."

"Kai." the warning was sharp and delivered in a clipped tone. The statement may have been true but it didn't mean Kai had to say it and Voltaire was his grandfather, whether he liked it or not.

Kai simply grunted before shooting his father a baleful look and sipping on his drink again. Finally, he got to his feet and lifted his jacket off the back of the chair and shrugged it on, idly fixing the collar of as his gaze looked out the window.

"What's going on with you and Amber?"

Kai stilled before sliding his gaze back to his father. "Nothing."

"Don't lie to me. There's something going on between you two. You both must think I'm blind or just plain stupid."

"We don't think you're either. What makes you think there's something between us?"

"It's obvious. If there isn't why would you spend so much time with her? You've been neglecting practice to go out with her."

"I thought you'd be pleased I'm making an effort with your goddaughter."

"Don't take that tone with me Kai. Are you having a relationship with that girl?" Nicolai demanded.

"What if I am?" Kai snapped back.

Stunned, his father faltered. "So there is something. Kai… How could you be so stupid? And what about the rules I gave you at the start of the year. No romantic relationships between teammates."

"Who said anything about romance? We're friends."

"You're a liar." Nicolai replied in the same tone his smug son spoke.

Kai frowned. "Why are you so pissed?"

"Because you broke one of my rules."

"You broke it for Miyami and Tala, what's so different about breaking it for me and Amber?"

"Because I made it for you and Amber!"

There was a pause and the temperature in the room dipped perceptively. Kai raised his eyes to regard his father. "What?" he asked slowly.

Nicolai slumped in his chair and sighed heavily. "I put that rule in to stop anything happening between you and Amber." he confessed.

"But why? There was nothing between me and Amber then. We barely even liked each other."

"It was just a failsafe option in case anything did happen between you." he didn't add that he could read the looks between them and that he could guess where it would lead them. "I didn't want you to be distracted and then when I found out who Amber was, I didn't want either of you to be hurt."

Kai struggled not to gape at him. How much alike were his father and grandfather? Both seemed to enjoy running his life, making up things to stop him getting anything or anywhere. "What makes you think I'm going to hurt her?" Why did everyone think that? So far it had been her doing all the hurting.

"I said I didn't want _both_ of you to get hurt." Nicolai replied with a sigh, wondering just how he was going to make this right. Kai hated interference. "Don't you realize what you both could do to the team? If you were to become a couple and then break up, there would be bad blood between you and her, and not only that the loyalty of the team is very much to her."

Kai snorted. "What makes you think we'll break up?" He received a 'puh-lease' look from his father and had to concede. "Fine it'll probably happen, but you can't dictate who I see and who I don't. Amber won't be pleased about this." he added with a certain smugness.

"No she won't." the older man agreed, his eyes gazing into space.

"Well how about this? I won't tell Amber that your stupid rule was set up to stop me and her from getting together and you will let us be together without any comments." Kai bargained.

"It would be best if you broke it off before you get hurt."

Kai snarled. Why couldn't his father understand? He didn't give up on Amber when she was being difficult, what made him think that he would give her up now that he had her? He'd never been much of a selfless person and he wasn't about to start now. "Why don't you stick to doing your job and stop interfering in my life."

Without another word, he headed to the door, yanked it open and stepped outside. The cold stung his cheeks adding more color to them than the temper already had. He was furious. He couldn't believe his father had pulled such a purely selfish move. Part of him, the reasonable part of him that made him a good captain, acknowledged that what his dad said could very well be right, no was right. Amber and him would have dire consequences for the team. It wasn't the same with Miyami and Johnny, if they broke up, then yes the team would be upset by it but it wouldn't divide them because Johnny was one of them. He was not. Already he'd received death threats and dark looks from Bryan and from Tala who was his best friend, the closest person to him. It would be a lot worse when he broke up with her. It pissed him off to think this way but he was realistic, they were both teenagers and they were just attracted to each other, who knew how long that would last for.

Then there was a part of him that told him that it wasn't just attraction. There was a deeper source of affection there, an emotion that lurked underneath the lust, something warm and comforting that tied him to Amber in a way that it hadn't for Mariam. There was the slightest chance that if they broke up, it would be a mutual thing. He hoped for that, he cared for the Irish girl. She'd wormed her way into his heart and the thought of being at odds with her made him uneasy. He'd much prefer having her as a friend than an enemy. But still the thought of not being with her, not being free to just touch her when the mood struck him, bothered him a hell of a lot.

He entered her house and looked round for her, spotting her even as the heat from the room began to get to him. She was standing by the counter, sifting flour into a large depth bowl, her foot tapping to the music screaming out of the CD player. He positioned himself to watch her, leaning against the door frame, his eyes traveling over her. Her hair, which was tied back, brushed her bare shoulders, she'd removed the turtle neck he noted with a raised brow until he caught the stylish scarf tied around her throat. A small smile tugged at his lips as he watched her ass twitch in time to the beat and he wondered if she even realized how she moved. He doubted it, Amber was so very unaware of her own attractiveness and femininity.

His eyes snapped to another figure as they entered the kitchen wearing an apron. His eyes brightened with amusement when he saw that Daichi was wearing a novelty apron with a naked woman on the front with leaves in strategic places. It was interesting to see how tall and gangly the red head was next to his older cousin. They both shared the lean build though.

A sharp 'whack' snapped Kai out of his thoughts and he pressed his lips together as he watched Daichi nurse a red tinged hand while Amber brandished a wooden spoon. "I told you, you can't eat it yet. That's just flour and butter."

"And sugar." Daichi grumbled, peering down at his hand. "So bleedin' violent, Amby Pamby."

"Call me that again and you'll see just how violent I can get."

Daichi grinned and quick as a snake, he reached out and wrapped his large hand around Amber's tiny wrist, giving it a good yank until she dropped the offending spoon. The young girl gave a cry of pain before she reacted and jabbed her fingers without mercy into his ribs. He squirmed and growled. "Ger'off!"

"Nope, not until you surrender. Say Uncle Daichi dearest!"

Kai shook his head simply as he watched his girlfriend crow her victory over her cousin before he caught her again and tried to pin her arms behind her back.

"Back off DC or you're not getting any of my pretty apple crumble."

"Say Uncle, Amby Pamby."

Amber cussed and spat like an infuriated cat as she tried to escape her cousin's strength. With a complicated squirm and twist she managed to get in a position where she could knee her cousin right where it hurt. Even as her knee whipped up, both boys winced and cringed. Stopping her knee from doing any damage she smirked and fixed her disheveled appearance. "That's the second time I've bested you!"

"Like I was going to really hurt you. I had to tone it down."

There was nothing that could have gotten Amber's back up more because technically it was probably the truth but all the same. She whirled to give Daichi a piece of her mind but her accusations and threats died when she caught sight of Kai and a smile bloomed on her face.

Daichi caught the smile and then looked over his shoulder to see the cause of it was looking back at his cousin with a soft gooey expression and he had to fight the urge to gag. Rolling his eyes, he muttered a random excuse about going to play on the Playstation and made for a quick exit.

Amber barely acknowledged her cousins' departure but she did give him a mental thanks. She didn't particularly want Daichi around at the moment, especially when she wasn't quite sure how Kai was at the moment. Would he be feeling the same kind of emptiness she felt after a conversation with Nona Del Areece or would he just be plain pissed or would he even care? She didn't even get a look at this Voltaire guy. Her father didn't even divulge that much for the amount of time he was there before he made his own getaway which was basically when Daichi had burst into the kitchen with his loud exclamations of being hungry and since his mother was taking her mother to work or something, she had to feed him. Amber thought it was complete bollocks but, heck, she needed the company otherwise she'd be sneaking over to the Hiwatari household because her curiosity could never be sated in the mere mortal way of hearsay.

Kai's brow winged up and she caught herself before she started out and out gawking at him. He already had an ego, he didn't need her adding to it. So she covered it with casualness. "Hi."

"Hey." he replied in his usual monotone drawl. Like it would kill him to show an emotion, she thought grouchily. How was she supposed to wheedle out information if he wasn't giving her anything to go on?

Well if he was going to play all cool and sophisticated, so could she… to a degree. She turned back to the bread crumb mixture she'd been working on for her apple crumble topping. In other words, the crumble part. She felt him move up beside her, the nerves along her back all prickling with awareness. There was always a certain electric magnetism surrounding Kai, she wasn't sure what caused it, but she always knew when he entered a room without him having to make the slightest indication that he was there. It was mind boggling really. But it was damn attractive.

Rubbing the mixture between her fingers, she tried to figure out what Kai was thinking. He wasn't speaking and the atmosphere between them wasn't exactly tense, just not comfortable. He was off in his own world but there something told her he wasn't as calm as he seemed to be.

"Hey…" she trailed off, her expression thoughtful before she turned her attention back to him with a certain determination. "Can I have a kiss?"

A bulldozer crashing through the wall would have had less of an impact on him than that casually phrased question. His brow knitted, wondering if this was indeed Amber or was she the rumored identical cousin that he heard bits and pieces about. "Pardon?"

The word was so formal and sounded so idiotic coming from him that she had to bit her inside cheek so as to not snicker at him. However she contained her mirth and kept her earnest expression. "Just a friendly kiss." she clarified. Well she'd successfully distracted him from his thoughts, whether that would remain or whether it was only a temporary distraction didn't matter to her. Her mission was a success.

Kai shoved his confused thoughts to the back of his mind and leaned down, brushing his lips over hers in a quick casual kiss, before drawing back. "Friendly enough?"

"Yup." she replied, a smile warming her eyes as they locked on his. The smile died of her lips when she caught sight of the dark glint in his eyes, before he swooped down and caught her mouth in a much less casual kiss. It was slow and controlled and it devastated her. Her fingers gripped for purchase, mulching the dry breadcrumb like mixture into mush. His lips slanted over hers, cool and firm as her brain fizzled away, not that she cared. What would she need a brain for when he was kissing her like this? His hand fisted in the back of her tank top while the other slid into her hair using his grip to urge her to her toes so he'd have easier access to her mouth.

When he pulled away he'd made his decision. Screw the team.

Amber swayed unsteadily, and pouted endearingly. "Well that wasn't very friendly." she muttered.

Despite everything Kai laughed, a genuine laugh that rumbled through the room and made her smile. It was weird how he did that, he had her smiling more than she smiled any other time. She smirked, she grinned and she frowned a heck of a lot, but she didn't smile. She always found it odd, but Kai caused her to smile. It was like an adverse affect of being around him too long. It wasn't even such a bad thing, she supposed.

"You have flour on your nose."

She rubbed her nose with the back of her index finger. "Man, the crumble doesn't look very crumbly anymore."

"Dad knows about us." he suddenly spoke as she inspected her mixture in a bowl.

"Oh?"

"Hn."

"So how is he dealing with it?"

"A little better than yours."

"Well Nicky didn't walk in on us making out on a sofa he and mom probably… and boy do I not want to go there. Change of topic please, no wait, how does Nicky know?"

"He guessed."

"What is he mystic Meg?"

"Who?"

"Ah never mind. So he guessed, Dad walked in on us, Bryan knows and threatened you, Tala psychically figured it out before we did and beat your ass-"

"Is that why he did it?"

"Pfft, as if I know. All he said to me was that he was sorry and he apologized to you and I figured, why be petty and hold it against him. I mean it wasn't me he hit, as long as you forgive him there's really no reason for me to be angry with him." she said with a careless shrug of her shoulders.

He swallowed that and rolled it about in his head. He could see where she was coming from. But the wisdom that she showed, the maturity of the comment surprised him. Not half a year ago she'd have screamed, ranted, raged and thought up some other reasonable petty action to make them all suffer her wrath, but here she was acting more like a young woman than she had four months ago. He wondered if it was her growing up or was she just not feeling very protective of him. Had Tala tried to kick someone else's ass, would she have shown more of a reaction?

"What did he say to you when he apologized?"

Kai shrugged. "Something along the same lines. He was sorry."

"Ok. Oh while we're on the subject of apologies, I figure I owe you one, actually several for the several 'I hate you's' I sent your way and also for every mean word I happened to spit at you while I was in my more destructive bitchy modes. I usually talk before I think when I'm pissed off, overly defensive or just being a bitch."

He snorted. "Can I have that in writing?"

"Bite me." came the very mild retort.

"You both finished with the kissy face crap yet?" Daichi yelled at them from the living room.

"Oh pucker up Daichi, I might have to get that cute girl in your Science class to give you one."

"Bite me."

Amber frowned at her retort that was used against her. "God damn it, so much for being unique."

"So what about Sunday?" Kai asked as he watched her dust off her hands and begin to unload the breadcrumbs into a bow filled half way with partly stewed apples.

"What about Sunday?" she asked as she nibbled on her thumb, she didn't suck it, she actually bit it which always seemed to get his attention though he wasn't sure why it bothered him so much. He often found himself nudging her elbow when they were in study hall just so it would slip off the desk and her thumb would be removed from her mouth so she could glare at him.

"I'm driving up." he stated. "If you want a lift, then you better be ready when I'm ready to leave."

"Okies." She fiddled with the knob on the oven and listened to the hum that told her the oven was on and ready to cook her desert. Her father had pretty much ate most of the pie so she made the crumble so her mother wouldn't get pissy with her and also to calm her nerves. Every time she thought about going back to school they jumped and disturbed the butterflies in her stomach. After shoving her crumble into the oven, she returned her attention back to Kai. He still hadn't told her what Voltaire wanted but she wasn't going to ask, simply because she'd planned to distract him and secondly she didn't like it when people questioned her about her grandmother. So instead of saying anything, she headed for the living room. "Daichi get out of my house."

"You haven't fed me yet."

"Fine go raid the kitchen then get outta my house."

"Why?"

"What do you mean why? It's my house! Beat it or I'll set Bryan on you!"

"Ooh you're losing your touch Amby-"

"Get out of my house!" she exclaimed with a hint of exasperation. "Or at least get out of the living room."

"Why? So you and Kai can make mad passionate-"

"Finish that sentence and I'm going to tell uncle Seth just who stole his 'Guns and roses' CD and then we'll see how you make mad passionate whatever with only one testicle!"

Daichi blinked then looked to Kai. "Good luck to you." he simply said before dashing out of the living room.

As soon as the back door shut, Kai turned to Amber. "Ya know Benson, it wouldn't kill you to lay off on the threats?"

"Well if you'd prefer his company to mine…" she trailed off with a defiant toss of the chin.

He looked back into the kitchen before fully stepping into the living room and kicking the door shut behind him. "Now I didn't say that."

"Well that's how it sounded." she replied dropping onto the couch. Within seconds he was beside her, his arm automatically wrapping around her, pulling her into close proximity with him. She relaxed almost instantly as his chin rested on her head.

He inhaled her light scent and sighed, his arms tightening around her. He wasn't going to give her up, despite what his father wanted or what was best for the team. There was a good chance that they would last the rest of the year before breaking up, and he wasn't giving up his or her happiness for a what if case. Besides he was addicted to her, it was a little demeaning to admit it but it was the only excuse he could offer for this possessive feeling he had for her. So he gave into his baser needs and held her while she picked up the remote and began to scan the channels for some cartoon. No doubt within a few minutes he'd have to distract her from it, but that was all part of the fun.

"Ooh, I haven't seen this show in an age."

Warily, he raised his gaze to the screen and then rolled his eyes at the animated robots ordering each other around as bright lights, he assumed were laser beams were swiped across the screen. Amber was instantly captivated. He figured it had to just be the bright colors, because the script sucked, the animation sucked and the plot made barely any sense. Which was how she seemed to like her shows, they meant the use of barely any brain cells.

"Seen this episode before." she grumbled then flicked the channel again.

He squeezed his arms tighter around her so she either had to pull away or twist and snuggle further into his embrace. She naturally chose the latter. Her small right hand crept tentatively over his chest, her nose nuzzling his shirt gently. His muscles contracted in reaction to her unconscious touches and the fan of her hot breath.

"Hmm, Jerry Springer. What's he talking about?" she questioned softly, then wrinkled her nose. "Oh gross, incest. Moving on. Dr. Phil."

Behind her back, Kai shook his head. "Moving on." he prompted.

"No I like Doctor Phil. He makes his guests look stupid."

"Move on, Ember." he growled in her ear. She shivered subtly, then with a scowl, she flicked the channel. "Fine there's nothing much else on. So what do you want to do?" she asked turning to him.

He brushed his lips against hers since they were there.

It was her turn to roll her eyes. "Making out on the couch is out of the question due to earlier events, so choose something else."

"We could practice." catching her level look, he felt his expression soften. Stroking a stray strand away from her face, he tried to think of something other than her.

"I practiced already today." she claimed, her voice having lost most of its strength because his touch was doing strange things to her insides. A strange ache began to spread like fire through her. She cleared her voice and averted her gaze away from his, looking at something in the room that wasn't him. Each time she looked at him had the breath clogging in her throat. It seemed like she was constantly seeing him for the first time, then again she hadn't really taken much notice of him the first time they met. She'd been too busy cursing Tala for all he was worth.

It was funny how all that happened only a few months ago but it seemed like years had passed. She didn't know how Tala did it, but it was so easy to forget anything he'd done to wrong her and maybe that was just because he really hadn't betrayed her in the first place. He was doing what he thought was right, wasn't he? And hating Kai just because… well she couldn't quite remember why she'd hated Kai so much. She was sure she had a very good reason for it at the time but she just couldn't quite think of it now while she was in his arms.

"Stop thinking so hard." his voice murmured.

She flicked him a look and saw he looked close to slumber. "Shit, you sleep more than my Dad."

"Hn."

Amber groaned. "Hey, I thought we were heading out."

"Too tired." came the response.

"Ok then. I wonder where I put my PS." she grumbled sliding off the couch and crawling over to the cupboard under the TV. "Ah here we go." she pulled out the sleek black box complete with controller. She frowned over it as she began to plug in the controller. There was a shift of fabric behind her as Kai sat up. "Wanna play?"

"What games?"

"Well, I have two final fantasy games, I prefer X-2, just a personal preference because you have guns, though I miss my babies. Need for Speed Underground and the sequel which Tyson left here. Hitoshi's NHL2005 which Shahero stole to get more practice on. I think Hitoshi was starting to get ideas when he was winning so many games, and those ideas were pretty much perverted. It was either practice on the game or beat the shit out of him. Grand Theft Auto Vice City, San Andreas and what ever other violent game Bryan picked up. There's the Getaway which belongs to Ruin and Hitman is also hers. Some more racing games, and a couple of mindless fighting games that require zilch brain power."

Kai grunted, leaning his head back on the head rest. "You choose."

"Um, I would choose San Andreas but last time my guy almost died of starvation."

Kai snorted and choked back a laugh. "Out of all the violent, vicious ways to die in San Andreas, yours dies of starvation." he snickered.

"I said almost." she muttered defensively, with a pout. "It wasn't my fault, no one told me I was supposed to _feed_ him. And Tyson had me drive out to the most deserted place in red county that doesn't have any pizza parlours and- Stop laughing!" she groaned and dropped her forehead onto her knees, which she'd pulled up to her chest. It really wasn't her fault. And it really hadn't helped her case that, when weak from starvation, she'd chosen for the guy to cycle to the next town. The roads had been blocked, she'd been chased by the police three times, almost run down by one guy in a jeep and got in a fight with a little old lady who didn't even produce any money once she was dead all before she found a hot dog van. She pretty much camped outside of the van until she got some strength back and then Tyson had the bright idea to hijack the van in order to have food wherever they went, but that plan back fired since the hot dog seller jumped ship once they got into the van. Actually thinking back on it, it was a little funny. She chuckled, lying back on the floor when her ribs began to hurt from laughing too much.

Breathless, she gazed up at the ceiling, before clambering back into a sitting position. When she looked at Kai, he was watching her in a unfathomable way that had her heart jerking violently in her chest. "What?" she questioned softly.

"You're such an oddity, Ember."

She stared at him bewildered. "Uh, thanks. I think."

"C'mon. Time for me to show you how a true master of San Andreas plays the game." he slid off the couch and crawled towards her.

"True master?" She scoffed. "Are you going to start calling me grasshopper because if you do-" she broke off when he kissed her softly.

"Shut up Ember." he murmured. Setting up the game, he nudged her over until he could see the screen. "Now first of all, we enter the cheats."

Amber stared at him. "There are cheats? After all the pain I went through." she whimpered.

"Wouldn't have mattered in your case, you still have to feed him."

"Bite me."

"Someday someone will take advantage of your offer."

"I can only live in perpetual hope." she retorted.

Chuckling, Kai snaked an arm around her waist and jerked her closer to him, leaning in while the game was loading to tug gently on her earlobe with his teeth. He heard her sudden gasp and smirked.

"That wasn't what I meant." she muttered, attempting to ram her elbow into his gut but he was quick and caught her hand, bringing it to his lips.

"Behave. And keep an eye on the time, I'll be hungry when I'm finished killing all these people."

"What do I look like, your slave?" when Kai simply regarded her with a look, she cursed. "Walked right into that, huh? Ok well you go kill whoever strikes your fancy and I'll go check on my desert. Oh and leave the prostitutes alone!"

He shook his head as she left the room, idly casting a look over his shoulder to admire just how tight her jeans were, before he turned back to the screen. As he entered the cheats, he pondered on what his father had said. Yes, dumping Amber would cause the team a lot less grief, and he could live without her. There was no doubt that he could be without her, the problem was if he _wanted_ to be without her? She shouldn't have been in any way special, there were lots of cute girls out in the world and a lot more who were smart and interesting. But if he tried to imagine himself with them, the picture seemed wrong. He could survive by just being single but for how long would he have to be alone? He felt like he'd been on his own for most of his life, now he had the chance to chase away the loneliness, would he choose to deny himself?

"AW fucking hell! Daichi Benson I swear to god your life… Kai you're not getting any desert after all, Daichi stole it. I can't believe he just walked right out of my house with my pudding!"

He listened as she stomped her foot to emphasis her point. She sure was odd, intriguing and she was under his skin. But he didn't think he wanted to pull her out just yet. After all, her eccentricity made him look good, not too mention sane. So he turned back to the game and pushed all thoughts of breaking up with Amber out of his head for the moment. Just because it may seem inevitable didn't mean he was actually going to end up breaking up with Amber. In fact, she might be the one to break up with him and that wouldn't screw the team at all. So for a change his father would just have to put up with his choice, because he was sure he was making the right one.

* * *

**And CUT! No more, I am not writing anymore. Yeesh, 39 pages… this is so bad. That's almost a hundred pages based on just Christmas.. Or more. Anyway, did you all enjoy?****

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**Signourney: **LOL. Yeah there was some kissy kissy scenes in that chapter. I was very pleased with them though, though this chapter leaves a lot to be desired, probably because Amber and kai are just trying to find a rhythm for their relationship. Sonia's brilliant, I just have her act like a complete scaredy cat when I don't want her to have a confrontation. Which is so harsh, but I think Sonia would back out of a confrontation, or prolong it but she's a very loyal girl. She's brilliant, amusing and you never know which Sonia you might get, the scardy cat or the bold girl. And yeah she stands out from the other girls, but she fits. If you look at your own bunch of friends, you'll have some who are very similar to each other and like the same things and are bold and talkative and then you'll have the relatively quiet one, or I know I had that in my group. When I think about it, four years isn't really that much so there's nothing really to worry about because Shahero and Hitoshi belong together but naturally the age difference will raise some brows, cause some complications but it's the same in every relationship. I think I mean Mihaeru, he's the guy who was on the same team as Mathilda and Claude and Aaron...(Probably not the dubnames but they were the team who beat the Majestics I think by cheating and were coached by Barthez or something.) I haven't seen the third series yet so I'm just going on what I've read on I'm not good with the dubbed names in Beyblade, love them in Sailor Moon and Card Captor Sakura but not in Beyblade. I don't know why that is though. Long reviews make my day, they just let me get to know the people who read my stuff and if they tell me what they like, I'll try to give it to them. Besides if people are nice enough to review why shouldn't I be nice enough to give them some moments of my time and it's easier to do when I can something other than look I updated because that's kind of obvious if they're reading the chapter and review reply. Brooky is ok in small doses, to cope with him because he is paired with Arista and I love Arista, I have developed this idea in my head where Fanfiction Brooklyn is not the same as series Brooklyn who tried to hurt my Kai, who's team mate put my Tala in hospital...lol, so I'm deluding myself in the best possible way. I like Fanfiction Brooklyn, a bit of dick but it suits his nickname, lol. I figure Kai would have a pretty interesting jealousy streak in him but I doubt he'd ever indulge it too often, only when he's been pushed too far. Anyway, I hope you like this chapter too.

**ButterCup: **Yeah Kai rocks. I really like FFX2, it was the first Final Fantasy game I got, so it's always going to have a special place in my heart, and I haven't finished it either, lol. I got a walkthrough and still can't beat it. Every time my girls get killed I get upset and don't play it for a month or so and concentrate on beating out my frustrations on Tekken 4 which is great, but it lacks the brillance of Final Fantasy. I actually thought everyone would agree that FFX2 is great, but then I talked to some of the boys I know. My brothers refused to play it and the boys I talked to called it girl power crap, which is bullshit. Yeah girls are kicking ass with weapons in that game, but hello, they have style! About time the women saved the world. I agree, My chemical romance are great. I didn't delete Love/Hate. Fanfiction deleted it and if you didn't get the last chapter emailed to you, then email me and I'll send it, but I'm not planning to write an epilogue or a sequel because I feel it's finished and there's nothing more I can do with it.

**Leina: **LOL well I try to post at least once a month and two weeks after I post SLTS, I post TFG and then a week and a half later or so I'll post Dubh Croi and then I'll post SLTS again. It's playing havoc with my head though. Your prediction is loosely correct, yeah Bryan is naturally peeved, Bryan and the word peeved in the same sentence... hmm, never thought it would happen. Peeved always reminds me of the poltergeist in Harry Potter, and that was a completely random thought, feel free to ignore it. As for Kai, well his emotions do come out on the ice though it might not be in the way you think.

**Grandsummon: **OMG! I love Carlton, well not as much as Will, but Carlton is such a geek that you can't help but laugh at him. Romantic? Sweet and Lovely? Um, ok then. You so exaggerated reading that twenty million times, christ I haven't read the chapter that much but it's one of my faves. My god Sarah, this review rocked. Yeah Tala had to apologise, so could you imagine Kai saying: In your face Tala! I think I'd die of laughter. Sex on the beach is just one of those drinks you can have so much fun with, my friend Edele drank about two pint glasses of hers on New Years eve, lol. I'll just have to leave off Miguels surname because the Hoff creeps me out big time. It's the perm, how the hell could a guy with a perm have such a cool talking car in Knight Rider. Paddy is such an Irish guy. Yeah Shahero and Hitoshi are pretty o-fish now. Which is good, them not together is fun too though but I rather them together. It's wrong to have him with someone else. Dicklyn and Belle... Jaysus, but it works. Brooklyn's summary of Mystel and Garland...:snickers: Oh but you can so see them to doing just that. I like MY Brooklyn, but series Brooklyn is still a dick! Kai and his Dad are close, but Kai's kind of reclusive and his parents love each other and have always been seen as a unit by Kai who just thinks he's a third wheel. That's just the way he feels because part of him is looking for the second half of his unit, he just wants what his parents have and that's isolating him further from his parents. But he and his parents get along very well. Mums seem to fuss though and hair is one of the things they fuss over, like Mum always noticed if a square of my brothers fringe was missing, lol. I'm not a huge fan of him, he wouldn't be a factor I'd take into account when going to see a film, but I liked him in SWAT and he was funny in Scrubs. Do you remember him in Ballykissangel? I saw it the other day on Tv, he wasn't such a prick then. Did you hear he wanted to have sex with a seventy year old woman! Jaysus. Shocking roulette is a bitch of a game, me and my friends sister got bored and tried to see who could get shocked first. Amber and Ian, cannot find a resolution to their little fights, even when they call a truce, they fight all the same... No guys don't understand hints at all, so I have mastered the art of getting my brothers to do something without asking it, I'm not sure how I've mastered it though...:shrugs: I too enjoyed the Kai/Mimi moment, they are such a great friendship pairing that I sometimes neglect. Well it is my fave game because out of the four games I own, it's the only one I can relate too and I like it. The shoe thing... god knows why he wasn't wearing them. The scar thing has been explained in chapter twenty or nineteen... no mentioned in nineteen and explained in twenty. It's not really a big deal. Jesus girl, how did you almost chop your finger off with a pair of scissors... my god and people think I'm accident prone, well at least I wasn't holding the firework. I think your finger could have quenched your bloodlust doll. If you read my journal then you're not invading my privacy, you're a friend and you pretty much have already read what I think in an email at some point, so there's nothing new there. Besides, if I post it then it's visible to the public, so I can't complain that people are invading my privacy. Top childrens show... Simpsons, who was surprised? But the only anime was pokemon and there were loads of things that I'd never seen in my life. Like those finger puppets that the man drowned at the very end of the series. Ha, ha, did you notice the increase in water depth, all that crying just about dehydrated me into this dried up husk of skin.

**Aki Kunikata: **Aw thankies. I love this story too even though it drives me around the bend, lol. I can't seem to stop the love hate thing, in my TFG story Amber and Kai were supposed to start out as friends and then progress, but uh, Kai doesn't like her and she doesn't like him because he doesn't like her and well... it just doesn't work. I like the love/hate thing too much too. I have a chapter that wasn't posted on the site and it's the last chapter. I won't be doing an epilogue or a sequel but if you want to read that chapter, then feel free to email me and I'll send it to you. Ok?

**Terra: **The couple scenes were the easiest things to write, they seemed to write themselves almost but at the same time, that chapter stumped me at the end, lol. But I'm glad you liked it.

**Weffie: **I'm glad you like this story. I haven't read any fanfiction recently, my phone line has been out of whack and causing trouble. Whenever I have time, I'll swing round and read some of your stuff, k?

**Voodoo-People: **Aw jeez, I'm blushing... with a mile wide grin, naturally, lol. It's nice to come across a story that you like when you least expect it, or at least to me when i think I've read everything fanfiction has to show me, it sometimes surprises me with real gems. I wouldn't say I write with precision and realism but I give it my best shot. I adore Sports fiction, though I haven't found much of it. But this was inspired by The Mighty Ducks which is my ideal childhood movie, it doesn't matter how often I've seen it, I'll continue to love it, especially the part with the ants...:grins: I also love Holly's Heros, a basketball based TV series, and the... dammit I can never remember the name but it was about a peewee american football team or two coached by two brothers, and Devon Sawa from Final Destination was in it. And there was also a soccer one I saw once too, I love those films which is possibly why I like Beyblade because it's a sports based anime with magick and Kai! Tala and Amber, I can't imagine them parted. It would be just wrong to me. Bryan, he's awesome and you just wouldn't want to be on the wrong side of him. You have to credit Kai with guts, to try and get in the middle of those two. I hope you like this chapter too.

**Midnight-Devil: **Oh jeezus, I goof so many times. I can't count how many times I read through something and go, aw crap! And it's always after I've posted something, you'd think I'd proof read my stuff once in a while. So thanks for pointing it out, I'm just so used to Amber being in trousers, so sorry about that.

**anonomyous: **I didn't delete Love/Hate. Fanfiction deleted it for explicit content, namely the shower scene. Oops. I'm not posting it again, because if you wanted to read a story like it, there are thousands on the site alone, so I'm working on a few that are a bit different.

**Nyx: **Yes, finally together. And it only took 16 chapters...lol. Yeah funnily enough with me, when one couple gets together, the rest seem to follow. I should be trying to pace them out, but when a couple wants to be together, I just have to go with the flow. It's very odd. LOL, well you're right, new years eve is as good a time to start anything.

**Fire spirit of hell:** Ok, I'm blushing again... I doubt it's the best beyblade fanfic, but I do truly adore it. I promise I will finish it and there will be a sequel, no doubt about it. If I inspire you, then I'm truly honored. I wouldn't even have all those relationships if it weren't for Under-Study, Coors, Arcada, Animerle, Zimo, SpitfireSae and Kindred Insanity, they're the real people to thank for all those relationships because they were the ones who allowed me to screw around with their OC's, lol. Well as my creative writing tutor said, it's not the quanity of the work but the quality, lol which is something I keep forgetting because I write a load of useless crap just to fill space. If you need any help, feel free to email me and I'll try to give you any help I can. Well since Kai jumped through all those hoops to get Amber, I doubt he's going to be satisfied with anything less, and it would be bitchy for Amber to ask him to settle for something less than a steady relationship.

**observaant- not mean:** Well how else was Kai going to get Amber? She pretty much would avoid him or evade him, and unless he took matters into his own hands, then god knows when he and her would have gotten together. I don't love Brooklyn, but I don't see him as a bad guy though. It's just that he's been kind of neglected by his peers. First because Kai was the coach's son, second because Garland was brought in and he hasn't had any friends. Look back at Kai when he first came, he treated the Tigers with disdain too, so I don't think Brooklyn's evil or anything, but he's the captain of the rival team. Besides, aren't evil guys always hot? Ok well maybe that's just in Harry Potter... Draco Malfoy :drools:

**Wanted: **Yo Yoshi... There was a load of jibberish in that review. It looked like words, but didn't make any sense, lol! Your french is much more advanced than the stuff I did, or didn't do in Secondary school. It was too hard to learn French and Irish at the same time when they are not in any way similar. I don't think Oliver lives in Bakuten in this fic, it's kind of like I divided them into their teams and the countries they came from in the series and so Japan is Bakuten and Europe is another team and there are some exceptions, like Tala and Bryan. Amber is just saying that they resolve their sexual tension with sex and Amber's only seventeen and isn't big on sex... yet! It's not like she's going to jump Kai because she's not sure of herself. You're right, that does sound so wrong. Rogue has those stripes and Amber had stripes and the guy likes Xmen... it's a whole Xmen thing. Hero was playing was 'The handsome life of swing' followed by shinobi vs. Dragon ninja. No Hitoshi is not old, christ he's like my age, but still when I was sixteen, twenty was old... still is, lol. Epiphany is like a realization about your life and what you want from it. Amber has successfully interrupted how many people's make out time? Jaysus woman you know Brooklyn's there. He's the vice captain of their biggest rivals! And Arista's toy boy. Who knows what type of girl Kai'd go for. Someone different from him, I hope. I never said no one got photo's of naked Enrique but I don't doubt that he's stripped off a few times. Kai's varsity captain with Ozuma as vice captain. It happened in chapter nine. Oh it was a made up science conversation, I never actually wrote it but since I skip days here and there, it can come from one of them. Paddy's someone who lives in Bakuten but who doesn't attend the same school as Amber. Dry rain is that kind of rain that doesn't soak you to the skin the minute you step out in it. You can't complain about the length, chica, because that's how long my average chapter is. A lot happened in it and it had to happen.

**Paris Super Girls: **LOL, yeah the kiss in the rain was romantic I guess. Hitoshi is hot, very much so and he's awesomely cool too. Yes Amber has terrible timing but that's something I like about her. I guess the writers were trying to make it seem realistic with only Momo and Kairi ending up happy, or maybe the writer didn't like Toji and wanted to make others dislike him by making him OOC, lol. I have no idea why Kai seems tough even when he's in love, I just don't see him getting all sappy and I don't think Amber would want him sappy. Though sometimes he seems a bit sappy to me. Well I'm glad you like all my stories and all the couples since I adore them too.

**Midnight Insanity: **How's the studying going? Maybe Hitoshi just knows Shahero so well since he's grown up around her. Plotting mothers are such a hazard when they have children of opposite sexes. Yay, go Kai on not being an asshole for a change, lol. Oh well to be fair, Amber's the one who's an asshole most of the time. Kai's definitely complicated, christ if he cracked a smile someone would complain he's out of character. But who knows what goes on in his head. He does seem to have some compassion and a big heart underneath the cold exterior. Yeah I notice the reviews, it's great. Hope things are going well for you.

**T.k-Kon: **Hero and Hito are excellent together. I think Tala needs a break, he's still feeling guilty for everything with Amber and you'll see later how he's just crumbling at the edges. Main thing is, he approves of Amber and Kai being together just as long as Kai doesn't hurt her and as long as she doesn't hurt Kai. It works both ways.

**Darkwolf-of-night: **I don't think Amber had much of a choice in the matter, I mean there she is with a really hot guy kissing her, is she really going to say no? Then again, it is Amber and she's perverse, so it's always a possibility. Shahero and Hitoshi are very good for each other. I have so much to work into their various characters, it's very tough but fun. And yeah, Amber and Kai are just too good to give up.

**Storms-winter: **Everyone seems to be pleased with Kai making the first move, then again, I can understand that. It must have been pissing you guys off so much with the dance Amber and Kai were doing around each other. Might have been easier to just make them make out, behind Mariam's back but then that wouldn't have been nearly as interesting.

**Sakura Silvy:** I'm glad you liked the last chapter and it was no trouble sending it to you. I just think that anything I come up with for a sequel won't do the first one justice. I have a sequel for SLTS because I have much more to work with on it compared to Love/Hate so I think I'll just leave L/H how it is.

**Chikaitou-411: **Yes this will be updated once a month so I can fit in my other stories as well. Amber and Kai are both very complex, Kai doesn't flirt and he barely gives much of an inclination as to how he's feeling unless he's very emotional, and Amber is scared of powerful emotions she doesn't recognize so it was never going to be a quick and easy get together for them. Bases had to be formed, trust, affection and everything else had to be formed between them because they were basically strangers who didn't like each other too much, but now you're all going to suffer a fluff over drive, lol.

**Armith-Greenleaf: **Meh my life is just muddling along at it's usual pace. Oh anything that involves numbers of any kind just flies right over my head. I'm better with words and even there I'm not too good. Since I have the attention span of a three year old, something has to be very interesting to keep my attention on it long enough to study it. Yet I can recall the most useless facts stored away in random compartments in my mind. So I truly admire anyone who can work with numbers or even study for exams with numbers in them because I certainly couldn't so I didn't try too. Lol, my Dad is the same with the typing of keys which is why I now have the internet in my room. Yeah Hitoshi's not going to blurt out his feelings until he's sure of Shahero's, more than likely he'll make her say the words first unless she tricks them out of him, all could happen. Amber and Kai do a lot of thinking involving each other, they just don't tell each other. Everyone's very protective of Arista, it's like, ok Brooklyn you can date Arista, but harm a hair on her head and we'll skin you alive, mwahahaha! And everyone's giving Kai a clap on the back, it's really funny. Ugh, I lost a load of Taken For Granted the other day due to Microsoft word breaking! Kai always kicks ass on the ice and he does get more integrated in the group because they were only distancing themselves because of Amber, I suppose and Kai was distancing himself because of her too. No I don't think Lostprophets are heavy but their first album was a lot of screaming at times and sometimes the words can't be made out and they make no sense... and Ramstein, I don't mind them. They're on XXX the first film and they had flame throwers, very cool!

**anonomyous: **I can't update any faster due to the other stories I've got in the works and with each chapter as long as it is, I wouldn't be able to fit in faster updates.

**seraph: **Yo wee man. Yeah I liked that chapter, it will probably always be my favorite. Ah I still haven't got back to FFX2 so I'm leaving it for a while. Hey isn't Tekken five coming out next month?

**Kaieshakai: **Yeah finally they're together. So now this chapter is a fluffy filler chapter before heading back to school lol.

**Feeding Ground: **Lol, yeah they do say the first step to getting better is accepting your sick in the first place, I suppose that could be applied to Amber and Kai. Well Shahero and Hitoshi are together now, but I don't have a major scene between them until chapter nineteen. They're mentioned here and there, but nothing big.

**Miszdee: **Well that chapter had me frustrated, I must have done a couple of drafts before I was satisfied with the beginning. Shahero's piece just flowed out of me as did Amber and Kai's piece once I dedicated myself to it. I'm so glad you love this story. I wouldn't say I'm amazing, I just read a lot of romance and try to write something that I'd like to read and hope others like it too so it means so much when people say they love it.

**Alexys: **Oh god, I feel like I'm losing my shine, ya know. Someday's it seems like writing is chore, and then others it's a gift that I wouldn't give up for anything in the world. Emotion and Angst, isn't that what makes being a teenager so much fun. Everything is exaggerated to be more terrible than it really is, I mean seeing a boy in your year looking at you wherever you go can turn him into a stalker in your mind, it's great. I loved my teenage years, and now I'm leaving them. :wails: I hope you like this chapter, it's fluffy but has it's angsty moments too.

**Ryouya-Kyuuketsuki: **See the guys I know won't admit that they were staring at her ass. In fact they were probably just upset that there weren't more shows of it! God, my thoughts of my male friends aren't that high, lol.

**ArcadaAvaLon: **Yo Cada! I'm iffy, my internet connection was bumfucked for a while which disallowed me to use the internet properly. Paddy's name was changed, because he was based on a person I knew, but then I felt iffy putting his name on the site, so I changed it. Brooklyn and Arista are brilliant. She takes none of his crap and forces him to let go of his bitterness. You seem to write Amber and Kai perfectly, or are you just reluctant to make Arista mushy over Brooklyn. Admit it, you don't trust Brooklyn that much either, lol! Well I had to work on making them getting to know each other, Amber and Kai in love/hate grew up together. The ending was ok-ish. But I won't disagree about it being a wonderful way to start the new year, lol.

**eMiLy06: **Yeah they are together now as you can see but yeah they'll have their difficulties. A lot happened but still it wasn't an awful lot either. There's still so much I have to do, lol.

**Settican: **Heylo! Yeah kisses in the rain, how romantic, yet highly unlikely to happen to me...:sigh: There will definitely be more ice hockey scenes coming up. They're so much fun to write but after a while I begin to wonder if this game was just like another or not.

**BlackMoonSky0000: **LOL. Yeah the Hitoshi and Shahero moment was good and sweet.

**Zimo: **I think Amber's naturally going to mature as I have. Even Shahero has matured, she's not fighting with anything that moves, lol! Well, Russia doesn't have to be drunk nor drugged to be fucked up, huh? Lol, no seriously, she's so cool when it comes to the Sharks. She's completely unimpressed. I'll need to read about Hans again because I know that he's completely doped up but 'cest all. How are you on ratemyteacher.ie? I visited it recently, and I'm not too pleased with the concept, it shows a complete lack of respect for teachers who are human after all.

**Alixure: **FFX-2 is brilliant. I adore it, though I hate the Thunder plains, they freak me out big time. I'm completely like Rikku in that aspect. And Gippal is sooo hot! He should have had a bigger piece in it.

**SewMyHeartUp: **Chapter sixteen is also my favorite chapter. There's just something about it that really intrigues me. Part of me even looks back at it and wonders if I really wrote that.

**Chiharu-Chan: **Ugh I hate when they make anime character's seem gay when they're not. It just gets on my nerves. Well I definitely know that my girls aren't Mary sues then. None of them are pretty, smart, charming, sweet and nice by themselves, but I suppose each of them possesses one or a couple of those qualities but most girls do. None of them have a kick ass figure either… I can't see someone like Kai looking at a girl and just falling in love because it's impossible, lust straight off, yes but love no. You need to know someone to fall in love with them. I like the phrase I heard somewhere that if you spend enough time with someone you'll eventually fall in love with them. Because that's very true even if it's not the big L, it could just be platonic love so either way it's true.

**g--b-S-t-E-r07: **LOL. I can't like one more than the other either. Hitoshi and Shahero are so perfect for each other, she makes him act immature and he matures her, they fit. New Years parties are always interesting. Well how do you like what happens when Kai and Amber are left alone together? I think I pretty much provided a lot of Amber and Kai, no? Oh god is Ian a pain, but I completely adore him.

**V-ball212: **Yeah finally they're together, I took long enough didn't I? Well I hope you enjoyed this chapter.

**Galactic-Girl-Amber: **The last part was so mushy, but it flowed right out of me so it couldn't have been rushed. But god, I could have those two dancing around each other for the rest of the year and then go off to separate colleges, now wouldn't that have frustrated everyone?

**Tikytikytaavi1: **Well tons of Kai/Amber fluff in this one and mentions of Tala and Ruin. I definitely have to work on putting more of them and more of Aspin and Kane in the chapters to come.

**Miss Wright: **:chuckles: I agree, major progress with them. They don't seem to do things in steps do they? When you think they're going to do something, they do the opposite and when your not expecting it, they jump two paces ahead of where you think they should go. Yeah they'll be together for the new year and that's sweet. Shahero and Hitoshi are always cute, even when they're fighting, but now they're together, even more adorable.

**KaleidoscopeStar**: Hey, look at me being all great and actually answering your review! Ah yes, it would have been typical for Amber to have run off like last time, but it's only fair on Kai that she stayed. As for listening to Shinobi, now that's creepy but it's a damn good song. Oh I've broken the case, of Lost Prophets and numerous other ones. The first album is very different. You'll notice that straight away, there's a lot of screaming, but number 3 and ten are my faves as well as Shinobi and Fake sound of Progress. Well Bakuten is kind of based on my town but mainly on the Irish towns of old. I mean the children used to think that they had the right to walk into other people's homes as though it were their own. LOL.


	18. Why do you love me?

**Disclaimer**: I don't own beyblade. I do however own Amber and Ruin. Miyami is **Understudy** and Aspin is **Beautiful Death's**. Arista belongs to **ArcadaAvalon** and Shahero is **Coors'**. Sonia belongs to **SpitfireSae **and Kirby is **KindredInsanity. **And finally introducing the lastof the octopussy's, Russia belongs to**Zimo**.

A.N. Ugh finally got to post this. I actually like this chapter a lot even though I was unsure of it at first. It wrote itself so quickly, I had to wonder what had happened to it. Anyways, my internet has been on the frizt lately and it has been interfering with my posting. But I have now posted this and I hope you all enjoy it.

Chapter Eighteen- Why do you love me?

The first week back at Clonmel had been dull and harrowing for the Sharks. Balkof had got it into his head that the team wasn't strong enough and had started them on early morning practices, often making them run laps at 6 in the morning while it was still dark outside. As Brooklyn jogged softly over the grass beside Mystel, he pondered on whether Balkof would let them off during the weekends, or would he prolong the agony. Not that he minded jogging to get the blood pumping and to clear the mind, he usually just let his mind drift and found that time seemed to pass quicker by doing so, but if his coach continued this during the weekend then he'd be too tired to bother leaving the school grounds. That wasn't a fun prospect, he had plans for this Saturday, plans that included a silver haired Russian who'd claimed his undivided attention back in Russia.

The two weeks he'd spent in Arista Belyaev's company had been surprisingly pleasant. He found he missed her now he was back in Clonmel. The school just seemed dreary and his teammates were anything but interesting. Besides they didn't have long silken hair, and they didn't have big navy eyes or a nice ass, and if they did he sure as hell wasn't noticing. She got under his skin, he admitted, not many girls did that. He constantly had to think on his feet when he was with her, no one kept him that mentally active. His teammates were not big on conversation and they certainly didn't understand sarcasm. Hell, he'd tried using it on them enough to know that they just didn't get it. You could insult them subtly to the sun turned blue and it would just fall off them like water off a duck's back. Not because they were immune to it, but because they were just too brain dead to react.

He listened to his steady breathing as his feet pounded rhythmically into the soft earth. Beside him Mystel kept steady pace, Garland just a few steps ahead while the others straggled in a group behind them. Garland always seemed to strive to be better than them. He was top of all his classes, first to everything, and even in something as simple as playing on the game console, he competed self-consciously with them. To say it didn't tick Brooklyn off a little would be a lie, but to let Garland know that he was pissing him off was a definite no-no. So whenever Garland beat him in anything, Brooklyn would simply smile enigmatically and pretend it didn't bother him. Mystel said that the only reason Garland was like that was because his siblings were the best at what they did and that the poor guy had too much pressure put on him from his family. When Brooklyn asked Moses if that was true, their new enforcer had simply nodded but hadn't given any more than that.

So Brooklyn decided to be somewhat lenient and not give Garland a hard time, he knew himself what parents were like. His father had been furious when he heard that the captaincy had been removed from him, just like Brooklyn had predicted, but seeing his father getting angry on his behalf had taken a lot of the sting out of losing the position and he no longer felt the need to extract vengeance. Besides, what type of teenage male got his father to fight his battles? If he did that he'd be no better than Hiwatari.

A cruel smirk twisted his lips. Hiwatari ticked him off. There was nothing about the boy that actually did it, just that fate seemed to favor him. Hiwatari had shown up in first year and immediately people had revered him, he, Brooklyn, had to work for it. He figured it was because he didn't look forbidding, in fact he looked almost pure, innocent. The bright carrot red hair, the mysterious eyes, the flawless pale complexion and the tender full mouth, nope he didn't look like a bad ass, someone to be feared. He was a pretty boy and that really didn't bother him. It made people underestimate him and that always gave him the advantage.

He cast a sidelong glance to the platinum blond beside him. Mystel couldn't be termed as a stereotypical blond as the guy Enrique, that Arista always spoke of, could be. Mystel wasn't ditzy, didn't chase after everything in a skirt and was incredibly smart, but on saying that Mystel wasn't what you'd call underhanded. What you saw with Mystel was basically what you got. He was friendly, open, social and well liked by most of the team because he didn't take life seriously. On saying that he took his game seriously and had skills, the guy just seemed to float over the ice, unlike certain members of the team who had trouble walking on dry land never mind skating high speed over ice.

"Don't you feel like an idiot doing this every morning?" Mystel muttered under his breath.

Brooklyn chuckled as he followed Garlands movements and began to move side ways, his legs scissoring over the grass. "Yeah, but you try telling Balkof no."

Mystel followed the movement, shifting so that he no longer faced Brooklyn but had his back to him. "Well I guess it's not too bad. We need to be at our best for the game against the Indians coming up."

Brooklyn smirked. "Supposedly the Tigers had some trouble with their match against them."

"What happened?"

"Turns out that Coach Hiwatari didn't do his background check on the team."

"They have a giant on their team." Moses said as he joined them, his breath fogging in front of his face. His voice trembled imperceptibly, other than that you wouldn't know he was cold. Unlike the rest of his team, Moses wasn't pale skinned; instead his skin was a milk chocolate brown that hid his flush. His thick fawn brows were a stark contrast. His brawny build was perfect for his enforcer duties. Brooklyn figured he was bigger than Spencer and he was the Tiger's strongest enforcer. It was amusing to see him talk to Mystel because the blond was a good half a foot smaller than the enforcer, not to mention that Moses was twice the breadth of him.

"Is this giant bigger than you?" Mystel queried. "Cause if he is, this doesn't sound too good to me."

Moses chuckled, a deep rumble in his chest. "Nobody be bigger than me."

"We'll see. No use worrying over it. We're the best team out there." Brooklyn said confidently.

"The Tigers are good though, they're really pulling themselves together."

The vice captain regarded his roommate. "And since when did you become the cheerleader for the Tigers?"

Mystel grinned. "I'd look good in one of their uniforms, don't you think?"

"Yeah the blue would really bring out your eyes." Moses chuckled and Brooklyn rolled his eyes.

"Pick up the pace you pack of lazy slackers!"

They grumbled under their breath as Balkof yelled at them from the middle of the quad they were jogging around. The moon was still visible, a silver sliver the size of a thumbnail that pierced the midnight blue sky speckled with white gold stars. The stark branches of the trees stretched like black, ominous arms towards the blanching sky line. A stain of red was spreading in the horizon, like a soft blush, as the sun began to wake. The soft glitter of frost was sprinkled over the crisp blades of grass that crunched cheerfully underfoot. The frigid air rubbed their lungs raw.

"Look there goes Mr. Over-achiever sprinting down the home straight." Mystel quipped, cheering when he saw Brooklyn's lips quirk. The serious mood was beginning to bring him down and Clonmel was depressing enough. Not to mention the sharp cold air that was stinging his lungs and causing a pain in his sternum. "So how's Monica?"

Brooklyn looked up then to Moses who nodded brightening up. "Yes, she is recovering well, the doctors say that she'll soon be free to return home."

"Bet you're looking forward to that day, huh, big man?"

"Who are you talking about?" Brooklyn asked as he slowed his pace as they came closer to the end.

"Moses' sister Monica. She's been in and out of hospital to have tests and stuff done on her. Doctors aren't quite sure what's wrong with her, but after they check the tests then they'll know, right Mo?"

Moses nodded. "I just hope it's nothing serious."

"You'll want to spend some time with her when she gets out of hospital." Mystel stated matter-of-factly, then pondered that. "I wonder if Balkof would allow you to have a weekend pass."

"I don't see why he wouldn't." Brooklyn answered with a small frown, his eyes never leaving the tall purple haired man in the center of the quad.

"Yeah but you know how he's been the past couple of days. Did you see the chart in his office?"

The redhead looked to the blond. "What chart?"

"He has a big chart with everything that we'll be doing scheduled down in black, our free days are in red and they are few and far between."

"Fuck. Wait a minute, when did you see this?"

"Oh I had to ask him something or other, can't quite remember. I pretty much forgot everything when I saw the chart. I'm telling you he's going to be working us to the bone."

Moses sighed glumly. "I can't not go and see Monica. She needs me."

"No worries, we'll figure out something."

Brooklyn raised a brow. He didn't really go out on a limb for his teammates, in fact he usually didn't care what they did off the ice, but Mystel on the other hand seemed to drag him into his hair brained schemes quite a lot. Brooklyn had done more nice things since meeting Mystel than he had in the entirety of his life. Mystel wasn't a good influence on him, he was taking away something from his reputation.

"Won't we Brook?"

Opening his mouth to say 'no' he caught sight of Moses' hopeful expression and his shoulders slumped in defeat. "Yeah, sure."

"Hey thanks. I don't know what I'd do without you two."

"No worries." Mystel repeated his catchphrase.

"Devine, that better not be your voice I'm hearing! You three, separate and do another lap."

"Well you're no longer his favorite person to hate Brook."

"DEVINE!"

"Sir, yes, sir." Mystel muttered running on the stop to put some distance between him and Brooklyn. He didn't so much as bat an eyelid at Balkof's fierce glare. He usually didn't like causing trouble, but annoying Balkof kept his temper from lashing out on Brooklyn and Mystel couldn't stand to see people in pain. Especially when they really didn't deserve it. Brooklyn was actually a nice guy once you got down to the bones of the guy, but he'd had a tough time and used a cold, callous 'I don't give a damn' attitude to cloak it and stop it from being bruised more than it had been.

He quickened his pace slightly then fell into step with Garland who was doing his warming down lap which was a habit the taller boy did to stop his muscles from seizing up. The rest of the boys said it was just Garland trying to show them up, but Mystel didn't see it that way. It was amazing how much the team wanted to see the bad in others.

"Hey." he greeted.

Garland looked at him from out of the corner of his eye. His face looked slightly severe with his bluish-gray hair pulled back harshly from his face into a thin tail. His forget-me-not blue eyes were glazed, lost in thought so he barely felt the muscles that were beginning to scream their protests at being abused. The red dot in the centre of his forehead was a religious thing or something, Mystel couldn't quite remember the exact religion it pertained too. He was taller than himself, at 6 and something feet. Broad shoulders and chest built from working out steadily when he had nothing better to do. He was a keep fit addict in the blond's opinion and he never seemed to have fun. None of the Clonmel Sharks seemed to have fun. They didn't go out to the cinema or hang around the town arcade, no they were all too busy sticking poles up their butts. It wouldn't kill the team to actually do a group thing and bond, but he supposed that they weren't that sort of team. It was a pity. When Mystel had joined the team, he'd hoped for something… he couldn't pinpoint what he'd hoped for but whatever it was, the Sharks didn't have it. But he got to play hockey and that's all that mattered. He'd just secretly try to put some light into their lives.

"So when do we get to play the illustrious Tigers? I hear a lot about them but when do we play them?" he wouldn't mind meeting this Kai and Tala, they seemed to have most of the team's bitterness directed at them. The captain and vice captain who'd run off together and left the team floundering in Brooklyn's hands.

Garland shrugged. "If they make it to the finals we'll beat them."

Not we'll play them, we'll beat them. Didn't these guys realize that their own worst enemy was pride? If they continued to underestimate teams then that would eventually lead to their downfall. They needed to learn some humility. But try telling them that.

He broke out of his thoughts and snickered as he watched Carlos stumble and fall onto the ground, rolling several times before just conking out on the grass while Jose and Trevor hovered over them. Most of the team was now exhausted. They'd been running for a good hour and they had classes today then practice later.

"Look at them. They're all weak."

"Yeah, running sure takes it out of you."

"No they have weak minds. How do they propose to succeed in life if they just crumble under the pain?"

"Garland, they're tired. Lighten up, you're beginning to sound just like Balkof."

Garland frowned. "How do they expect to win?"

"How do you expect them to play well when they're physically spent?" Mystel countered raising what he felt was a valid point.

"They shouldn't be physically spent. I have run just as much as they have and I'm not spent."

They're not on steroids. He frowned and looked at the taller teen out of the corner of his eye. Garland sure looked like he could be on steroids. He was always trying to out do everyone's expectations, what would stop him from taking stuff to help him along? "You don't take steroids do you Garland?"

Garland shook his head but there was a flicker over his expression and a secret lurked in his eyes.

"Good, surprisingly they're not actually as good for you as everyone makes out. First of all, you end up looking like Arnie, and that might cause you to start speaking like him. You'd start busting out of your clothes because nothing will fit right. Not to mention that your heart might not take the added pressure and end up just failing you, which means you'd die. Not a pretty prospect."

Garland nodded. "I know."

"Well… you know, if you ever need someone to talk to, my dorm door is always… well locked but that's because I'm never in there. But you'll find me lurking around somewhere in the school." The elder teammate glanced at him with a raised brow and a surprised glint in his eyes. Mystel just shrugged. He wasn't sure why he said that, but he had a feeling something was bothering the guy and it was stopping him from settling in. There were bad parts to wanting to do what was right, but they had their rewards to.

Casting a glance over his shoulder, he pumped his feet faster to catch up with Brooklyn who he'd felt watching him during his exchange with their captain.

Garland watched as the blond pulled away and caught up with the redhead, not before waving over his shoulder. He slowed his pace and began to stretch and limber up his muscles, listening to the curses and puffs of breath as the rest of the team slugged past him. Maybe they weren't all weak. Weakness was a curse he had to bear. He wasn't fast enough, he wasn't strong enough, he'd never amount to anything… he trailed off. Those kinds of thoughts wouldn't get him anywhere. Picking up his jacket, which he'd shed near the beginning of the laps, he headed into the changing rooms to get a shower before Jose turned up to start perving on him.

* * *

Back at Preston, the JV team were involved in their early morning practice. It wasn't nearly as early as the Varsity had to rise that morning for their team meeting but it was Friday and it was the first week back at school. There was no way they were going to be functioning at their best, or so Tyson claimed when Miguel commented on their sluggish movements.

"TYSON! Where are you shooting?" the blond captain demanded aggravated.

Tyson raised a brow. "At the nets!"

Daichi sighed and stopped, his elbow resting on the top of his stick as he watched his friends begin to snipe at each other once again. They'd been sniping regularly this morning and usually it was Miguel who was the cause. He was nit picking at them and it was pissing Daichi off. They were all tired and agitated but Miguel had no need to take it out on them. It wasn't their fault.

"So why did she say she was quitting?" Max asked slipping up to his side.

Daichi shrugged. "She just said that it wasn't what she wanted to do anymore and that there was no use her playing when her heart wasn't in it."

"Oh. Well…" the blond trailed off. As far back as he could remember, Kirby's heart had always been in the team, she'd once claimed her heart was the team. Now that couldn't be said anymore.

They watched as Dunga skated up and pulled Miguel and Tyson away from each other as the navy haired team, getting fed up of Miguel's attitude shoved him out of his face only for the blond to retaliate.

"What's to bet the real reason has something to do with Miguel's girlfriend?"

They turned to see Jim standing there, his blond hair mussed as he wiped the sweat of his brow. He shoved his helmet back over his head and slumped against his stick.

Daichi nodded. He did believe the real reason Kirby had quit the team had been something to do with Miguel getting a girlfriend who was not her and who was just about the most different girl to Kirby in the entire school. She was plain looking compared to Kirby's strikingly unique looks, she was doing all honors classes which Kirby didn't have but that's because Kirby wasn't a super brain and she wasn't trying to be better than everyone. She was girly, while Kirby couldn't be described as girly but that was because she was strong minded and she hung out with boys, but that made her all the better for girlfriend material. She didn't have any illusions on how boys should be, she understood them.

"Can't you have a word with her?"

The redhead shot the blonds a look. "Once Kirby has an idea in her head, she won't shake it loose. And Jim, keep your mouth shut on your theories around Miguel. We don't need him blaming himself for her quitting."

"Anymore than he already does." Max said softly as he watched their captain shoving Dunga away and skating over to the box to sit down.

* * *

"Your team is falling apart."

From his position standing in the box, Hitoshi glanced over his shoulder at Emily from over the rim of his shades. He folded his arms and turned back to the ice, the tinted lenses shielding his eyes from the glare of the lights reflecting off the ice. "I noticed. You're a girl Emily-"

"I am."

"Tell me why would Kirby just quit like that?"

Emily frowned. She _knew_ why Kirby quit, or the base reason for it. Kirby said that she wanted to try new things, new things that made her more girly. She said she wasn't quite comfortable with herself. Emily understood that the teenage years were a time for growing and learning about yourself, but she was worried that Kirby was taking this all too far. If she wasn't careful she'd turn herself into Tamara, something Emily didn't want to see. She liked Kirby's energy and her ability to be herself. Emily wasn't one of the most popular girls in school mainly because people thought she was too stuck up for her own good, that wasn't it. Emily just got good grades and liked to do well and gain knowledge because knowledge was power but in her pursuit of her studies she often pushed people away. Kirby had been the first person to point that out to her and she continued to do so to this day when she told her that she was pushing Max away.

"I guess she just wants to try new things."

Behind his shade, Hitoshi rolled his eyes. Total bullshit. "Uh-huh. Nothing to do with that brown haired girl who hangs off Miguel's arm?"

"No." the orange headed girl squeaked then blushed when Hitoshi raised a brow. "Well maybe. I don't know, Hitoshi, and really, you shouldn't ask me."

Hmm. He could always ask Shahero. Kirby was one of his best players, he didn't want to lose her because she was having a bad time with Miguel. Maybe he could talk to the girl himself. He'd always liked Kirby. Whenever she came to hang out with Tyson she would come and talk to him, even if he did tease her. She was nice girl.

"So why are you here?"

"I came to support Max." she said simply then under his cool gaze, she crumbled. "And catch up on some Chemistry homework, but I am mainly here for Max's sake. Shouldn't you be doing something about those two?"

Hitoshi rolled his eyes to where his brother and captain were fighting. "No let them fight it out. They're both frustrated about Kirby quitting."

"Oh, so what team do they play next?"

"Indians."

"Ah, Gunner Salvadov's team."

"Right. But we're playing the JV team."

"Have you done research to make sure Gunner doesn't have a baby brother?"

Hitoshi smirked. "It's ok, he's an only child."

"Good to hear. I wouldn't want anything to happen to any of the boys."

"Sure you wouldn't."

She slumped down on the seat behind the box, usually reserved for the VIPS. Arranging her skirt, she watched as Miguel approached the box, shoulders tense and hands fisted under his gloves. It amused her sometimes to think of how skates on the ice sounded a lot like knives being sharpened off each other.

Hitoshi fixed Miguel with a silent look that had the blond shifting under it. "Look I'm sorry I ragged on Tyson, alright?"

"Miguel, how do you expect to get the best out of your team if you're putting them down? We have the show down coming up in two weeks time, now Varsity can and will decimate us if you don't get the best out of those boys."

Miguel clenched his teeth and averted his gaze. This would be about the time that Kirby would pipe up about the team not just consisting of boys. They wouldn't even be having this conversation if Kirby were here but she wasn't. She was probably snugly sleeping in bed right now… he bit back a groan. He couldn't blame Kirby, she had a right to do as she saw fit. If she didn't want to be on the team then that was her choice, but he missed her. He missed commenting on how well someone was progressing with her, or discussing what play might work against a certain team. Most of all, he missed the security that came with knowing she was there to have his back on the ice. They had an odd relationship, which wouldn't be the same ever again now she was gone.

She was still there friend but it was different now. She wasn't one of them. She wasn't their VP, she wasn't _his_ VP.

"You're right. I always relied on her to soften any criticisms I had, guess I'll just have to adjust."

Hitoshi nodded, then stepped out of the box onto the ice. He looked over the gleaming surface, the red circles and blue lines, and the rows of chairs encircling them. There was a time that he'd anticipated each time that he would have to step out on to it, on this arena or any other. He lived for the adrenaline spike, for the rush of energy. Now he wouldn't have that edge anymore, so he made do with what he had and coaching really wasn't all that bad. He was getting paid to meddle in a group of teenager's lives and nobody's life was more complicated than a teenager's. He smirked.

"Alright guys, listen up. Count down the ladder, I want two teams to play off each other. Dunga, Goki, I don't want you two on the same team." he ordered, his voice carrying over the ice to the boys whose heads whipped up at the sound of it.

* * *

Amber stumbled out of her dorm, looking blearily around the cold corridor, before shivering and dancing on her sock clad feet. It was too early in the morning for her. She still hadn't gotten her body adapted to waking before eight each morning, in fact if she ruled the world, there would be no such thing as before ten. All the hours before ten in the morning would cease to exist. She rather liked that idea, then reality hit her with a jolt when the cold from the floor began to seep into her feet.

"Shit." she muttered with venomous conviction.

Creeping on her tiptoes, she crossed to the dorm opposite her. She didn't bother with the simple pleasantries of knocking, after all she was in the girls wing of the school, even if the girls were naked inside, she'd seen it all before. All the same, she gave a quick prayer that they weren't naked. She entered the room, peeking her head round the door and giving a brief sigh of relief when she realized the awake girls were very much clothed.

Mariah looked up as she heard the door creak. "Oh morning Amber."

"Hey Mari." she kept her voice soft when she caught sight of the lump in the bed by the open window. Her eyes flickered to the radio clock on the bedside table by a pastel pink bed she knew to be the Chinese girls. "Shouldn't Salima be up yet?"

"It's her time of the month." Kirby explained, popping her head up from between two beds.

Amber winced sympathetically. It was well known between the girls that Salima suffered from terminally bad stomach cramps during her periods. On the first day it was so bad that she was usually confined to bed rest and by the second half of the second day she would be able to leave if she took a couple of aspirins.

"So what did you want?" the pink haired girl asked as she sat down on the edge of her bed, her hand reaching automatically for her brush before beginning to run it through her thick cerise hair. With expert hands, she gathered it up and pulled it back from her pretty face.

"Was wondering if you had a pair of black flat soled boots I could borrow?"

"Um, yeah I should… hey you're wearing a skirt!"

Amber flushed and tried to scowl. "I know." she bit out.

"And she's pissed about it." Kirby grinned at her cousin's discomfort, before looking under her friend's bed. A few seconds later, she produced a pair of soft suede boots. "Here are these them, Mari?"

Mariah swept her gaze over the boots and nodded. "Yeah that's them. Now Amber why are you wearing a skirt?"

"Kai, what else." she answered in a disgruntled tone.

"Wanna elaborate?" Kirby wondered as she got to her feet and began to lace up her scarred ankle boots.

"Ugh, last night I stayed up late to watch 'Cold Case' and Kai said I should go to bed because I wouldn't get up in time for our meeting which was scheduled for around 6:30. I argued I could, so he made me bet with him. If he won I had to wear my skirt." she folded her arms and eased her hip onto the corner of the desk by the door, taking in how bright the room seemed because of the sunshine yellow walls.

Mariah smothered a smirk while Kirby made choking noises as she tried unsuccessfully to swallow her laughter. "Wow, the disadvantage of dating a know-it-all."

"Damn straight and the git wasn't just happy with that. Oh no, he decided to come fetch me when he heard I was still sleeping. Instead of just waking me like a normal person, he carried me out of the room-"

"Aw how sweet, did he carry you to the meeting?" Mariah's tawny eyes shone.

"No, try the showers."

Mariah's cheesy grin faltered. "The showers?" she echoed uncertainly.

"Yeah he dumped me in one and then proceeded to turn on the cold tap. So I woke up with freezing cold water pounding down on top of me!" she finished with a dark sulky tone.

Kirby burst out laughing, collapsing on Mariam's vacant bed.

"So not only am I going to get a cold from the stupid shower… what's with the guy and trying to get me wet anyway?"

There was a blank silence before Mariah caught on. "Oh yeah, your first kiss was in the rain."

"Exactly and now I have to wear a skirt and it's not exactly beach time weather."

"But you look very cute."

It obviously wasn't the right thing to say. Mariah raised a vibrant pink brow at Kirby as Amber grumbled under her breath and tugged on the boots her cousin had tossed her. "He's a jerk."

"Hey you do know that Mariam's coming back today, right?" Kirby whispered softly.

The dark haired girl winced visibly. "Yeah I know." She still didn't know what she was going to say to her friend and her boyfriend's ex. Mariam had taken an extra week to go abroad with her father. So that had meant an extra week in Kai's company without Mariam there to make her feel guilty. She wasn't sure what would have been better? For Mariam to have been there at the start of the week when she was ready to face down her friend or to have this extra week to figure out what to say to her.

"What do you plan to-"

Bright and chipper, Hillary Mizuno burst into the room, her chestnut bob swished stylishly and her dark brandy eyes swept over the room, landing on Amber for a second then moved to the other two girls. "Morning!"

"Shush!" Mariah and Kirby exclaimed in hushed tones.

Hillary rolled her eyes. "Hey why's Salima still in bed?" she asked, concern coating her voice as she inched towards the bed with the lump hidden beneath a purple duvet.

"Cramps." Kirby blurted out crudely, her eyes narrowed and her lips in a firm line.

"Oh, the poor girl. Should I get her some aspirin?"

"I got her some this morning, they're in the drawer. Now if that's all-"

"Oh well, are you guys heading down to the dining hall?"

"Yeah in a second." Mariah replied, fixing her bed. "Hey Amber are you in charge of movie night tonight?"

"Oh yeah, I meant to ask if you'd fetch the DVD I have reserved for tonight when you're in town later. I have practice so I can't."

"No problem."

"Amber you're shirt isn't buttoned."

Amber looked down at the unbuttoned shirt and the strip of black tank top that was showing through, then she raised her gaze to Hillary. "Yeah I know."

Hillary shrugged. "Fine, I'm going to find Emily."

They watched her leave and then turned to Kirby. "What was that about?" Amber demanded. Kirby had never been openly hostile to Hillary without reason before.

Kirby exchanged a glance with Mariah, then pulled her cousin out the door and into the corridor, looking round to make sure no one was eavesdropping. "Look, it's nothing really. But over the past week Hillary has been hanging out with Salima a lot and she's been pretty vocal about you and Kai going out. Seemingly she saw you and Kai in the girls bathroom after the Christmas disco and she's pretty much been saying that you and Kai were together when he was with Mariam."

For the first time in a long time Amber was almost speechless. Gaping at her cousin, she tried to latch onto some of the thoughts whirring through her mind.

Kirby continued. "Naturally I told her she was wrong because you wouldn't do that and the first time you and Kai were even remotely romantic was at Shahero's birthday party."

What was she supposed to say now? Amber wondered. It was true she hadn't been going out with Kai behind Mariam's back but he had kissed her that night. If Hillary continued to say stuff like that she could irrevocably harm her and Mariam's friendship. More so than she, herself, was already going to, Amber thought darkly.

"Shit."

"Yeah, well Hillary is just full of hot air so don't let her get to you. Mariah nearly ripped strips of her, it was actually kind of funny."

"She deserved it." Mariah finally exited the dorm and turned to her friends with a smile playing on her lips. "She's just jealous because she had a crush on Kai."

"Really?" Amber blinked surprised. She'd never known that but it made sense. Kai probably had a lot of girls in the school who liked him and the fact that he chose her more than likely made her public enemy number one. For some reason that idea didn't bother her all that much. Maybe it should have, but for now, while she was safe in the circle of her friends, it didn't.

"Uh-huh." Kirby replied wrinkling her nose. "I smell strawberries."

She blinked and shrank back when Mariah waved a red tube in front of her. "Lip balm, want some?"

She shrugged and took it. "Sure."

Amber chuckled at their antics glad to see her cousin looking happy within herself. When Kirby had started wearing more feminine clothing she'd thought it had only been to please Miguel but she seemed happier now, not as lost as she had been. Despite people's assumptions Amber didn't want Kirby to be like her, she wanted Kirby to find herself. If that meant she wanted to be more feminine then so be it. Kirby had strived to as different from her sisters as possible during her early teens because everyone compared her to Julia and Alyssa.

The trio made their way down the corridor talking animatedly while passing various lingering students as they made their way to the dining hall. It didn't take long since most of the students were still getting dressed, were in bed or were already in the hall.

"Hey Mari wait up!"

The three girls faltered and looked over their shoulders as Emily quickened her pace to catch up to them, some envelopes in her hand.

"Hey Ems."

"Hey." she greeted breathlessly. "I was just collecting my mail."

"Get anything interesting?" Kirby inquired as she elbowed a junior male out of her way, which sent him stumbling into his friends. He cursed her and she sent him a dark look in return. "Jerk."

"Nope, subscriptions to a couple of science magazines, nothing really important. Oh god, what's Mike done to his hair?" she exclaimed, her blue eyes widening while her mouth fell open as she regarded her cousin who was sitting next to Ozuma and Kane chuckling at something the blue haired boy had said.

"Dyed it." Mariah replied.

The orange haired girl nodded. "I can see that. He's blond! Oh well now he can claim he has a reason for being an idiot."

"Oh it makes his eyes look bluer, or so Bethan says."

Amber snickered as they joined the queue waiting for food. She contemplated what to get while humming absently to the music coming out of the speaker in the corner. With a shrug, she lifted a cherry yogurt and placed it on the tray in front of her, pushing it along the shelf towards the till, listening to the clatter of plates and cutlery as her friends chose their meals from the variety behind the glass cabinets.

She knew Kai was in here somewhere, she didn't know how she knew but she did. There was a certain electricity to the atmosphere that told her he was near her but stubborn pride refused to allow her to seek him out. During the meeting she'd sat beside Bryan and settled for glowering at him while he seemed nonchalantly unaware of her. It bugged her that he could tune her out so easily when she always seemed to be aware of him. Since coming back to school their relationship hadn't been as easy as it had during the holidays. It had been put on the back burner as studies, friends and hockey took the front seat. It irritated and yet it soothed her. She shouldn't be dependant on Kai, she didn't want to be and sometimes she found herself seeking out ways so she wouldn't be alone with him. Then not long after, she'd seek him out. He on the other hand hadn't been seeking her out and in those quiet hours of the early morning when she was awake staring at the ceiling, her fears taunted her. She found herself wondering if he was having second thoughts. It bothered her to think like that, when she was around him she found her fears melted away but away from him, they plagued her. Mariam was coming back today and in doing so, Kai would be able to easily compare them and find her inferior to her sophisticated and intelligent friend.

She growled at her thoughts. She really had a low opinion on Kai. She was expecting him to drop her. If he did she'd only have herself to blame, she reasoned, because since he'd driven her up on Sunday she'd been making excuses not to be alone with him. Stupid, she cursed herself but her pride wouldn't allow her to approach him now.

"He's staring at you." a voice murmured in her ear and had her jumping. "Sorry Ams."

"Jeez, Mariah." she blew out a breath, trying to calm her pounding heart. "What did you say?"

"I was just mentioning that lover boy is staring at you."

"Oh?" she tried to be casual but the flutter under her heart made her feel anything but. The guy had such an affect on her even when she was pissed and doubting him. Stupid really, but that was how it was. She couldn't change it, no matter how she wanted to.

She paid for her food and looked round for a place to sit, a simple excuse to spot Kai and finally she did after sweeping over various empty seats. He was sitting at a table in the dimly lit corner with Ruin, Tala, Spencer, Bryan, Robert and Oliver. That was the mature table, she dubbed silently. Only proper conversation would be held there.

She noted the empty seats beside him but decided against sitting beside him. She was still not talking to him. She lifted her gaze to acknowledge him, but when their eyes locked, her breath caught and she couldn't turn away. His eyes were steady on hers, no hint of a smile on his face. How could he always look so serious? She wondered but at the same time, that was part of his appeal. She swallowed and forced her gaze away from the burning intensity of his. A very large part of her demanded that she go over their right now and let him hold her, touch her or talk to her but then the pride kicked in.

Pride won.

Saluting him with a raise of a mocking brow, she averted her gaze and meandered over to sit at a table with Rei across from Ian and beside Enrique.

"Hey Amber."

"Morning Rei."

"Where's Mariah?" he asked looking round for his girlfriend.

Amber jerked her thumb in the direction she'd left the rose haired girl. Rei followed the direction and spotted her standing with Kirby and Emily, looking exotic and perfect with her lily white skin which he knew to be soft and supple, silken hair that fell to her waist and eloquent golden eyes. She looked soft, but she was like velvet coated steel. Soft and smooth on the outside but strong and tough on the inside, guarding a kind heart.

"Hey Rei, you're drooling man."

Rei's head jerked up and he flushed faintly before shooting Enrique a mildly irritated glare. "Ha ha, Enrique." he muttered dryly, drinking a mouthful of coffee and ignoring how it scalded his tongue.

"Hey why aren't you sitting with lover boy?" Ian demanded, nudging Amber under the table with his foot.

"Well how can I gaze adoringly at your ugly mug if I'm sitting the whole way over there?" The question was accompanied by a syrupy sweet smile that made the midget Russian bristle slightly.

Enrique snickered, then gasped. "Oh yeah, here's something for you Amber."

She exchanged a wary glance with Rei. Recently Enrique had been acting weird towards her, giving her the most useless pieces of information that she'd ever come across. But like a glutton for punishment she closed her eyes before opening her eyes to regard him. "Hit me."

"You can dissolve condoms with baby oil."

She gaped at him. "Enrique, what? Why do I need to know that? You make it sound like I go around dissolving condoms!"

Ian snorted and the milk he'd been in the process of swallowing sprayed out causing him to choke, as Enrique chuckled.

"Aw gross, Ian that's disgusting."

"Oh it's dripping from his nose, oh yuk!" Mariah said with a hand over her mouth as she slid into a chair beside Rei.

"Look, Ian's like a male pigeon!"

"What?" A bewildered Amber blurted out, watching Ian concerned as Rei slapped his back.

"Well male pigeons produce milk and Ian can produce milk out of his nose!"

She tried to swallow that piece of information, then her face screwed up in horror. "Oh! Oh fuck! Now I've got a stupid image of you trying to milk Ian's nose!"

Rei groaned while Enrique laughed and began to make squeezing motions under Ian's nose as the navy haired teen tried to breathe past the liquid in his trachea. "Fuck off Enrique." he managed to croak out groggily.

"Are you high on something Enrique?" Mariah demanded what most of the near by tables wished to know.

He grinned at them. "Not that I know."

"You're sure as hell acting like it. And what's with telling me about baby oil and condoms?"

"Well there's no use flushing a condom because it's only going to pop back up like a floater, so if you squirt a little bit of-"

"Shut up!" reaching her limit, Amber held up and hand and covered her face wishing Enrique would just say nothing ever again.

"But it's true, though how someone came across-"

"KANE!"

"What the?" Mariah murmured as Johnny strode into the dining hall with an expression like thunder. His eyes glittered with menace and were focused solely on Kane while Miyami chased after him and said something rapidly and pleadingly, it seemed.

They watched as he reached a bewildered Kane and yanked him to his feet. Kane immediately retaliated by shoving off the irate redhead and demanding what his problem was.

"How long?" Johnny growled, not seeming to care that the entire school's attention was focused on him. Hitoshi who'd been standing talking to a pupil stepped forward. Kai and Tala, were on their feet, while Bryan and Spencer had turned to regard them, both alert to move if need be. Shahero who'd been sitting beside Arista was also on her feet, concern on her small features while Aspin was watching guardedly while trying to ask Miyami with her eyes what the hell was going on.

Kane shook his head, his mouth in a sneer, his eyes narrowed. "How long what McGregor?"

"How long-?" Johnny grounded out, grabbing Kane by the lapels of his shirt to snarl in his face. "Have you been with her behind my back?"

A collective gasp echoed through the hall and everyone's gaze turned to Miyami as she rolled her eyes and shook her head exasperated.

"What?" Kane almost laughed at the absurdity of the question.

"I told you that there's nothing going on!" Miyami gritted her teeth and shot a look at Aspin to reassure the concerned girl.

"Fuck that!" Johnny growled.

"No fuck you!" Kane shoved the redhead off him. "Whatever problems you're having with your girlfriend leave me the fuck out of it!"

"Johnny you're playing right into their hands." Miyami snapped agitatedly running a hand through her hair in a gesture of annoyance.

Johnny shoved him back. "How am I supposed to believe you? You've been playing me and Aspin for fools!"

"No I haven't." Kane bellowed; turning to Aspin. "I have no idea what he's talking about."

"You bastard! How dare you talk to her?" Johnny went for him, fist flying.

"Bryan, Spencer!" Kai ordered calmly.

Both enforcers got to their feet and yanked Johnny and Kane away from each other. Both were furious and still snarling at each other, squirming in the bulkier boys grasp to get at each other.

"What the fuck is going on?" Ozuma demanded stepping bravely between them.

"He's been seeing Miyami."

"What do you mean Johnny?" Ozuma asked as whispers began to build in a crescendo.

Johnny shrugged Bryan off. "I mean." he started with deliberate slowness, keeping his gaze steady on Kane. "He's been datin' Miyami behin' me back." his voice thickened with the Scottish accent wrapping its way around the words.

Aspin stood up shakily. "Is this true?"

"No." Kane snapped out, not looking at her.

Miyami simply shook her head, her arms folded and her foot tapping a fast beat against the floor.

"Then what is this?" Johnny snapped, slapping the school magazine down on the table.

People crowded round, leaning on each other and tiptoeing to see what page it was open on. Shahero sneered in contempt when she saw it. "Oh what fucking bullshit! The gossip column Johnny? You should know better than that! All that stuff is fucking made up!"

"She's right. You said it yourself when they tried to say you were related to Prince William!" Michael added getting to his feet.

"Oh yeah that's right." Arista chuckled then sobered. "Not the right time, huh?"

Hillary shot to her feet, and hand fisted by her side, she stomped her foot. "It is not made up! I saw them together." She pointed to both of them.

Shahero whirled on the brunette with blazing blue eyes. "Well maybe you need to get your eyes tested!"

"When was this?" Hitoshi asked, temper sparking in his gaze as he moved closer to his silver haired cousin.

"On Wednesday." Hillary said smugly. "They were in the Jewelers together and there have been other times others have seen them going off together this past week."

"Miyami?"

Miyami groaned. "Sorry Kane but I gotta spill."

"Sure go ahead." Kane said slumping in his chair and rubbing his forehead.

"Well since you're all overly obsessed with my life and since _you_ don't seem to trust me Johnny, here's why I was with Kane. It's his and Aspin's anniversary this week, you do the fucking Math!" she growled spinning on her heel and marching towards the door.

"Miyami control your language." Mr. Dickinson said mildly as he entered the hall with Miss Maye following him, her head held high and arms folded. "Now, could I see the four of you in my office please. Miss Kinomiya, Miss Grant, Mr. McGregor and Mr. Suzoru. The rest of you continue with your breakfast, I expect to see you all in the assembly hall."

The crowds slumped back to their seats while the four made their way out of the hall followed by the Principal and Vice Principal. Amber looked around her table and then sighed. "See you guys later."

"Where're you going?" Mariah asked, resting her head against Rei's shoulder.

"Oh nowhere important. Later."

"See ya."

She got to her feet and walked over to the dimly lit corner, stopping by Shahero. Stooping she greeted her sister. "Hey."

Shahero looked over her shoulder. "Hi. Shit, that was tense."

"You're telling me. What the fuck was in that magazine?"

"A few pictures of them just talking in the jewelry store but someone must have made Johnny think there was more going on because he usually wouldn't believe that drivel. Ya know how possessive he is and now he keeps expecting Miyami to dump him, so he's edgier than before."

"Poor Aspin, her anniversary secret is spoilt."

"I know." Shahero muttered darkly.

"That bitch Hillary." Amber murmured.

"It wasn't Hillary that wrote it. Clover did."

"Really?" The ochre eyed teen scanned the room but spotted no blond bombshell, she caught sight of Kai and smiled even though he wasn't looking at her. "Figures the bitch wouldn't be here. Do you think Miyami will take Johnny back or will she just break up with him?"

"I hope so, you can't really blame him. She dumped him pretty unceremoniously beforehand."

"I know, but she had her reasons. She did it for the best intentions. And besides she was going to quit the team for him, so he shouldn't be doubting her. Way I see it, someone's stirring and if Miyami and Johnny break up, then they're playing right into that person's hands." It had to be planned. Any boy could have been chosen but they chose Kane who was dating one of Johnny's best female friends, another reason for him to be outraged. They couldn't choose Shahero naturally because most of the school knew she was single and even if they didn't, Hitoshi was Miyami's cousin. It would take a serious lack of faith for Johnny to believe Mimi was capable of incest, all the same the suggestion of Kane and Miyami had to be very strong for Johnny to do what he did so who could be that conniving?

Michael looked up at that, having been sitting next to the Japanese girl he couldn't not hear the conversation. "You think so Ams?"

"Seems likely to me."

"Well if that's the case, someone should speak to Miyami before she acts rashly."

"Ruin?" Shahero suggested.

"Maybe. And someone needs to talk to Johnny-boy and find out who started making him doubt Miyami's faithfulness."

Shahero nodded. "I'll try, but I'll ask Rei to try as well."

"Ok, see you guys later."

"Bye Ams."

She blew out a breath. What a morning. Woken up at the crack of dawn with cold water streaming down her back while her boyfriend stood over her, then a meeting with a slightly hostile coach, having to wear a stupid skirt, having to hear all the time about how Mariam was coming home, a conversation about dissolving condoms and pigeon milk and then two supposed friends almost come to fisticuffs. No one else's life was this interesting, she was sure. In fact she could honestly say that the years before this one had been so mundane compared to now. Now it was one thing right after another.

She groaned and dropped down beside Kai. He merely looked at her and raised a brow. "Yeah I know, I know. I'm not supposed to be talking to you."

He looked away and sipped his coffee, gazing off into the distance. He simply regarded her when she snuggled closer to him, and feeling benevolent, he slipped an arm around her. He noticed Bryan watching them but he said nothing, just returned to his conversation with Spencer.

"I'm sorry for being a bitch." she mumbled, opening her yogurt and digging a spoon in. "It wasn't your fault. You were right." when he lifted a brow once more and it made him look nothing but smug, she grumbled. "Ya know someone's going to shave off that eyebrow of yours and force you to communicate like us normal humans."

"What about?" he finally asked softly.

"Huh? Oh, I _was_ tired. And then you woke me up with freezing cold water, did I mention it was really, really cold. Then there was the fact that you won that stupid bet so I have to wear a skirt, and- Stop looking at me like that." she ordered despite the warmth that was spreading through her at his approving gaze.

He smirked and urged her to keep eating while he opened his text book and began to note down various pieces of information. She had to admit, he looked delicious when he was studious. His brow was furrowed, his dark mahogany eyes, fierce and focused on the words he was writing, kind of how they focused on her and turned her knees to jelly. She still wasn't sure if she liked that feeling, the weakness of it got to her. His hair was in its usual casual muss. It was impossible to tame, just as Kai was impossible to tame. She didn't think she'd like a tame Kai, though she didn't necessarily think he needed to look after her either. His capable hands, with the long tapered fingers held the pen with the same surety that he did everything else with, because he knew he'd succeed. His mouth was firm, full and shapely even when he was grim. The mouth was talented and skilled in leaving her breathless and wanton, a feeling she rarely ever felt.

"Quit staring at me Ember."

She gaped then scowled while Tala and Spencer snickered at her expense. She glowered at them, they were all so mean.

"Is that drool Benz?"

Amber seethed as her best friend made fun of her. Then with a smirk, she picked up the crumpled yogurt carton and fired it at him. He ducked and Amber cringed as it hit off-

"Oh shit!" she cursed vehemently, leaning into Kai as the carton came flying her way again.

"Kaeto, Benson, that'll be a detention."

Both girls whipped their heads to a smirking Hitoshi as he approached Shahero and wrote out a detention slip for her. Amber fumed, why was it that even when she caused the disturbance Shahero always got the detention slip first thus giving her detention first. It wasn't fair, then something hit her.

"Oh crap." she muttered.

Kai looked to her alarmed face. The day detention worried Amber was the day the world ended. "What is it?"

"Your dad is going to kill me. I'm not supposed to get detention at all this week because I have practice with him. Oh god." she groaned and peeked up when Hitoshi's shadow fell over her, finally she looked up. "Hey Hito, hand it over."

As the older male began to write out her detention slip, she yelped. "What?" he demanded surprised.

"Spider." she all but climbed up onto the table.

"Where?"

She would have cursed his calmness if she'd seriously been freaked out but as he looked round for the invisible arachnid, she edged over to the other side of the table. "There, there! God Hitoshi are you blind?"

"I must be because I can't see it." he ground out.

"Oh well, ok then. Bye bye now!" she winked at him before jumping off the table and racing out of the hall.

Kai watched her go, then cast a glance at Hitoshi. "She's good."

"Not good enough." he yanked out the detention slip and handed it to Kai. "Give this to your girlfriend."

"Kai we're heading to assembly, coming?" Oliver asked with the hint of a smile.

"Sure." He shoved his books into his backpack and slinging it over his shoulder, he headed to the exit and without a look, he dropped the scrunched up detention slip into the bin.

* * *

She was late.

A week late by term time. Technically every one started back on Monday but she hadn't been able to get here until now. Well she was here now. That was what mattered. If she had any nerves, she didn't acknowledge them because to acknowledge them was to show them. It wasn't like she hadn't been here before, it was more like returning home after a long forced sabbatical, which she supposed it had been.

Too long.

She'd been gone for so long, so long that it would possibly take her friends a second or two to recognize her. She idly wondered if the octopussy's were still around as she walked up the tarmac path to the front door of the school. Preston still stood tall as ever, boldly looking over the world beneath the hill it sat upon. The iron gates and stone walls kept people out more than they kept people in. When she'd been young, sure she'd felt that it was a prison but after a while it became home. It had taken a long while but it had happened.

She'd never consider herself a role model student, at her old school she was the cause of class disruptions but at Preston it had been different. She didn't know what it was. Something about the place soothed her, it didn't agitate her to the point where she simply had to scream or go insane. She hadn't felt trapped, she realized. When she felt trapped, she had to run. People always tried to trap her, to capture her and try to make her someone she wasn't. They always told her how disappointed they were in her and how they knew she had so much potential but she continuously wasted it. It didn't sink in with them that she could care less about academics. She just wanted to be herself, but they hadn't let her.

They had at Preston, a small part reminded her. To a degree, the other part argued. It was still a school and it still enforced uniforms and academic potential and everything any other school did. It had been the people that had been different. Mr. Dickinson had never despaired of her every time he saw her, most of the time he'd been amused by her various pranks. Her friends had always been there to bail her out or jump in the deep end with her or tell her off, depending on what she'd done or was planning to do. And for that short time, she'd been happy and as close to normal as she'd ever be.

Then came that fateful day her mother had decided to go home. She'd wanted to stay at Preston, it was a boarding school after all, but her mother had been committed to the idea. With no family who could put her up, she'd had to leave and spend years away from here, from home.

She sighed. Dwelling on the past was pointless. She lived for the here and now, not for the past. She opened a door to one of the outer buildings and headed into the gloomy corridor, dark compared to the bright winter light spilling out from behind a cloud. She shoved her hands into her pockets and listened to the confident footsteps from her combat boots.

Voices began to reach her ears, not students, these were the clipped, overly perky tones of the secretaries always ready to help the parents who phoned or the students needing to see the Principal. She was about to walk around the corner into the office area when someone came around it and almost walked into her.

"Excuse me!" the shrill voice exclaimed.

She kept her bored expression and lifted her gaze to take in the girl before her. Shit! The word echoed in her head followed by a snicker as her evil self felt a glimmer of glee. She'd grown up a bit but the pale cloud of pink hair that floated around her porcelain face and large ruby eyes told her exactly who the girl in the almost catholic school girl outfit was. Only one girl would wear the uniform of Preston in that modest seductress tone.

"Kennedie."

"You!"

She lifted a blood red brow at the way the girl spat her name, almost as though it burned her tone. And so it should. "Yea, me!"

"Don't tell me you're back. I thought we got rid of you for good."

"Isn't der a dick y' 'ave t' fall on somewhere?" She asked, folding her arms, her green eyes blistering with menace while her mind whirled with all the vengeance plots she had to carry out on the pink haired girl for breathing the same air as her. She hadn't started the war between them, but over the years it had grown in magnitude and if Kennedie didn't be careful she'd lose her beautiful hair all over again. "Go 'ome!"

Kennedie sneered. "This place will never be home for you Rus-." she broke off with a disgusted tsk before she walked away head held high, while the blood haired girl sauntered around the corner.

"Yes, what can I do for you?" the bird faced woman behind the counter asked her as she approached.

"Mr. Dickinson asked to see me."

"Ah yes, Russia Kennedy. If you'll just take a seat, I'll let him know you're here."

"Yea, t'anks." she looked round the small alcove. The walls were cream and coarse. There was a large clock on the wall that read 12:30 and the wooden counter kept the office area out of bounds to the students. Three seats were by the wall behind her leading to a door the woman had disappeared into.

She rapped her fingers off the counter and rolled her eyes wondering where everyone was. Usually there would be at least someone she knew here.

Finally the door opened and the secretary Russia vaguely remembered as Gladys walked out and smiled at her. "You're free to go in."

"Right." Russia muttered and entered the door. The office was homey, that was her first impression. It hadn't changed much. The computer still sat on the corner of the desk unused as ever since Mr. Dickinson was under the impression that the brain was the biggest computer there was. It was a novel idea but highly unlikely. She'd prefer a computer to thinking on her own. There were two potted plants by the window, two filing cabinets and paper in piles sitting on the desk with a telephone. The man sitting by the desk was short and balding with a moustache and friendly eyes.

"Ah Russia, it's good to see you. Have a seat and make yourself comfortable."

She nodded and dropped into the seat placed on the other side of the table. She propped the base of her foot on the edge of the table and looked at him levelly.

"Now how have you been?" he asked as he picked a particularly large folder of the pile causing her to raise both brows. Wow, she'd forgotten how large her folder had been.

"I've been good."

"Ah good, good. Now, let's see. Uh-huh." he murmured absently. "Yes, yes, your grades have been average for the past couple of years. No sign of improvement apart from music. You haven't settled into your school back in Ireland?" he made it a question but she didn't answer, she just shrugged noncommittally. "Ah, any reason why?"

"Nah." she answered, apart from the eejits there being complete gobshites.

"Now you know the situation for you being here, don't you?"

"Aye."

"Yes, your guardianship will be signed over to your uncle until you reach legal age or until you go back to Ireland. What ever comes first. I'm afraid the hockey team is quite full up at the moment. But if you discuss it with Nicolai he may be able to come up with something."

"Fine wit' me."

"You will be in the same room as you were before with the same girls as before."

Russia nodded to let him know that was fine with her.

"You can sort out your classes with Gladys, she will do everything in her power to accommodate you into classes you do would thrive in. Now is there anything you have to add?"

She thought about it but her mind was blank. Oh well she probably would find something later but for the moment. "No."

"Well then, why don't you head along now and get settled in. I'm sure the girls will be happy to see you but I don't want them cutting class Russia."

"Now would I encourage dem t' do dat?" she chuckled when he only raised a brow and then she headed out of the office, ready to start back into the Preston way of life.

* * *

Kennedie was fuming. She stormed down the corridor pushing students out of her way, while trying to maintain a composed front. She disliked being angry and out of control. She disliked having spanners in her works and she utterly despised Russia Kennedy. There was no doubt that she disliked all of the octopuses, especially Morrigan Mulryan, but her animosity with Morrigan was nothing compared to her pure and utter loathing of Russia. A loathing born of fear, she knew but disliked admitting. Morrigan was happy to just ignore her, but Russia was vindictive with a cruel way of acting out revenge. She'd found that out the first time she'd crossed paths with the blood haired Irish girl. She'd lost almost half her hair in that particular prank and it had forced her to watch herself around the girl but then Russia had left and Kennedie was free to do what she pleased. And now, now when she had everything falling into place to bring down the Octopussy's, her plan backfired because their ultimate warrior was back. Kaeto was bad on her own, but together those two were the dream team, her nightmare. So she could back off her plans or strike the girls were it would hurt the most. Kennedie hated to back off anything.

She smirked and pushed open the door of the bathrooms. A slender pink brow winged up as she spotted Clover checking her makeup. The blond bombshell looked at her calculatingly.

"Hey."

"Hey." Kennedie replied casually. "You have a hickey on your collar bone."

Clover grimaced. "Ugh. God, Carlton must have a sucker on his face. He's like a leech, you have to physically pull him off."

Her friend snorted. "Well if you chose him."

"Well he's not bad downstairs you know."

"Sure he isn't. The bloody bitch is back."

Clover's baby blues widened tremendously. "Really? Well that's unexpected."

"No shit. Why do you think she comes back now? I mean, half a year to go and she pops up again. It's like she senses things."

"Maybe she does. You know what they say about her race, they're all mystically and stuff."

"Right." Kennedie drawled and hitched herself up onto the counter. She frowned at her friend and wished for a simple cigarette. Unfortunately the fire alarms in the bathrooms were extra sensitive and would instantly catch her if she lit up. "So what's eating you Clo?"

Clover sighed heavily. "What do you think Hiwatari sees in Benson?"

Kennedie jerked a shoulder. "Dunno."

"I mean sure she's pretty in an exotic way but she's such an annoying brat. She just doesn't seem his type. He's so cool and mysterious. She's… Amber."

Kennedie rolled her eyes. What a great argument. "Well I don't know."

"She doesn't even have a good body and she's tiny."

"Well Mariam's coming back today. Odds are he sees what he's been missing and he'll dump Benson fast enough."

"Right, he so can't be all that interested in her. No one else has been." Happier Clover smacked her lips and arranging her top, she walked out of the bathroom sashaying her hips. Kennedie followed with a bored sigh and a plan in mind.

When the door finally closed, the bathroom stall door opened and a figure walked out. She caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror and she silently echoed Clover's question. What did Hiwatari see in her?

* * *

Kai walked down the corridor on his way to Workshop, the one class apart from History he didn't mind going to. It wasn't a bad class, and it required more on the spot initiative than books telling him what to do or what to think. The one bad point was that neither Miyami nor Tala had been in this class but he'd gotten by and now he had Rei, Johnny and Spencer who were his team for the Open Day project. All three excelled at this class since they all had initiative and good minds for angles and measurements and equally good visions on how their project should look, they were well on their way to getting an A.

He frowned at his ipod -which he'd received for Christmas- and skipped through the tracks until he found something suited to his mood. For a change he was actually in a good mood. His team was falling into place, his schoolwork had lulled into a manageable load and he had more friends than he'd ever had in Clonmel. He felt at home in Preston. He could walk down the halls and not be feared but instead greeted by classmates and people he knew, not just people who thought they knew him. It was a refreshing feeling.

He flicked his brown eyes to the side as someone fell into step with him. He acknowledged Tala with a nod of his head and removed his earphones, wrapping them around the ipod and placing it into his pockets. Since the fight at Christmas his friendship with Tala had strengthened instead of weakened. Both of them understood they'd been looking out for Amber's best interests so they couldn't hold it against each other and Tala trusted him with her, he couldn't ask for more than that.

"What class have you got now?" he asked, looking around them, smirking lightly when he realized that this was the same corridor that Tala had threatened him against touching Amber just months ago.

"Physics." Tala grunted his displeasure with the subject despite him actually being top of said class. "You?"

"Workshop. I need to find Rei."

Tala nodded. "Have you seen Amber around much today?"

"I haven't seen her much this whole week." Kai replied, his disapproval evident in his voice. He'd seen her earlier walking to class talking animatedly with Kane and Michael but she'd only so much as waved to him before she was gone. "She's either in detention or off with her friends and Mariam's back today."

"I was wondering about that. What are you going to do?"

"About?" There was something about Tala's question that put him on the edge. "I'm not dumping Amber for her, if that's what you're trying to imply."

"Not what I was implying. I just meant that when she hears about you and Amber, she's going to be pissed or she'll turn on the waterworks. Amber…" The red head trailed off and sighed heavily. "You know how her friends are important to her."

Kai nodded. He knew what Tala was saying and there wasn't any answer he could give. He wouldn't force Amber's hand on this, it was her choice. He knew his own mind, trying to guess hers was potentially dangerous to his mental health. "It's up to her Tala."

Tala nodded. "It's good you see it that way. I don't know if I'd- no I know I wouldn't be able to sit back and let Ruin make that decision without interfering and she'd drop me faster than a hot pole if she knew that."

His friend snorted. "I don't doubt that."

"Have you heard anything more about what happened this morning?"

Kai shrugged, rubbing his jaw as it began to throb. "I talked to Mimer's earlier. She pretty much just gave Johnny a restraining order and demanded he stay away from her for the rest of today. He got a weeks kitchen cleaning duty from Mr. Dickinson for instigating the fight and Kane got a weeks detention for fighting back."

"I don't see why Johnny would have done that. There had to have been a reason." Tala said with a shake of his head.

"Shahero says that he was still edgy from when she broke up with him back in September." Michael spoke up from in front of them.

Kai looked up and realized that they'd finally caught up with Rei who was standing with Ozuma and Michael by the blond's locker.

"That makes sense. If Mariah broke up with me for no reason I'd be testy, so would you all." Rei reasoned with a shrug. The others nodded rather reluctantly except for the still single Ozuma who just looked plain uncomfortable.

"He should have more faith in Miyami." Kai added.

"Someone must have provoked him into thinking that, though."

"It's Johnny, Ozuma, he doesn't need a reason to lose his temper."

"Well he better get it cooled when it involves Mims, because I doubt Dad will take this too kindly. He's lucky he hasn't been ordered to ride the pine pony for the moment."

"True, look I'll see you later. I have a physic's test to fail."

"See ya Tala."

"Kai, you heading down to Work Shop?" when Kai nodded, Rei and he left the other two and headed for the door leading out to the sunshine washed quad. Snow drops dropped their heads in morning of Winters end. The grass was beginning to grow after 3 months of dormancy and the bare branches on the trees no longer held that desolate aura.

The two boys stalked over the grass, not budging from their path line and forcing younger student groups to split and weave around them. They caught sight of Spencer walking ahead of them, his head bowed and his ears covered by a pair of headphones, completely oblivious to the world around them. A few other classmates were making their way to class, but the most were heading back into the school.

"Hey you didn't find out what Amber's going to choose for tonight's films did you?" Rei suddenly asked.

Kai shook his head with a hint of smirk at the trepidation in Rei's voice. "No, why?"

"I was just wondering what she was going to make us watch."

"I don't know. I haven't had much time to talk to her." there was a bitter twang to the words.

"Just as long as it's not another cartoon, I want something with substance."

"Says the guy who sits voluntarily through numerous showings of Legally Blonde."

"They're funny." Rei replied with a squirm, then rolling his golden eyes, he grinned. "Besides that's why I wanted something with substance. I don't think I could watch another dumb blond joke."

"That's not Amber's style."

"No she'll have us watching something Japanese with girl power themes."

Kai snickered remembering how she'd made them watch something with three girls and fighting elemental beasts. Then again she hadn't forced them to watch, they could have left, but most had just crashed on the couches while Enrique's perverted mind had a field day with the girls being naked for much of the fighting. He had been torn between Amber and Mariam at that point, he remembered. He'd barely paid any attention to the film if it hadn't been Enrique's constant exclamations that they were naked and then Amber flinging cushions and popcorn at the blond.

"You have to convince her otherwise. For all our sakes."

"It's her turn, besides you all scared the crap out of her with your horrors." Kai pointed out reasonably.

"So did you." his friend countered.

"No I wasn't her friend at the time. That was revenge. There's a difference."

Rei sighed. "Fine, fine. I'll put up-"

"Hiwatari!"

Both boys looked over their shoulders and Kai tensed as he watched Bryan striding towards them. He looked to Rei. "Go ahead, I'll catch up."

"You sure man?"

"Yeah. I'll be fine."

"Ok man." Rei slapped his shoulder then headed off to the extension where the workshop class was held.

Kai waited not-exactly-patiently for the burly teen to reach him. There was no anger on Bryan's face so he didn't think he had done anything but Kai was always wary of Amber's cousin who took overprotective to a new level. Although Bryan had been relatively civil to him this past week, instincts told him to always be on guard. So he didn't walk to Bryan, but did wait and watch him approach.

"Amber wants you."

He raised a blue brow. "Say that again."

Bryan scowled. "Amber wants to see you."

Ah, now that made much more sense. "Where is she?"

"In her dorm I expect."

Kai's brow furrowed. Something about this struck him as odd. Why was Bryan telling him to go see Amber in her dorm? Why was Amber in her dorm when she should be in her class? However, he didn't ask anything, that would only serve to irritate the other teen and he didn't want to do that. "She needs to see me now?"

"Yeah."

"I have class."

"Tell your teacher that you have a headache or something." Bryan growled, his discomfort clearly showing through.

"Why can't it wait?"

"Because." was the only answer he received. "I'll tell Rei to tell your teacher you have to go to the infirmary."

Bryan strode off in the direction Rei had left, leaving Kai standing on his own in the quad. With a sigh, he headed back into the school determined to find out what Amber wanted that couldn't wait.

* * *

_I'm no Barbie doll  
I'm not your baby girl  
I've done ugly things and I have made mistakes  
And I am not as pretty as those girls in magazines  
I am rotten to my core if they're to be believed  
So what if I'm no baby bird hanging upon your every word?  
Nothing ever smells of roses that rises out of mud_

"I love this song." Amber stated as she rested her head between Arista's knees as her friend plaited her hair into fine braids, separating the gold from the black while the Irish teen read a book resting on her folded legs.

"I'm not so sure about it." Arista replied; frowning over a strand of gold she was trying to twist.

"You need to hear it at least twice before you can say you like it, I think."

Why do you love me  
Why do you love me  
Why do you love me it's driving me crazy  
Why do you love me  
Why do you love me  
Why do you love me you're driving me crazy

Russia flopped back on her bed, it had a musty scent to it but then again she'd been gone for ages and welcomed back by shocked exclamations and joyous screams. After the initial 'how are you?'s and 'what the fuck are you doing here?'s, they'd quickly settled into their old rhythms. Miyami was still furiously in love with Johnny while still finding him absurdly possessive which caused her to rant about him to her female friends. Arista was still more interested in hockey and messing around than dating. Shahero was funnily enough still being haunted by Hitoshi Kinomiya, which Russia found odd to say the least. Something told her that there was more going on with those two than she'd been initially told but she figured Shahero would divulge that extra piece of information to her later. Aspin and Kane were now dating, which she'd always thought would eventually happen, though she hadn't expected it to happen so early because Kane had always seemed immature but somewhere along the way Can Head had matured. Sonia and Ozuma were still dancing around each other as though they were on hot coals, while pretending to be friends. She'd been surprised when they told her that Ozuma had dated Kennedy because she hadn't been expecting that. Ruin had told her that she was officially 'dating' Tala and the expression and tone that accompanied that deadpan announcement had made Russia snicker. And Amber was still Amber, still witty and bright but she held a somber aura around her ever since she entered the room.

After the greetings, Sonia and Ruin had excused themselves to go to class because there was no way to get out of whatever subject they had but the other six had stayed behind to catch up, listen to music and revel in the fact that the Octopussy's were once again united after years apart.

Why do you love me  
Why do you love me  
Why do you love me you're driving me crazy  
Why do you love me  
Why do you love me

"I like Shirley's style. She's a great female role model." Miyami stated lethargically stringing a long piece of gum from her mouth.

"So wha's wit' Sonia an' Ozuma?" Russia finally asked.

Aspin groaned. "It's actually really simple. They both like each other. Sonia kissed him when she was drunk and now she's pretending it never happened."

"Oh she's not pretending it didn't happen. Sonia's just confused herself."

Russia cast Miyami a bemused look. "'ow da fuck did she do dat? I t'ought she was da smartest one in our group?"

_You're not some little boy  
Why you acting so surprised  
You're sick of all the rules  
Well I'm sick of all your lies_

"She's Sonia, her confusion is cute." Shahero said brightly, then rolled her eyes causing the girls to laugh at the obvious annoyance in her tone. "I feel bad for Ozuma though, there's only so long he's going to put up with her."

"I know. Sonia needs to get her butt kicked into gear." Arista stated, then with a smirk, she exchanged a glance with her cousin and looked at Russia.

"And you're just the person to do it Russ."

Russia rose a blood red brow at her Japanese friend. "Really? An' why didn' y' do it?"

"Because she looks up to me like a sister."

_Now I've held back a wealth of shit I think I'm gonna choke  
I'm standing in the shadows with the words stuck in my throat  
Does it really come as a surprise when I tell you I don't feel good?  
That nothing ever came from nothing man  
Oh man ain't that the truth_

"Anyway Russ, when did you get twitchy about pointing out the fact that life isn't perfect to Skip?" Aspin asked, using a fond nickname of Sonia from the old days. The nickname had changed from Skip to Sunny and just plain Sons.

Russia groaned. "I don' like gettin' involved wit y'r love lives or lack dereof."

Arista stuck out her tongue. "How do you know I don't have a secret boyfriend, huh?"

Miyami snorted. "Like you could keep anything from the magnificent mystic Mimi!"

Aspin stopped plucking her sweater sleeve to curl her upper lip and stare at her friend. "Your modesty astounds me."

"I could so have a secret boyfriend."

"Do you?"

Arista squirmed under her cousin's probing gaze. "Well no, but-" she broke off at Miyami's 'aha!' before continuing with a glower. "I could someday."

"Why are we having this conversation?" Shahero demanded. "If Ari has a secret boyfriend then she's entitled to her privacy and not to have people poking into her life."

"Here here!"

They snickered at the navy eyed girls exuberant cheer causing her to promptly flush and turn her attention back to Amber's hair.

Why do you love me  
Why do you love me  
Why do you love me it's driving me crazy  
Why do you love me  
Why do you love me  
Why do you love me you're driving me crazy

"So what are you going to do about Johnny?"

Miyami slumped and shrugged. "I don't know."

"He really cares about you. He wouldn't have tried to hit Kane unless he was really hurt." Shahero propped up her chin on her fist and leaned forward.

"If he had trusted me in the first place he wouldn't have tried to hit Kane at all."

"Someone was messing with his head." Amber finally offered in a soft voice.

"Ya t'ink?"

"Aye, I do."

The others smothered smirks at Amber's Irish lilt being coaxed through by the redhead.

"What makes you think that?" Aspin wondered.

"Makes sense. The column was written by Clover, there were photos and just something about it reeks that this was the final straw on something that has been bugging him." Shahero answered when Amber didn't.

"Maybe you should question him about it Miyami, without yelling at him." Aspin suggested.

Miyami looked from her to Shahero. "You two are his best female friends and confidants, you should try it. I'm still miffed about his lack of trust in me. I have always been faithful. He's the one who dated that brown hussy while we were broken up. I didn't date anyone."

Shahero looked to Aspin. "It should be you. You can use the excuse that he attacked Kane who's your boyfriend and you want to know where he got these ideas from."

Aspin's shoulder's slumped. "Fine, but Mimi. Maybe Johnny's just sitting on the edge waiting for you to kick him to the curb again. Once bitten, twice shy and all that crap."

"I broke up with him with the best intentions." Miyami snapped back her voice rising an octave or two.

Why do you love me  
Why do you love me  
Why do you love me you're driving me crazy  
Why do you love me  
Why do you love me

Russia sat back on her bed. She'd missed out on a lot while she was gone. She'd have to be filled in because right now she was confused. "Why did you dump him with the best intentions?"

"The new coach made this rule that two team mates can't date." Arista filled in helpfully. "Mariah quit the team to be with Rei making me number one again. Can you believe he wanted me to ride the pine pony just because I'd been injured and unable to attend that practice?"

"G't on wit' it."

"Well Mimers over there broke up with Johnny so they could both stay on the team but that didn't last very long when Johnny got a new floozy-"

"Hey I resent how that makes _me _sound like a floozy."

"Sorry, anyway, she wanted him back so she told coach she was quitting the team-"

"Not wanting my brilliance to leave the team-"

"Deluded Mimi strikes again." Aspin whispered to Shahero who chuckled.

"I heard that. Anyway, he broke the rules for me and for Ruin and Tala, and now I think it's pretty much abolished because no one's adhering to it. So I did break up with Johnny for the best reasons but now I have him back I'm not going to just drop him."

"How does he know that your not going to drop him on a whim again, whether it's for the best intentions or not? He's insecure and someone's playing on that!" Shahero snapped, her eyes blazing and her face flushed.

Miyami faltered. "Ok, maybe I should talk to him. But after Aspin does." that was met by a heartfelt 'crap!' from the purple haired goddess.

I get back up and I do it again  
I get back up and I do it again  
I get back up and I do it again  
I get back up and I do it, I do it again

A knock on the door disturbed them and Arista gave Amber a nudge to go get it since she was closest, being on the floor. The Irish girl gave an exaggerated sigh and unfolded herself to crawl over the floor. She hissed. "Ow, my bum's numb!"

Aspin chuckled. "Do you feel this?" she asked kicking it lightly.

"Stop kicking my ass Aspin!" Amber grumbled gruffly as she scrambled to her feet, stumbling lightly and catching the wall to steady herself.

"Are ya drunk Ams?"

"Bite me!" came the tempered retort. Amber grumbled under her breath as she yanked open the door and turned to head back to her seat, not caring to see who was on the other side. As she whirled, her hand caught the latch on the door and it tore into her flesh. She hissed in reaction but before she could do anything, a large warm hand closed over hers, careful not to touch the scratch and lifted it. She turned with her hand already knowing who was cursing softly over the graze.

"This is going to scar." he muttered lightly, tugging on the detached skin, nipping it successfully away from her hand.

Amber huffed as he fussed over her. "What are you doing here?"

"Amber!" Miyami shouted exasperated, from inside the room. "Hi Kai!"

Kai grunted in greeting but didn't remove his gaze from the cut, instead he mopped up the welling blood with the sleeve of his sweater.

"Kai? As in Kai Hiwatari? Shite Christ almighty." came an Irish drawl from inside the room.

"Has anyone got a cloth or something to clean this with?"

"Excuse me, what are you doing here?" Amber gritted out, trying not to squirm every time his breath fanned against her skin. "And it's nothing, it barely stings." _Just burns like a scorching bitch!_

_I think you're sleeping with a friend of mine  
I have no proof but I think that I'm right  
And you've still got the most beautiful face  
It just makes me sad most of the time_

"I'm taking you down to the infirmary to get it cleaned up properly."

"He's so masterful." Miyami snickered under her breath at Aspin's mocking comment complete with breathy voice and awe filled tone.

"Wha' is 'e doin' t' 'er?"

"Not what he'd like to, I bet." this comment sent Miyami and Aspin into hysterics.

Amber rolled her eyes up to heaven while Kai struggled to hide the blush as he examined how deep the scratch was. "Someone shut the cackling hags up!"

"C'mon Ember, you're coming with me."

"It's nothing, besides my friend is here!"

"G'on a'ead Ams."

_I get back up and I do it again  
I get back up and I do it again  
I get back up and I do it again  
I get back up and I do it, I do it again  
I do it again  
I do it again  
I do it again_

Russia raised a brow as she watched her cousin half lead, half drag out her fellow countrywoman. It was amusing to see Amber being fussed over by a boy and not violently reacting to it. It was more amusing to see that look of absolute concern on her cousin's face. He was older, but he was definitely the same Kai she'd known as a child. He'd certainly grown taller and filled out well, she noted, but he still carried the same aloofness all Hiwataris seemed to have instilled in them. She turned to her friends.

"So wha' was dat all abou'?"

"Oh that was Kai Hiwatari, our team captain." Arista supplied.

"I know, but wha' was 'e doin' wit' Ams?"

"How do you know Kai?" Miyami asked.

"Mine first!"

"Fine, fine. Well Kai is Amber's boyfriend."

"Oh it's a lot more complicated than that." Aspin explained.

"Oh yeah, see Kai comes to the school in September with Tala in tow and Amber's furious still for Tala "deserting" her." Miyami placed emphasis on deserting with quote fingers. "And she dislikes Kai almost immediately and vice versa. So Amber hates Kai, Mariam dates him. But then towards the Christmas Hols, Kai dumps Mariam and Amber dates him. I'll give you a full run down later, but how do you know him?"

"'e's my cousin."

"Really?" Shahero blurted out. "You coming here earlier could have eased things a bit."

"Well the fireworks are going to kick off today because Mariam doesn't know about them and she's coming back today."

Russia chuckled. Life never got dull at Preston.

_Why do you love me  
Why do you love me  
Why do you love me your driving me crazy  
Why do you love me  
Why do you love me  
Why do you love me your driving me crazy  
Why do you love me  
Why do you love me  
Why do you love me  
Why do you love me_

* * *

"Hold still." Kai ordered as he tended to the still bleeding wound on the back of her hand.

"Ow, that stings." she ground out. She was ticked off at her clumsiness in front of him and it didn't help that he was fussing over her like a klutzy child, or brat, a small part of her added slyly. Did he just see her as a childish brat? She was finding it hard to think straight. He was standing intimately between her legs so he could see the cut better. She watched the way his bangs fell into his dark eyes every time he subtly moved his head. His hands were strong and warm, so pale against her small gold ones. She found it to be an erotic contrast and the thought had her cheeks burning. She was acting like a schoolgirl with a crush, and Kai was supposed to be her boyfriend but why did it feel so strange? It should be touching, the way he was cleaning her cut but no she found it belittling. "Quit poking it."

"I'm making sure it's clean." he bit out. She had done nothing but bitch and whine the whole time he was trying to help her and it was pissing him off. It was her own damn fault, if she'd just been a little more careful then she wouldn't have marred her gorgeous skin, but no not her. She'd just whipped the door open, seen him and because she'd been so intent on ignoring him, she'd spun around and caught her hand on a corner of the metal latch. He felt the fury simmering underneath his skin, bubbling close to the surface.

"Well it's clean!" she snapped and whipped her hand out of his grip. "See, no dirt, no infection, no nothing." She would have dropped to the ground and left, but his position made that a little difficult. She settled for watching him with barely concealed temper.

"What is your problem?" he demanded aggravated. He didn't think he'd done anything to hurt her or piss her off so why was she treating him like shit.

"You're treating me like a baby." she retorted hotly.

"I was trying to be nice, Ember. You were cut, so I was treating it. I don't see why you're being so annoyingly bitchy. You're acting like a child!"

She bristled at the sentence and snarled at him. "Then why the fuck do you put up with me then? Because this is me. I am bitchy, I am childish, I get testy and I can be annoying. If you don't like it, then why're you here?"

He frowned at her. "You're not childish." he finally said. "Not usually." Not unless she was scared. "Why are you trying to push me away again? Is this to do with Mariam?"

She flushed and averted her gaze ashamed at his quiet tone. "No, yes… I don't know."

Her anguished answer tugged at him. She sounded confused and bewildered, though why he didn't know but he hardened his heart. "If you don't want this Amber, then you'd better say so now."

"Want what?" she asked softly, looking up at him with large lost eyes.

His hand automatically found hers, interlinking their fingers, mindful of the gash. "This, us."

She shook her head and his heart dropped. "I want us, I do. I just…"

"Then what was that about?" She squeezed her eyes shut. "You were off with me this morning, then you apologized and the rest of the day you were distant. Amber you've been closing me out all week." He desperately needed an answer.

She inhaled heavily, then blew it out. "Why do you put up with me? I treat you worse than the others, why do you even bother with me?"

Strangely confused, he caressed her jaw softly feeling a warmth when she leaned into it. "Because I care about you, I thought we covered this already." And your insecurity, he added silently. He figured this was what it all boiled down to.

"But why? I'm annoying, and selfish. Not to mention sarcastic, bitchy and childish. I'm not what you want or what you need. You deserve someone better-" she broke off on a hiss of pain. "Hey!" she snapped her gaze up to his and sucked in a breath at the fury clearly burning in his eyes. She watched with trepidation as he reigned in his temper until he was back in control and his grip on her hand eased.

"You better learn to trust me, Ember. You don't need to know what I see in you, just know I want you and I won't let you push me away." his tone was dark and dangerous and sent a shiver down her spine as her stomach hopped deliciously.

Despite the possessive undertone of his words, she was far from convinced and he realized that whatever was bugging her needed to be sorted now otherwise Mariam would see and pick at it until Amber unraveled at the seams. He didn't want to see it, but he didn't want to lay his heart on the line. He wasn't sure how deep his feelings for her went but they were deep enough that her loss of faith in him hurt like a quick slash to the heart. It was amazing how easily this slip of a girl could do that. It was also extremely unnerving. But for all the bad, the good always overcame it. He had to make her see that.

So he caught her chin in his hands and forced her to look at him. He felt her spine go ramrod straight but not in fear. He could read the anticipation warring with nerves in her eyes. She wasn't scared of him, apprehensive maybe but definitely not scared. Good.

He was silent for a moment to arrange his thoughts. "What do you see when you look at me?"

Her brow furrowed cutely before she shrugged and shook her bangs out of her eyes. "You." she answered finally.

"Who am I?"

"Kai." she replied with a look of bewilderment. Her eyes studied him as though wondering how sane he was. It amused him.

"And who is Kai?"

Her lips curled in a wry grin. "You." Now her eyes danced with mischief. He liked them like this, the light in them danced like will-o'-the-wisps.

She didn't have a clue where he was going with this. She couldn't read anything in his expression but she'd begun to realize over the past fortnight that his face couldn't be judged but that it was his eyes that told her what he was thinking. She really loved the color of them, so brown and warm and dark, like rich dark chocolate that melted in the mouth. They brought words like hot, smooth and velvet to mind and those words and images that came to her made her shiver lustily. Her mouth felt dust dry and she bit her lip to stop her from doing anything to break the spell. She wanted him to kiss her, for everything to be forgotten when his mouth smoothly covered hers and his velvet tongue swept inside her hotly.

"What do you think when you see me, Ember?" he asked.

She frowned, she'd have rather he just kiss her rather than continuing this strange inquisition. She focused on the question, what did she think when she saw him? Pfft, stupid question. She thought a lot of things, most had to do with his mouth.

"Words, not actions." his voice sounded amused and she cursed silently knowing he could read her like a book right now when he was standing this close, his body heat seeping into hers.

"I don't know. Trust-"

"Trust?" the word made his brow raise.

"I do trust you." she defended.

"Other words."

"I don't know." she ground out. "Honorable, intelligent, broody, dedicated, strong, aloof, sadistic, funny…looking." she smirked up at him a hint of the Amber he knew peeking through. "Uh… Do I have to keep doing this? I mean is there a point?"

"There's a point, you're just not seeing it."

"Well unless it's right in front of me, I'm not going to see it."

"Even when it's right in front of you." he didn't make the sentence a question. He shifted closer, slipping his arms around her loosely. "The point is, that when you look at me, you see me. You don't see the bad things about me. You see the whole thing and accept me for who I am. What makes you think I'm any different?"

She pondered that then sighed. "I've screwed up again huh?"

"Yep."

Then she grinned, though it didn't quite reach her eyes. "Told you I can fuck up."

Don't like to though, do you Ember?He thought silently, brushing his lips over the top of her head. "Yeah you told me. So want to explain how this all happened? We were fine last week."

"I know, but that was different." she said softly. "I've never had a boyfriend and I keep expecting you to suddenly see the light and wonder what the fuck you were doing with me in the first place."

He closed his eyes struggling not to snap at her. He supposed he should be oddly touched. She wouldn't feel this way unless she cared about him but for her to have such little faith pissed him off. Who the hell made her think so little of herself that she didn't see the same girl he saw? She was beautiful, intelligent, witty, with a driving thirst for knowledge and to understand everything and everyone, she constantly questioned life around her and she valiantly stood by her friends and her big heart, the ability to care so much about people around her including enemies alike humbled him. But how to get her to see that?

She shouldn't need actions or words to know that? He was more open and affectionate with her than any other person in this school. He shouldn't have to explain himself to her. Then again, she was used to affection. Tala showered her enough with it… and he'd left her, a small part of him piped up. He could see, reluctantly, what bothered her. Words and actions weren't enough but it was a case of trust. She didn't trust him as much as he wanted her to, but they had only been together two weeks and before that they'd been at each other's throats. It wasn't much of a basis for anything, so he had to work on breaking down her walls and barriers because every time she smiled at him, she crumbled his. Funny, he was used to being so cold and aloof and having people try to get to him. Now the tables were turned and it wasn't something that was solved in a day. It would take time, but they'd had a breakthrough today.

He rubbed his thumb absently over her lower lip as he lost himself in thoughts, while she couldn't think because her lips were buzzing intensely. She felt like an idiot, letting those things Clover and Kennedie had said, get to her. For all she knew they could have known she was in there and had played on her insecurities… Or maybe not hers, but Johnny's… She shook her head and chuckled dryly, causing Kai to look at her curiously. She dismissed his question with another shake of her head while making a mental note to gather the Octopussy's. It was time to ensnare a pair of poor unfortunate bitches. All she needed first was evidence which meant no breathing of this to Shahero or Russia because neither were very good at patience and Amber didn't like to pick on the wrong person. They still owed several revenges, which had to be dealt out this year. Such as Miss Maye, Ian for his spider prank, and various others.

"What did you want me for?" Kai suddenly asked.

"Hmm? When?"

"You wanted to see me before you got cut, that's why I came to your dorm."

"No I didn't."

"Bryan said you did." Kai clarified.

Amber frowned then sighed. "Oh, Bryan saw me earlier when I was heading to my room. He must have realized something was wrong and figured it had to do with you."

"He didn't seem to be accusing me of anything."

"Maybe he thought you were the only one who'd be able to do anything about it." she replied with a shrug. She didn't understand the inner workings of Bryan's mind but he was very perceptive, she knew that much.

"Well was he right?"

She nodded with a rueful smile. Tilting her head back, she slid her hands up his arms, feeling the strength in each one to link them behind his neck, playing with the hair that brushed his collar. His molten brown eyes danced as he watched her amused, his own hands finding their way inside her open shirt and over the form fitting tank top, feeling the heat and firm flesh beneath.

"Rei wants to know what film you're making us watch tonight."

"I'm not making y'all watch anything. I'm watching a film and it's your choice if y'all want to watch it with me."

"And what film is this?"

She sighed as his fingers deftly stroked the soft spot on the right side of her spine. Her body arched into his while his other hand glided down to find the skin of her leg. "Mulan." she whispered, biting her lower lip.

"A cartoon, should have known."

She glowered at him under hooded eyes, but it didn't look that way to him. His lips curved and her heart began to flip ecstatically. "It's not… just a… cartoon." she managed.

"Oh?"

"There's, ya know, fighting and crap…" she trailed off finding it hard to see anything but his mouth.

"Mm-hmm."

"And Eddie Murphy." she quipped as he silkily guided her legs to wrap around his waist, bringing him dangerously closer.

"Really?"

"If you can't find him funny, then you don't have a sense of humor." she muttered distractedly.

"Hn." he dipped and nipped the curve of her shoulder, moving up to the spot on her neck he liked. He bit down gently into the soft golden skin and felt her reaction as she arched more and a small cry sounded in her throat. He smirked against her heated flesh.

When she turned to nudge his mouth to hers, he evaded and she pouted. "Tease." she muttered sulkily. "I hope Mrs. Tate doesn't have any patients to visit. Otherwise they'd be getting a very interesting view."

Kai chuckled nuzzling her throat. "Let them come." he murmured. "Might teach them a few things."

He winced as she nipped his earlobe -since it was the only spot she could reach- none-too-gently. "Behave. Besides as captain of the varsity -shit." she cursed as he bit another spot, sucking on it lightly. The cool air on the moist skin was the most delightful sensation to her. "You better not leave any marks." she finally muttered.

"Why not?"

"Because Bryan sent you to make me feel better, not make out with me." she murmured, running her fingers through his hair, grazing his scalp lightly.

"Difference?"

She growled frustratedly. "Would you just kiss me already!" she snapped irately.

He smirked. "As you wish."

"Uh, bad Princess Bride reference." she mumbled as his lips hovered over hers.

He paused and looked at her. "What?"

She jerked her head back. "Oh please. You've never heard of the Princess Bride?" when his face remained blank. "You lived such a sheltered life. I'm going to have teach you everything I know so that you can be culturally acceptable."

He arched a brow. "Will that involve one on one lessons? I might enjoy them."

She grinned, a curl of her lips. "I bet you would."

He didn't give her time to say anything else, instead he covered her mouth with his and helped her relive one her many fantasies involving his mouth.

* * *

Mariam strode down the hall towards the infirmary. She'd arrived ten minutes ago, and immediately after depositing her bags in her room and making sure Salima felt a little better, she had headed off in search of Kai. She'd done a lot of thinking while on holidays and she'd determined that what Amber had said was right. Kai was being typically male. He was probably just confused. Scared even that what he felt for her was so strong. Or that's what her friend had said. After all he'd used the excuse of being interested in someone else but looking back, she didn't remember him being around any other girls but her. Unless it was Miyami, her expression darkened.

Miyami was pretty and Kai and her spent time together, and he laughed at things Miyami said, what if- She broke off, she wasn't going to dwell on what ifs. She had made a decision for this year, call it a new year's resolution if you will, but she was going to go out and fight for what she wanted and deserved. Kai and her had been good together, she wanted that back. She'd been a fool to even think about Ozuma in that way. He had never shown an interest in her and she had moved on. She'd done a lot of soul searching during the three weeks off and she figured that was enough time for Kai to have figured out what he wanted.

So now she was going to confront him and she wouldn't let him leave without a believable explanation. And if she didn't get one, then she'd just make him see what he was missing. She'd caught up with Hillary in the mess hall and the brunette had told her she'd heard Kai was sick in the infirmary which was fortunate for Mariam, like fate almost. The infirmary was in an isolated part of the school, great for having a discussion.

She flipped her royal blue hair over her shoulders and tilted her head up, her beautiful angular face void of any makeup displaying a healthy glow. Her sharp jade eyes took in her surroundings as she walked past empty classrooms and into a more deserted corridor whose walls were a clinical white. She hadn't had time to put on her uniform yet, but the red tank top and black jeans were a good combination on her. She looked sexily in control of her destiny, which was how she felt.

Or that's how she felt until she walked into the infirmary.

The sight before her stole her breath. The bright sun was streaming in the window onto the couple. The female was hidden from sight by the form of the male but she figured that the girl was sitting on the counter, her legs wrapped around the trim waist of the male. The male was all too familiar to Mariam's abused eyes. The strong slope of the shoulders, the broad strong back which when naked held a phoenix tattoo on the shoulder blade, the narrow hips and the long legs. It was the two toned blue hair that gave him away naturally enough.

She backed out of the room, blinking away the tears before she tried to compose herself, reassuring herself that the girl was probably just another girl he'd picked up and would drop before the end of the day once he realized she was back. She was sure of it. The kiss they were sharing meant nothing.

She ducked out of the doorway and hid down the corridor, unsure what to say. She wanted to go in and find out who the girl was while another piece of her wanted to run away. But finally her scorned woman side kicked in and she strode into the doorway again. She stood there silently, deciding not to say anything for the moment.

Then unable to curb her impatience any longer, she cleared her throat. "Ahem."

The pair pulled back reluctantly, and Kai pulled back, turning to face her. But she didn't see his face or how he flinched when he saw her. No her gaze was locked on the shocked gaze of her 'supposed' friend Amber. The one who'd comforted her when Kai broke up but of course that was all an act. It made complete sense now. They'd been together behind her back, laughing at her the whole time and when he'd broken up with her, Amber had said those empty words while dancing gleefully on the inside. They probably met up and had a good laugh at her after. God how could she have been so naïve?

"Mariam?"

She sneered at Kai. "Whatever you have to say, I don't want to hear it."

"I think you do." Kai replied grimly.

She watched as he turned to Amber, having to physically turn her face so she could see him. Mariam didn't know why Amber looked like crying, maybe it was because they'd been found out but all Mariam knew was that it was crocodile tears and she couldn't believe she'd trusted the Irish girl. She didn't even know what Kai saw in her. Maybe she would give him what Mariam wouldn't then again Amber didn't have any self-respect. She was worse than Kennedie, pretending to be innocent when she really wasn't.

She missed whatever Kai said, all she saw was Amber mustering up a shaky smile before jumping off the counter, skirt rising slightly as she dropped then falling into place around slim golden legs. Maybe Kai had a taste for the exotic. She watched how Amber walked past her, head bowed and black hair curtaining her face. Probably hiding a smile, Mariam decided as she strode further into the room closing the door behind her. She crossed to one of the beds and sat down on it, crossing her knee over the other and showing him a nonchalant expression.

"I'm with Amber now." There was no soft words, no sugar coating it, Kai got straight to the point.

"And when did this happen?"

"New Years Eve."

"Oh so you weren't seeing her behind my back?" she challenged.

"Of course not. I don't cheat on the girl I'm with."

"No you just dump her and move onto the next one."

"It wasn't like that. You're degrading it."

Mariam raised a sculpted brow. "You honestly think I'm just going to believe you dumped me for Amber?"

"I didn't dump you for anyone. I care about Amber-"

"And what about me? What was I?"

He ran his hands through his hair frustratedly, mussing it sexily. "It's different."

"Of course. Is that what you're telling her?"

"What do you mean?" he asked slowly, his eyes narrowing on hers.

She rolled her eyes and sighed disgustedly. "Why her Kai?"

Her shook his head. "It's hard to explain." at her dark look, he added. "It's a combination of things. I didn't want to feel like this about her. We were supposed to be enemies, she hated me, it was hardly the smartest idea I had, falling for a girl who couldn't stand to be near me."

"So what changed?"

"I don't know. Maybe she never hated me as much as I thought she did. The point is, we're together now, that's not changing. She never betrayed you and you have no right to try and make her feel like she has just to break us up."

Mariam opened her mouth to deny it but he held up a hand, shushing her.

"Don't say you wouldn't do that if you had the chance. Despite everything you know the type of person she is. I won't let you take her from me. And if I find out you've tried playing mind games with her, I'll make your life a misery."

"You're making me sound like the wicked witch of the west. I don't play mind games and not with my friends." she spat angrily. "You can do whatever you like, but hurt her and I'll hurt you. But this in no way makes things between us any better." she got to her feet, barely concealing the hurt in her eyes as she walked out of the door, ignoring Amber as she passed her.

Amber walked into the room and tucked a tongue in her cheek. "Well… I expected a big explosion and for her to hurl accusations. How come no one reacts like a time bomb any more? They're ruining my expectations."

Kai sighed, placing an arm around her shoulder and pulling her closer. He'd worked himself up into believing Mariam would do anything to get him back and that she'd hurt Amber if she had a chance and now everything was over and he wasn't sure what had just happened. "You ok?"

"Oh yeah, completely fine…" she bit her lip. "I don't know I expected a bigger reaction. No big reactions freak me out, they make me paranoid."

He rested his cheek on her head. "We'll just keep an eye on her then."

Her hand sought his. "Ok. Oh, and um, tell Rei that Mulan isn't the only film. I also want to watch Topgun but I'm fast forwarding through all the mushy bits."

He nodded. "Ok. I have to head to class, will you be ok?"

"Sure. I'll get Salima some aspirins and head back to my dorm for Rush."

"Rush?"

"Russia Kennedy." she informed him as she walked over to the cabinet and hoked about a bit before producing a key and heading for the medicine cabinet. "You won't know her, she used to attend here."

"She my cousin."

Her head snapped round. "Really? Yeowch. Oh well, great. At least no introductions need to be done, on your Mom's side?"

"Dad's."

"Well you can see her at lunch." she crossed back to him and offered her mouth to him. His hands seized her hip bringing her into electrifying contact with him, his mouth deepening the kiss, trying to pour everything he was feeling into her. Needing her to know that nothing would take her from him. Nothing. He released her slowly, enjoying the dazed satisfaction expressed on her face. He caught her hand, lifting it to brush his lips over it.

"I'll see you later."

"Ok." she whispered and blew out a breath when he was gone. Frowning she folded her arms and headed out of the infirmary. Mariam's reaction really annoyed her. She'd been expecting something completely different so now she was completely clueless as to how she'd approach her friend. All the same though, she still had Kai. He hadn't left her on seeing Mariam. Ha, put that in your pipe and smoke it, Clover. With a slightly lighter load, she headed back to her dorm with the intention of coming up with a plan to take out the enemies of the Octopussy's once and for all.

* * *

**Here we go, the end of this, the eighteenth installment of Smells like Team Spirit. I hope you all enjoyed it and please leave a review so I can see what you enjoyed and what I can do to make the upcoming chapters more enjoyable.**

**Luvz Fluffy-Sama**: Ah me thought so. I don't know, Kagome and Sesshy, that would be weird but probably works. Wow Wyatt Austin, what a cool name.

**Kitty Kris: **Yeah this fic is massive. I'm worried about how long it is and doesn't show signs of becoming shorter, lol. Yes, Finally Amber and Kai are together after so long. (Sigh) Yeah poor Mariam, but oh well that's probably not the last we'll see of her.

**Signourney: **Oh don't worry about reviewing all the time. I'm just glad people read my stuff and enjoy it. I think when you're comfortable in a group and know that no matter what you say that no one will ever think bad of you that you can act natural and that gives you confience to come out of your shell. There does seem to be a trend of young women dating much, much older men especially in the celebrity world, it's almost disturbing. Ooh a beyblade forum, I only found out the less obvious dubs when my friend Mike sent me a website of pictures for the beybladers and if you passed your mouse cursor over the picture, a name would pop up that I didn't recognize. And you're right, Boris and Bryan is the worst one they did. What were they thinking? For some reason, I just do prefer the dub names for the Beyblade series where as I prefer the Japanese for Cardcaptor Sakura (besides Tory is a really feminine type name for Touya or is that me?) and as for Sailor moon, I don't mind either way. I can handle both versions because Serena's not a bad name and Raye never changed anyway, neither did Mina much. Ugh, I suppose I don't mind Brooklyn too much now that I know his background and that he wasn't truly evil... god that cost me saying that, lol. I had to choke it out. Kai has the worst moodswings in Beyblade, really he changes so fast. He was the loner in the first series, fine I can understand that, and then he opens to his team mates gradually, that's normal but then suddenly in the second series he's inviting Zeo to join them... from Rei, I could understand it, but from Kai it seemed to come out of the blue. I guess he was naturally going to open up but I love Kai or my version of him, lol! I adore Tala and I was furious when they changed him so abruptly for the third season. Hello, Tala went through puberty and got a shower which dulled his colouring...¬¬ It's a pity he didn't know about those little color preserving sheets that people use for their laundry to keep their bright outfits bright! LOL, Tala could do an advertisement for them, before and after. Well I would watch soccer, like I watched Liverpool versus Ac Milan or was it them? Meh, it was something like that for the Champions league or something even though I'm not a Liverpool fan, I support Man Utd. But I always loved the Mighty Ducks and I play NHL 2005 on my playstation so I know a decent amount of hockey and it's so fast and there's a big emphasis on team work and you aren't hauled up for charges or sent to court for like hitting another player like they could be in soccer. I have not got the patience to be a teacher, I admire anyone who can be a teacher yet I would love to be able to inspire younger people to do better in their lives. I guess I have the nature to be a teacher, just not the patience. Yeah I wasn't too sure about Mariah in the beginning when I would see her in the title song piece, ya know the music and the clips and stuff, it was the pink that creeped me out but then when she was on the show for a while and the way she helped out Rei even though he wasn't on her team, she's great. LOL, that line of thought by Kai isn't exactly sweet is it, lol. Yeah Bryan had a tough past and now I think people understand why he's so protective of Amber, because I know people were ticked off with him but now they can sort of see. No, sixteen is not too young but I think Bryan is just twitchy about letting someone get too close to him. Voltaire's a dick as simple as that. No I don't think I had even seen it but I was writing the banter between them and I was like, and Nicolai said and then that blurts out and I was oh! Cool:uncharacteristically girly squeal: LOL. 39 pages in tahoma nine font is long but chapter twenty is turning out to be my longest yet, the second part is already something like 39 in Verdana and I still have loads more to write, so man, it's long. But you'll enjoy it, I hope.Beyblade-gal: I'm glad you liked this chapter. Hey it's me, would I break them up?

**Aki Kunikata: **Do you not ever get angry or frustrated with something, whether it's with your computer or the basket ball or something? I constantly yell at my computer, curse at my now broken playstation and whine at the basket ball, it never goes in the net! It's so annoying. I'm so short! Shahero and Hitoshi get bigger pieces in chapter nineteen and twenty, big piece in twenty, major piece in 22... yeah 22. I haven't written it but I gauge that to be correct. I love sarcasm, well more pithy comments, lol.

**Flurobandaid: **LOL screw the team, such brilliant imagery from the mind of Kai Hiwatari, lol. There's quite a lot of related fics, isn't there? You wouldn't notice them when they're updated so infrequently (nudges Coors, Destructive Habit, Arcada, Understudy, Animerle, Zimo, Sae and Kindred Insanity) but yeah there are a lot of stories with the octopussies featured but I like that. It's fun to read about how Russia and Aspin react to things and how Arista's mind works or how Shahero copes with Hitoshi. When writing so much Amber, it's a refreshing change to read about people I feel like I know amost as well. You read all that and still got half of your assignment done:bows down: I whorship you! Me, I procrastinate to the very final moment, throw somethings together and hope for the best. If I'm reading, I get nothing done... Luckily my mother knows nothing of this or my lack of attention so she hasn't taken my books from me yet, lol. I don't use Frosted too much, do I? It always reminds me of Bryan for some reason. Well in Ireland, we don't have ice, we have grass and grass and some more grass. We're not the emerald isle for nothing, but I hated field hockey but I loved the Mighty Ducks and then Belfast got an ice hockey team and I was hooked. Though there is only one Irish person on the Belfast Giants team. That's embarrassing. You did figure skating? Cool! I use to watch Torvill and Dean and was mesmerized by the movements and the fluidity and I admired it more after trying to ice skate and landing on my ice more times than possible. Slap shots are the big hitting types of shots from like the blue line that cause the puck to whis through the air like a black blur. I have no idea where the Mariah and Kirby pizza thing came from at all. Tamara is the girl who hangs around Miguel like a bad smell, lol, rhymes! Amber's simplicity and light heartedness amuse me but despite that, she's just as troubled as most teenagers she just doesn't go to extremes to solve her problems. I like the person she's become through the story, still as bratty as ever but she's a loveable brat. I don't set out for the lines to be funny though, the quirky lines just come to me and I just write it down, it's not really intended to be humerous but at the same time, I know it's not going to piss anyone off or send them into dire depression either. Bryan will find someone, don't worry. I would never ever leave Bryan alone. I never actually compared Amber to Cher, but now you mention it, I see the similarities though it was purely unintentional. I happen to watch cartoons, I find them far more interesting than soaps sometimes. But Cher's cool so I don't mind that comparison at all. Floundering reminds me of the little mermaid for some odd reason. I have no idea why that is... weird. Sharps is a word? Ooh... I'm learning! Ah now for Amber's eating disorder, I know where you're coming from. It is hard to eat in front of people if you have ever had a eating disorder, though Amber's was never about calories, it was about just being too lazy to eat and she'd put it off and you can see still that she doesn't eat much, se'll pick at it and will go without lunch sometimes too but Bryan discreetly makes her eat, but lollipops aren't a problem. Junk food that is simple and quick and can be ate on the go is fine for her. She knows she has to eat something other wise she'll make herself direly sick. But I do know where you're coming from. With different people, the mind set is different and she's recovering, slowly but surely. She's certainly not going to be tucking into a three course meal anytime soon. But at least I know your paying attention, if you feel Amber is acting very out of character for a recovering person with an eating disorder then feel free to point it out, if I didn't notice it I'll fix it and if I have a reason for it, I'll try to explain. I don't make light of peope with food disorders because I know how it affects people's lives. Voltaires a dick! As for Daichi, I sort of base his relationship with Amber on my relationship with my brother Bryan and my friendship with Mike, lol. Intrafamilial relationship... icky! Doesn't make it sound any better. Did he not bite her when she said that? He sort of bit her, lol. I'm sorry about the Desert thing, I didn't notice it until after I'd posted it which happens to me a lot but I did think up this cool running conversation between Enrique and Amber about Desert and Dessert and Shark infested custard. It will all make sense when I write it, I hope. Guyatus is good! Um, DC is being written but slowly. And LoveHate was mine but it got deleted for the shower scene, oops. But I'm glad you like this, hope you enjoy this chapter too.

**Lcsaf: **Yeah hijacking the hotdog vendors really seems like a good idea until you do it and the guy who knows how to make the hotdoggy goodness jumps ship!

**Armith-Greenleaf: **Yeowch you sound really stressed out. Hope my chapter alleviated some of that stress. I gave up on numbers, as Dave once said, I suffer from Discalculous... I'm not sure if that's real or not but I can't work with numbers at all. Wow, if they broke up you'd be severely pissed huh? I don't think they're afraid that Kai's going to mess up it's more like they don't want either of them hurt or in Bryan's case he doesn't want Amber hurt. Did I send you L/H? I can't remember. Well I'm more a creative arty person who can't create any art but me and Science, well we don't get along, lol. It's too structured for me, I like to be able to have many answers and to draw my own conclusion instead of someone telling me how it should be but I admire those who can do science. I have now solved how Hitoshi will confess, I like it, it's very Hitoshi-ish. Oh God Amber would be so bored in Kai's mind and Kai would be driven completely insane then again, Amber does tend to just say what she thinks at times, the more shocking the better. Hmm, maybe I'll stick that on a banner for him, lol. Well what do you think of Mariam's reaction? It's not finished yet. ah the longer the review the better, lol. Shows I'm loved!

**cynical.life: **Oh the length of my chapters is getting beyond a joke now. I really shouldn't write about just one day in each chapter because so many characters and so many things happen and it just keeps going. But at the same time, I'm having too much fun writing this so I'm not giving it up ever.

**Destructive Habit: **Hey, how're you? The James scene cracked me up, I could just see it so well in my mind and Amber's reaction, the girl just has got no shame. LOL!

**Chikaitou-411: **I'm going to go more into the other couples but it may just be bits here and there because they're not the main pairing because Amber and Kai are the main couple and it's hard to write about couples that I haven't read interacting together. Wow over an hour? Shit... really the length is getting ridiculous.

**Paris Super Girls: **Heylo! I'm grand, you? I'm glad your exams are over and that you passed. I'm so proud of you! Yeah Kai really enjoys cartoons, lol! I'll find someone for Salima and Mariam, don't worry. Mariah's great and no Miguel yet, but there will be a big Miguel and Kirby moment in chapter twenty part one. Um... There will be Arista and Brooklyn soon too, lol. Glad you like the pairings, I adore them too. Amber just doesn't show that she cares what people think, but she has good cares who love her for who she is so she doesn't have to pretend to be someone she isn't. Um, I'm not sure if I'll put him with Kassie, I think I have someone else in mind for him. Well Kai isn't a direct heir, Voltaire can choose between Kai or Russia but he really just wants to control everyone. Yeah poor James, (snickers) Well it was sweet revenge for Amber. Aw I'm glad my chapters don't make you sad or disappointed.

**Observant- not mean: **Yes, Kai and Amber are together, there should be like a blue moon in the sky or a fan fare or something like that. Yeah poor Bryanny but he has people who care about him, not just in his family but his team cares too though they may not snuggle up to him. (points up) See the Brooklyn? Well, it started out being a Brooklyn piece and then slowly turned into a Mystel piece, but for me he steals the show anyway, lol.

**Coors: **Voltaire is a humungous ass, or has one which is why he wears that cloak to hide it, lol! Well a sweet seems like a tame thing for them to fight over, lol.

**ButterCup: **Oh hey I know what being a third wheel is like and it does suck because you've been there for your friends and then suddenly their lives are revolving around this one being. It sucks! I'm so pleased that people like Bryan now, he was getting horrible stuff said about him because of his attitude towards Amber.

**Nyx: **LOL Amber and Shahero and their little antics crack me up. They're both so uniquely odd but in an adorable sort of way. I'm glad you liked the fluff though I wouldn't know sugar coated fluff... I don't like the sound of sugar coated fluff, sounds like it would give you a tooth ache, I hope I don't give people tooth aches.

**Ryouya-Kyuuketsuki: **LOl. I don't think guys can keep their pervy thoughts to themselves. I think it's some kind of way they have to prove that they're guys by showing that they can be disgusting about girls. Yeah the guys, well it's just Tala and Bryan and they're naturally protective of Amber because she's like their little sister and all males are protective of the female in their family. As for Nicolai, he's protective of both his son and goddaughter, not just Amber but of Kai too, he doesn't want his son to get hurt.

**G--b-S-t-E-r07: **Yeah, lots of Kai and Amber to make up for the lack of Shahero and Hitoshi. The Kai and Bryan scene does seem to be proving quite popular with you guys. I really enjoyed writing it and getting into Kai's head when there's a big scary Russian glaring at you. I love Bryan, completely and utterly adore him though I can't honestly say what got me so obsessed with him, it certainly wasn't his wonderful scenes in Beyblade... (sarcasm) But it's the same deal with Ian, I guess I'm a softie and adore everyone. Well if you put an explosive couple like Amber and Kai together, you're going to end up with a nuclear reaction, good or bad. I guess Nicolai just saw it as a worse case scenario prevention. Teenagers are prone to spark off each other when pushed together and eventually the spark dies, Nicolai's just doesn't want either his son or his goddaughter to hurt each other because it will mess with his team and with his family too. As for Kai, well he's being ruled by his hormones and maybe something else. He likes being around Amber so he doesn't see why he should give her up. As for James, well I had to introduce him sometime. Lmao! Oh man... Hurray for Kai! As for the Xmen, I don't know how anyone can not watch that show. It's pure genius... It's what makes the world what it is... well maybe not but who cares, Remy's hot! LOL.

**eMiLy06: **Yeah poor Kai but oh well, he's got himself mixed up in a really tight family. They're going to go easy on him from now on, including Bryan. I will try to put in mor Ruin and Tala, they don't really have much hardships because neither of them is particularly high matainance. But they will have their moment very soon!

**Kaieashakai: **I'm glad you found the chapter funny, it was great to write. Kai couldn't dump Amber, it would be so horrible. And Bryan will be lying low for a while but he's growing to accept Kai.

**Voodoo-People: **Yeah the tension could have been cut with a knife, lol. Yeah Amber went practicing in her pj's without noticing... not sure how that happened, but in the morning, she's not the most coherent of people. The ants are brilliant. I love that part, doesn't matter what I'm doing, when that scene comes on I have to watch it.

**Galactic-Girl-Amber: **Amber's got no shame, huh? I think I'd have laughed too, her father's face must have been hilarious. I couldn't have split up Kai and Amber, I needed to write some fluff for them to keep the masses happy, lol.

**Alexys: **Oh you're so sweet! Love/Hate was deleted because of explicit content, namely the shower scene so that's why it's no longer on Fanfiction. I may be doing a remake of it soon, so look out for that.

**SewMyHeartUp: **Chapter sixteen is a great chapter, but there are still loads of good ones yet to come, I hope but that's the first kiss and everyone always remembers that. Oh thank you, I'm glad you like all of my fictions. You have an great taste for variety because my stories seem to have quite a lot of differences. But different is good.

**Sakura Silvy: **It probably wasn't the best timed entrance James has ever done but it was good for comic relief. Yeah Bryan had a pretty depressing past but he has a good present now. Nicolai just doesn't want Kai to get hurt or Amber for that matter. Sometimes parents do what they think is best at the time.

**v-ball212: **Yea it was an intriguing plot twist from Nicolai. Well maybe you'll see their choice and maybe you won't, I can't say, lol. I'm glad it's getting better and better, and not worse and worse, because that would suck! Lol!

**Arcada: **Yeah my chapters are becoming more and more longer. Cool, I'm glad you feel that way about my fics. Hehe, yeah Brooklyn and Arista on the ice... (whistles innocently) I'm saying nothing. I think Bryan and Kai will develop a mutual respect, neither could find the other annoying as they're both quiet people. I don't know if Bryan's got the most personality, but he's certainly come a long way from the anime Bryan, lol. Yeah, but even if jean is a fashionable lady, she'd also a mother so I don't think the swollen ankles would have bothered her too much. Jeans are bloody uncomfortable to nap in, never mind sleep in. They make you too hot. Yeah Bryan does care a lot for Amber and the feeling is mutual which is a good thing. He needs someone to care about him. Well did no one else see the Spidey and Tala thing? They do have the red and blue thing going for them. It was evolution that they were watching, it was the second last of the series or something, it was the last one that I saw anyways. I don't know, my writing is ok, I'm not saying it's bad but I mean I look at how you word your review and you have such a talent with the language and describing things, it's awesome and humbling that you think I'm good. Um... Arcada, you're pretty close to insane as it is... so um... yeah. I have no idea how Amber will get revenge on DC but I'm sure she will sometime. Oh I'm not finished with Hitoshi and Shahero yet. I'm not finished with any of the couples quite yet, lol.

**Zimo: **Surely someone else has written a scene where Kai tells Voltaire where to get off! I mean, what is so scary about Voltaire? Maybe if Kai was a weak four year old he'd have reason to fear the auld fart, but Kai isn't. He's a mature grown up with a brain, Voltaire is not that scary and I just wanted to show that. Of course, Voltaire does have the whole intimidating thing going for him but he's an old man with really long hair and tuft! LOL! Only I wasn't so sure of the scene myself. It seemed a bit off but maybe that's me. I've decided that maybe Russia has to do like a monthly urine test to make sure she's not using anymore, she might have had like a small problem a while ago while in Ireland so that could be a condition for coming back that she has to give them samples. Anyway, how did Russia seem to you? You as an English teacher, lol! I'll try to put in Hans soon, he doesn't go to the school but he hangs around Preston so we'll meet him soon enough, hopefully.

**BeautifulxDeath: **Interesting name chica. Ugh, my internet has been on the fritz lately so I'm only getting on once a week or so and I can never predict which day I'll be on or not, ya know. I need to update faster? Really? Hmm this from the girl who disappears on me, humph! Oh well, I'll try to keep the updates flowing if you'll do the same, how's that sound? Ooh, Kane and Aspin living together, that's like I don't know... a recipe for disaster? No wait, even disaster would look good against those two, lol.

**Seraphism: **Yo little man. No as you know the phone line is not fixed and is in fact getting worse. (growls) I don't know... I'm just writing and writing for the sake of writing and then suddenly I have a chapter, but it's because I have so many characters to write with and I want them all to have a piece, ya know so it gets pretty long. (sigh) I'm not going to be able to get Tekken 5 and I wanted it so much. (sobs) You got the perfect ending, you never told me what the perfect ending was. I'll never know. It's now what eight weeks, longer? God I don't know. Oh well.

**Feeding Ground: **LOL yeah I don't seem to let anyone catch a break do I? I mean that was supposed to be a happy chapter... yea didn't seem that happy, did it? 2 hours of homework time? Wow... that's... wow! Um... yeah I guess they are cute. My god, it was kind of hard to write those two together because it was like, one minute they're fighting and now I'm writing them as a couple... humph weird. But it's now working for me. I had to just adjust myself to them no longer hating but loving... or not, lol. Oh sorry, I meant I wasn't writing anymore for that chapter. I had finished it at like whenever Daichi was chased out of the room but it felt unfinished and I sent it to Coors and she agreed, but Court said it was fine. And I was struck with some inspiration so I tried writing some more and then five pages or so later, I had an ending I was satisfied with and it was like 39 pages in Tahoma nine font, so I was like, no not writing anymore, close the document Gems. LOl. So sorry for the scare, didn't mean it like that. Oh I'm a hopeless case when it comes to writing it, I know I have other stories to write, but it's like, nah I wanna write SLTS... it's pathetic. I wasn't so sure that people were going to like this one, i brought it out before Love/Hate, it was my first official Beyblading story and I didn't think too many people liked it, so I retried it and I'm so glad Moi inspired me to write more because you're right lots of people enjoy it and for that I'm so glad that I can touch so many people with just this one story. It's nothing special but I love it. The way I see it, don't give up on your story just because there isn't as many people reading as you'd like. I know it may feel disheartening, but it's better to write for yourself instead of writing for others. You feel so much more fulfilled if you are writing for yourself.

**Wanted: **Yello! Ok so um... yay you read... you have nothing and are speaking in a foreign language I can't even be arsed to try and translate but at least I know you've read. So go you! Lol.

**Untoachable: **I'll try to get around to reading your fic, I make no promises because my internet isn't a nice internet and when I'm on it's usually just to talk to my friends but if I can I'll try to read your fic to make your life complete.

**Miss Wright: **I don't think I do top myself, ya know. Lol, top myself sounds like I kill myself, god different countries and their different slang. Anyways, some chapters don't feel as complete as others, while some scenes seem better than others. It's just how my mood is on that day, ya know. But I'm glad you enjoy every chapter, that makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside. Yeah I wasn't sure whether to bring in Lord Volty or not, but I figured, why the heck not. I'd mentioned him so I figured he could pop in, get his ass kicked and leave... or maybe he hasn't. (gasp) Yeah I feel bad for Kai, everyone seems pitched against him for no good reason. In most fics the guy always gets the bad deal because he does something wrong, so I'm going for a different swing on it. Getting a bad deal just for breathing the wrong way, lol. Chapter seventeen was supposed to be just about Amber and Kai, but the biggest piece was about Bryan and I was glad to develop his character a bit more so you can all understand his motives and you'll begin to see how Bryan develops through this story too. Oh I'd love to be able to just write 12-15 pages, maybe my chapters would be shorter but I just start babbling along and then 30 pages later I think, ok done, moving on, lol.

**Fire Spirit of Hell: **Well technically, the main pairing is Amber and Kai, so I wanted to develop them more for the plot line... and there is a spider on my floor! Dammit! Sorry, now writing this while standing on my chair. Anyways, I will focus more on the other couples too but Amber and Kai are the main pairing for this fic, they are the reason I kind of wrote it but the others seemed to grow in the story too until they kind of became equals so I will do more on them. This is not the beginning of the decline. Like in stories, there's the beginning, the incline leading up to the climax which was the chapter sixteen where Amber and Kai kissed, now we're on the decline arc and after that will be the ending, scary huh? Kassie was the waitress in the Friars Rest. He is a sadistic bastard, I don't like him one bit. Well incorporating ice hockey wasn't so hard when my favorite film is the Mighty Ducks and I've watched a lot of films for children with sports in them and I figured why not write one. After all beyblade is a sport and it's incorporated into most fics so why not do a refreshing change? I have never played Ice hockey ever unless it's on the PS2 and that doesn't count for much, lol, but the ice hockey is only a minor thing of the fic, it's just the reason this group of people have been brought together, not the reason they're all friends though and it's the friendships I love most about this fic.

**Caroline**: Oh a shrivelled up Voltaire, would anyone actually notice the difference? It is truly gross isn't it? But Collin's slightly weird, he could possibly bea sex pest or something to that extent, I heard he propositions quite a lot of people. Icky! Well I'll walk into Lynn's house via the back door and Erin's house too if the doors aren't locked, but usually if someone's in the house they aren't locked. I remember being at Erins and I was in her brothers room and he was on the PS and we heard the door open and close. So we asked him to go out and check the house in case it's a burglar or something, but he wouldn't leave the PS, so I had to do it. Very creepy, lol.


	19. Of Gnomes and Virgin Blood

****

Dedication: For Coors and Yoshi who put up with my melodrama and claims to quit writing every time my writing beats me. You guys rock!

Check out the title of this chapter… God knows where it came from. I'm hyper right now. Three and a half hours sleep and a party to remember, man I feel good. Though, guys I'm not losing this story so I guess I can't reply to my reviewers anymore… or can I? See I figure that when I post a chapter, I should post a note in my live journal -the url can be found in my bio- with my review replies. What do you think guys? All questions will be answered there and we won't run the risk of losing my babies. I think it's the only compromise and doesn't seem to like me too much, I can't risk pushing them.

Chapter Nineteen - Of Gnomes and virgin blood

The biology lab was stuffy and warm, not the best environment for the already sleepy students. Add in a droning teacher with a monotone voice and the result was a glazed eyed Sonia. The fact that Sonia usually paid rapt attention to the Professor and the fact that she usually found biology to be a fascinating subject didn't matter. She was so BORED! She couldn't get over how bored she actually was. Glancing around the class room she noted that Arista had resorted to reading her manga under the bench while Russia was scoring her name onto the wooden edge. Amber was lost in thought while Kane was dozing silently beside her, every so often the dark haired girl would nudge him gently prompting him to awaken. The only reason he was getting away with it was because the blinds were drawn and the lights were off for the slide presentation.

She stifled a yawn and blinked away the liquid filling her eyes. This brought a new meaning to being bored to tears or maybe this was where the term came from. She couldn't even take notes! She couldn't concentrate on anything and she couldn't sleep because every time she let her mind drift, it drifted to Ozuma and that just made her heart ache. She was so confused, well maybe not as confused as she had been these past couple of months. Russia had talked to her and pointed out a few home truths to her. Home truths that had hurt but it made her see everything in a clear light. She had kissed Ozuma. It was still weighing heavily on her mind. She'd kissed him while under the influence of alcohol but she wanted to do it again and waiting for him to do it again when he hadn't actually done it in the first place was just plain stupid.

She chewed on her bottom lip and considered what exactly she was going to do. She was going to kiss Ozuma. All her friends were loved up, except for Arista and Russia, but that was different. They didn't want a guy at the moment and she did. No, correction she didn't just want a boy she wanted Ozuma. Her gaze wandered over to him. He was sitting to her right in the front row beside Enrique because he'd been made to swap with Amber when she and the Italian decided to get rid of their boredom with a game of bloody knuckles. They got one round before Amber yelped and jumped off the stool, startling the teacher and entertaining the class.

Ozuma was gazing into the distance, his gaze just as glazed as hers had been. Every so often he'd close his eyes or stifle a yawn, shifting in his seat. The light from the slide projector illuminated his face in a soft glow making his features seem more defined. The red stripe was softer and glints of light caught his charcoal hair. His mouth was curved round the top of his pen as he sucked softly on it and watching him had her crossing her legs uncomfortably.

She removed her glasses and began to rub the lenses with the edge of her sweater before sliding them back into place. Suddenly the whole class jolted as the skies overhead the school grumbled and opened, releasing a flood of rain that lashed against the surrounding grounds and bounced off the open windows, the drip, drip of fat drops becoming as rhythmic as a metronome.

Mr. Cotton paused in his lecture and frowned out at the rain. Clearing his throat, he turned back to his slide show. He knew most of his class wasn't listening, but it was Friday and there was a match the next night so he didn't really expect it. "There are two types of metamorphosis. In the first the young insects hatching from the eggs resemble the adult in general appearance but do not have wings. These are known as nymphs-"

"Sir, why are they called Nymphs?"

He scanned the benches and slumped when he caught sight of Arista Belyaev watching him expectantly while Russia Kennedy, the new girl, buried her face in her folded arms. "Because that's what they're called. Why are you called Arista?"

"Um, because my mom named me Arista." she replied in an obvious tone.

"Well there you go."

"That makes no sense."

He resisted rolling his eyes as Amber's voice broke into the conversation. "And why is that Miss Benson?"

"Well, technically nymph is a term for what they are. Arista isn't a term, it's a name not a noun. Wouldn't nymph be the equivalent of girl?"

"And isn't a nymph a mythological creature?"

"Yeah one of those goddesses with the shapely figures…" Enrique trailed off, his eyes glazing over his hands absently tracing out the shapely figure.

"Enrique, you perv."

"Miss Benson, please keep your observations to yourself. Mr. Giancarlo, if you haven't got anything sensible to say, then please refrain from saying anything at all." he blew out a breath. "Now back to Metamorphosis. This form of metamorphosis where the hatchling resembles the adult is called incomplete metamorphosis as it isn't a complete change unlike the change from a caterpillar to a butterfly. Now you know how that works, so I want you to draw out the cycle of the Butterfly. If you can't remember it, refer to page 59, figure 13.5."

Sonia blinked as the lights flooded on and lit up the room and the comforting whir of the projector shut down. Opening her not book she set about preparing her page in it's usual neat format. She didn't see the point of scribbling things down, the chances were that you wouldn't be able to read it when it came to revising for the exams.

A cool breeze blew into the room and caused a shiver to pass through it as it pressed against the base of her neck. She sucked in a breath and hunched her shoulders, trying to concentrate on the diagram before her and not the temperature of the room.

"Someone close the window." she tensed at the voice as her heart tumbled leisurely.

She glanced up and over at Ozuma, smiling gratefully when she caught his gaze. He simply nodded in her direction before turning his attention back to his work. She sighed softly and swinging her foot, she began to sketch out the butterfly, linking it to the egg by a precise arched arrow in red ink. Her neat script labeled the various important points on its body.

"Um… what is that?"

She paused and looked over her shoulder to wear Amber was leaning over Kane to look at his diagram while he tried to keep it from her gaze. Not one to listen to his body language telling her to back off, Amber grabbed the book out from under him and studied the art critically.

"Is it a mutant butterfly?"

"Lemme see." Arista piped up from her spot in front of them.

Kane growled. "Give it back."

"Oh my god it's Butterfree."

Amber studied it again and her face lit up with glee. "Oh wow, Kane watches Pokemon!"

"Piss off!"

"It so is Butterfree."

"Aw Kane what's your favorite Pokemon? Pikachu?"

Kane shot Arista a dark glare before snatching his book back and returning back to his work while the other two girls just shrugged and sighed boredly.

Sonia shook her head. Kane was still stressed from his encounter with Johnny last week. He and Aspin were still together and though the anniversary surprise was screwed, they'd had a nice day last Saturday with him taking her out to a nice dinner away from the school. Whatever else they'd done remained between them since Sonia wasn't one to pry. She left that to the other girls. As for Johnny and Miyami. Well there wasn't much progress there. Johnny was too proud to apologize to her and Miyami wasn't going to speak to him until she had an apology and a reason for his actions. So it was a stalemate.

"SHIT!"

"Mr. Benson?"

Sonia's head snapped up and her gaze whipped silently to where Ozuma was standing over his desk with his hand over his mouth.

"Ozuma what's wrong?" Cotton asked approaching him.

"He broke his pen." Enrique explained promptly producing the biro with ink running down the insides.

"Did you swallow any?" Ozuma shook his head but still said nothing. "Well go get yourself cleaned up."

With a nod of his head, the jade eyed boy headed out of the biology lab ignoring his cousins' comment of him having blue blood. Just as the silence returned to the room, the bell shrilled loudly through the school and the students scrambled to their feet, hurriedly shoving their books into their bags and making a fast exit to get to the Dining Hall in good time. Sonia took her time and then moved to where Ozuma had sat.

"It's ok Enrique, I'll get his stuff packed."

The blond grinned brightly. "Thanks Sunny. Yo, Ams wait up!"

"What do you want now?" came the dry retort from the Irish girl as she headed out of the lab quickly followed by the Italian.

Sonia laughed softly before picking up Ozuma's books and placing them in his bag almost reverently. His scent clung to the bag and she found it innately comforting. Slinging her own bag over her shoulder, she lifted his and frowned at how light it seemed. Didn't he carry any books in this bag?

"Sonia?"

She yelped and spun round guiltily dropping his bag, flushing when she caught sight of his standing in the door way watching her with stormy eyes. "Oh hey Ozuma."

"What were you doing with my bag?"

"Oh, I was going to bring it to you. Since the bell rang while you were in the toilet, I figured it would save you the trip here." she mustered up a shaky smile but didn't trust herself to walk to him while her limbs felt like water.

"Thanks."

Her brow furrowed slightly. Thanks? That's all he had to say to her? For some odd reason, she felt very disappointed in his answer. "Oh well, it was no trouble."

He nodded simply and grabbed his bag, slinging it over his shoulder. He moved for the door, then looked back at her. "You heading to lunch?"

She bobbed her head, not feeling quite up speaking.

"Wanna walk with me?"

A small kernel of hope lit up inside her and she beamed at him as she fell into step with him. "So how much ink did you swallow?"

"It wasn't that bad. My mouth is just stained blue."

She chuckled. "How many times has that happened to you? You should have learned your lesson by now."

"You'd think so, wouldn't you?" he murmured. "But then there are those days that nothing happens. It's like everything else, you have to take a chance."

Somehow she got the feeling they were no longer talking about him sucking on his pens which was a really bad habit he had. "I guess so. Oh, hey, would you do me a really big favor?"

He regarded her warily. Years of hearing this same phrase from his cousin gave him cause to be nervous. "What is it?"

"Schedule in some time for me." when his brows lifted, she quickly added. "For practice, you know the song for Open Day."

He nodded. "Sure. No problem. Would tomorrow afternoon suit you?"

Again came the sun bright grin. "Sure. Oh but don't you have practice? What with the game tomorrow night wouldn't Mr. Hiwatari have you guys in Practice tomorrow?"

He shook his head. "Nah. We have a very loose practice this evening, a team meeting tomorrow afternoon before we get the bus to Harveston."

"Is their team any good?" she questioned silently desperate to keep this interaction between them going.

"They're not bad. We'll play our best and hopefully win."

"Can't be easy with Kai being sick."

"Kai's only a member of the team." Ozuma repeated what the bluenette had said when he'd mentioned the same thing earlier that day after Kai had almost keeled over in English, almost giving Amber a heart attack. Turned out Kai had a stomach bug. Mrs. Tate said it should be finished by tomorrow afternoon but it was up to Coach whether he'd play or not. For the moment he was sleeping it off.

"I guess. And you're a great Vice Captain, so I suppose it won't be too hard."

Ozuma smiled softly at her and had her insides turning to goop. He really had a great smile but there was always a constant intensity surrounding him. As if there was a torrent of high velocity emotion running just under the surface. The thought of seeing him release that primal darkness within him sent a shiver down her spine. He was always so in control all the time, she never really saw him lose his temper or his cool. He kept it on a tight leash most of the time.

Averting her gaze, she tucked a golden strand behind her ear and removed her glasses, taking a moment to let her eyes adjust before tucking the glasses into the v of her sweater. She watched as Ozuma rolled up his sleeves and looked at his watch.

"Oh sorry, Suns, I've got to go. I have an essay to hand in to Tate before lunch ends, I'll be back in a few minutes."

"Oh, ok. I'll head on and keep you a seat." she offered, noting the subtle surprise in his gaze before the slow smile spread over his face.

"Thanks."

With a grin, she waved him off and walked down the corridor, her gait determined as she realized what she had to do. But she'd need help.

0-0-0

"The DVD player is broken."

Enrique groaned at Rei's announcement. "Spence can't fix it?"

"He says it's pretty much fried."

"What about the Video player?"

"Gone. My guess is one of the faculty stole it."

"Well that supremely sucks." Amber quipped from her position on Enrique's back. "So is the film night going to be cancelled?"

"Well there are no films on tonight so I guess so." Rei looked up as a loud clap of thunder echoed over head and the lights flickered. "I hate this kind of weather."

"Why? I love it." Amber almost gushed with bright eyes.

Enrique nudged her. "That's because it reminds you of Kai."

"Alright put me down Blondie so everyone can agree that when I kick your ass that it was a fair fight."

The blond snickered as he released her legs and she dropped down, bouncing on the balls of her feet back into balance.

"Hope the electricity goes out. Classes will have to be cancelled." he mused.

"With a generator, buddy? I don't think so."

"Come on, let's go eat."

"You buying Ams?"

"You mooching Enri?"

Rei just chuckled. Out of the corner of his eye he noticed Sonia come out of the stream of students but he didn't have time to shout out to Amber before the Australian collided with her and sent her straight into the females bathroom. The two boys exchanged glances then shrugged and headed for the Dining Hall.

0-0-0

Amber whirled on her attacker and then stared stunned at her garnet haired friend. "Sonia?" she exclaimed, then she frowned. "Did you just tackle me?"

Sonia flushed sheepishly. "Yes. Sorry but it was vitally important that I breach this matter with you."

"Uh-huh. Tone down the Dawson speech and explain yourself." She headed to the counter set against the wall and hoisted herself up on to it, idly scanning the corners for the bane of her existence. Spiders seemed to like cold, clammy areas where they could pop down and scare their female victims every so often.

Sonia sighed and interlinked her fingers, contemplating how to explain her problem. "Well, it's like this, you see. I'm going to seduce Ozuma."

The silence was only pierced by the whistling of the cistern and the drip of water in one of the sinks. The metallic drip, drip ticked away the time while Sonia patiently waited for a comment or something from her comatose friend.

"Amber?"

"Uh…um…w-why?" she all but squeaked. She closed her eyes and tried to compose herself. "OK." she breathed. "Sonia, what did you think you'd achieve by telling me?"

"Well, he's your cousin."

"Yeah he's my _cousin_. Family and eww… I… Don't get me wrong, I like the idea of you two together because ya know, you fit but on the other hand, I don't want to think of things like that and- oh god… see, see now I'm thinking and there's images and oh wrong!"

Sonia blinked a few times as Amber passionately ranted out her aggravation. "I need help."

"So do I. Professional help."

Before Sonia could reply, the door behind her creaked open and Miyami peeked her head in. "Is everything ok in here? Rei said-" she broke off on a yelp when Sonia physically yanked her into the room and the force caused her to brace herself against the counter beside Amber. The Irish girl quickly latched on to her arm.

"Don't leave me alone with her. She's possessed." she hissed into her best friends ear.

Miyami's lips quivered but she pressed them together and turned solemnly to face Sonia. "Sonia is something wrong?"

"Yeah the images she's putting into my head."

"Amber, shut up." came the mild order. "Sonia?"

Sonia inhaled deeply and tilted her head. "I want to seduce Ozuma."

"Um, o-k. What brought this on?"

"What do you mean seduce him? You're not thinking of jumping his bones are you? Because my fragile little mind is completely warped as it is."

Miyami nudged her friend to shut up and motioned for Sonia to answer her question.

"Well, _he_ never kissed _me_ and like Russia said, I've been giving him mixed signals so if I want things to move on to where I want them to go, I need to work for it."

The other two girls exchanged wary glances as the garnet haired girl began to pace and rant in a panicky manner.

"And he moves so slow, always taking things into consideration and thinking things through and if I wait for him to get a clue, we'll both be in two separate colleges and it's probably stupid to even consider forming a relationship with him when he's going to be heading away to some college anyway and I have to concentrate on my studies but I really think that we should be together and I really like him, I mean I get this little flutter every time I think of him and I always catch myself just watching him and he's completely gorgeous inside and outside and if I have a chance with him, I should be grateful-"

"Breathe!" Amber ordered sharply. "Ok, breathe. I don't want you fainting on us."

"Although if you did we could always fetch Ozuma to give you the kiss of life."

"Could we?" Sonia's eyes widened and then narrowed as she thought about that.

"NO!" Since no one seemed to be taking in Ozuma's feelings, Amber nominated herself to look out for her cousin's interests. "You are not tricking Oz."

"But I have to take this chance." Sonia rambled on plucking at the sleeve of her sweater. "I may never be this lucky again. I really care about him, and I know he feels something for me, but I have to make the first move because he's too much of a gentleman to make it in case he scares me off and-"

"Breathe woman!" Amber shook her head exasperated while Miyami chuckled softly.

"Sonia, how do you intend to seduce him?"

"Oh, well that's kind of where I need your help. Amber, you're his cousin and you know things about him I wouldn't."

"Highly doubt that." the reply came in a sing song tone.

"Well if you don't, Daichi sure does and you and him are pretty close."

Amber flipped a hand dismissively. "He's my cousin." she said it as though it was an obvious thing.

"And Miyami." she turned her attention to the silver haired girl who was examining the tips of Amber's hair scrupulously. "You have a great sense of fashion and you know what boys like much better than I would."

Miyami arched a fine silver brow, making the stud at the end of it twinkle in the harsh light. "Yeah I've been doing so well on that front so far haven't I?"

Catching the flicker of pain in her best friends eyes and then discomfort on Sonia's, Amber jumped in, engaging her mouth before her brain. "You could sing to him."

"What?"

"Serenade him on open day."

"Oh, no. Amber, no. I couldn't do that. I don't want to make it public."

"Well it's not such a bad idea." Miyami mused.

"Yeah! Or, or you could like sing to him to like woo him and then seduce him after, but not on open day because that could be awkward."

"Yeah, sing to him on Open Day and get him on the same wavelength as you, get him thinking of you and wondering why you did it and then wait a while and pounce!"

Amber snickered. "God this is just the weirdest conversation."

"Look, Sons, give me a while to think this over and then I'll help you with it." Miyami finally said, looking to Amber who nodded her own compliance.

Sonia beamed. "Thank you guys, so much. You have no idea what this means to me. You're the best."

"If you start saying you love us, we're going to get scared."

Miyami snickered and looped her arm through Ambers and then Sonia's. "Come on, let's go eat. I'm starved. Art really takes it out of you."

Amber rolled her eyes. "Try listening to the automaton droning on about the metamorphosis of insects."

"Ick."

"Mm-hmm."

"Oh I think it's kind of interesting. I mean to move from a caterpillar to a beautiful butterfly."

Amber rolled her eyes but smiled softly and headed out of the bathroom.

0-0-0

Arista bounced on the balls of her feet and looked at her watch. '_I wonder where she is_?' Amber was supposed to be here a good ten minutes ago but she'd yet to turn up. Russia had gone off to fetch her but hadn't returned leaving Arista to her own thoughts. And Arista's own thoughts turned to the Shark Vice Captain. She was supposed to meet Brooklyn tomorrow. They tried to meet up once a week and the odd friendship they had formed in Russia, really didn't seem all that odd anymore. It was actually becoming the sanest thing in her otherwise zany life. He was like a rock that kept her grounded. It was a nice feeling, to know that he was there for her, either an email away or even just a phone call but she had to be careful when phoning him. He on the other hand wasn't mindful of her rules and had almost gotten her caught by her friends several times by sending her flirty texts and phone calls. Once he phoned and Aspin had answered. When she'd grilled him over that, he'd simply smiled lopsidedly and told her she was cute when she was angry.

His compliments frustrated her. No one had ever really called her pretty or anything like that. When she'd dated Tala, it had been more a fact that he was cute and they were both curious. It wasn't anything deep and it hadn't really involved emotions or it hadn't really been about emotions on her part. The kissing had been nice though, she remembered with a fond smile. She still cared about Tala, god she always would care about him but he was like a friend, or an older brother, the same way Rei was.

However she couldn't claim the same with Brooklyn. There was a different emotion welling up inside where he was concerned. A heat that continuously grew whenever she thought about him, wrote to him, read his emails and spiked violently each time she was near him. He intrigued her, he seemed to keep her at arms length but at the same time, he seemed to invite her in as if he wanted her to know the real him. He confided in her in a way that he didn't with his friends, or friend. He only seemed to really trust one guy there and trust was a very important trait to Brooklyn it seemed. Despite his attitude, she got the feeling that he was a very traditional guy and he wasn't really as underhanded as he made himself seem. Whoever he was, she liked him.

It was really as simple as that.

She shoved her hair over her shoulder; then decided to braid it. At least it would keep her mind occupied while she waited for Amber. She twisted the ropes of silver into a thick braid that fell to her mid back. Just as she'd finished, her cell phone beeped. Even before she looked at the message, a trickle of anticipation told her who it was from or maybe that was who she wanted it to be from.

****

'Are you hungry?'

She shook her head bewildered at the comment, but the connotation of the words and knowing him the way she did, made her blush.

****

'No, I'm busy.' she replied with a few taps of the keys before she put her phone back into the pocket of her light gray hoodie.

She jumped a second later as the melodious tune from her favorite band of the moment soared into the quiet hall. Fumbling for her phone, she punched the answer button.

** __**

"Busy doing what?"

"Dick, what part of busy did you not get?"

**__**

"I'm bored, wanted to know what you were busy doing Belle. Nothing dirty I hope." When she spluttered, he chuckled and the sound rubbed down her spine making her shiver. God, the guy had a great phone voice.

"You auditioning for a sex chat line, Dick?" she asked dryly. "You'd be great at it, it's like they say: some people just have a face for radio, I think it applies to phones as well."

**__**

"Now that's just plain harsh. You're hurting my feelings Belle. Oh hold on-" static came over the line and through it, she could here Brooklyn's muffled voice. **_"What does he want?… yeah, I'll be there in a moment…"_** another murmured told her someone else was in the room with him and they sounded almost concerned. She wondered who _he_ was and was the other person in the room, Mystel, the guy Brooklyn seemed to trust. **_"I said I'll be there in a moment… Yeah well that's my problem isn't it?… Look Belle, you still there?"_**

"Yeah I'm here, you ok?"

**__**

"Yes!" his voice sounded sharp in her ears and she could tell she'd hit a nerve. **_"Um, sorry Belle. Are you still on for tomorrow?"_**

"Of course. Usual place."

**__**

"Great. I-I have to go. I-I'll talk to you tomorrow, at the latest."

"Bye then." she waited a beat and then a smile spread when she didn't hear the dial tone, knowing he was on the other line just waiting as well, reluctant to hang up just the way she was. "Bye." she repeated softly.

**__**

"Yeah, bye. "

Again she waited. "Brooklyn, you do understand that usually after bye, people hang up, right?"

**__**

"Then why haven't you hung up yet? Missing me already?"

"You wish, Dickie boy. Byes." she hung up and chuckled softly, then rolled her eyes as the phone rang again. "Yes?"

**__**

"Bye." he hung up and left her exasperated. The guy just always had to have the last word and he was probably laughing about it right now. Stupid Male.

"Ouch, what is with people and dragging me around? First it was Sonia bulldozing me into the girls toilets and now it's you, dragging me out of the lunch room. I'm hungry dammit."

Obligingly Arista pulled out a candy bar from her pocket and handed it to an irate Amber who was still being tugged along by Russia, who only paused to lift her bag and sling it over her shoulder, before she headed down the corridor. Arista followed with a smirk. Yeah Brooklyn was the sane one.

"So why did you drag me away from lunch?" Amber asked over a mouthful of candy bar.

Russia cast her a smirk. "Revenge, doll."

Amber eyes rounded and lit up like a child's at Christmas while her mouth formed a small 'o'. She rubbed her hands together gleefully. "Do we have every thing we need?"

"Uh-huh." Arista answered. "Menstrual blood from a virgin, a severed head and eau de smelly feet."

Amber just about cackled. "Oh this is going to be great!"

Russia chuckled at the dark malice to her friends voice and laugh. She rarely saw this part of Amber, but when she did, she liked it a lot and she missed it. She missed being part of this. She chuckled as they rounded the stairs, glaring at any boys who eyed them curiously for being in the boys wing but since the boys said nothing, neither did she.

Finally they reached the senior boys dorm belonging to Ian. Not bothering to knock, they entered then grimaced.

"Ugh, y'd t'ink dey'd crack open a winda."

Amber nodded but instead of going to open it, her eyes found the lump lying underneath the sea blue covers of Spencer's bunk and she moved towards it instead.

Arista shrugged at Russia's noise of impatience and moved to open the window, letting the cold air blow in and circulate, chasing away the stale warm air.

"Amber, Chris' sakes le' da guy sleep."

"I'm just checking up on him." she murmured back, kneeling by the bed and inching the covers back to see the face of her boyfriend. He was so pale looking, shadows were gathering under his eyes and his lips were cracked. A softness moved through her as she brushed his bangs carefully out of his closed eyes, placing her palm on his forehead. "Shit, he's really hot."

"Would'a t'ought y'd 'ave noticed dat bef'r Ams." Russia teased with a grin, pulling herself up onto Kane's bunk while Arista flopped out on Ian's.

Amber glared at her, before turning back to Kai. "Wonder if it was something he ate?"

"'e's sick, people g't sick, ya know. 'e's 'uman too y'know. A simple mortal lik yerself."

The dark haired girl paid her no heed, content to simply watch her boyfriend as he slept away the afternoon.

"Aft'r yer done playin' doctor Ams, maybe y' could remember why we're 'ere."

"Look, if any of you were sick, I'd be checking up on y' too."

"True, she did check up on Salima last week."

Russia rolled her eyes and dropped onto her back, bouncing on the mattress. "Shite, Kane's got a great ma'ress, y'know."

Frowning Arista sat up and began to bounce on hers. "Nah, Ian's must have a few springs missing."

"Maybe Ian jumps on 'is bed. 'e's shor' enough not t' bang 'is 'ead."

Arista snorted then chuckled as she imagined a mini Ian bouncing on the bed, becoming shorter with each bounce until he just got lost in the covers. "Aw man that would be funny to-" she broke off as thunder rumbled again. As though she could see it, she looked up at the ceiling.

"Jeez, Russ why d'ya have to bring the rain with you?"

Russia simply flicked up her middle finger. "I'm not waitin' f'r ya no longer, if y' don' g't ova 'ere, den y' can f'rget gettin' any credit for dis."

"Fine." Amber bit out and crossed to Ian's bed, grabbing the offered hand from Arista to tug her off the bed and yanking off the covers. "I hope we don't get any surprises during this."

"Please, I don' wanna be t'inking abou' Ian wankin' off."

Amber paled. "Ok I was thinking more like a harmless spider." she said faintly, her eyes closed and she looked similar to how Kai had looked before he keeled over.

Russia snickered while Arista mimed gagging. She pulled out the plastic bottle of 'Menstrual blood from a virgin' and began to squirt it over the navy sheets. A grin tugged at the corners of her mouth.

Amber began to unravel the severed head and grinned down at the black eyes that stared back at her. Then she frowned and cast a glance back to Kai. "Maybe I should tell him to bunk down in the sickbay, at least then Ian's screaming won't disturb him. Oh, Arista don't spray that in here."

Arista looked down at her spritzer bottle of 'Eau de dirty socks' and pouted but since she liked Kai, she put it away. "We'll save it for later then."

"No need, we'll jus' spray it down da covers aft'r we're finished, an' close up da gap bef'r any escapes, den wh'n Ian pulls dem back, 'e'll g't a full dose o' it."

Amber grinned. "I like your style, Russ, damned if I didn't miss it."

"Well-" there was a cough and someone cleared their throat before starting again. "Well, if it isn't Moe, Curly and Larry."

"I'm Curly." Arista piped up; claiming it before any of the others did.

Russia simply paid no heed while Amber smiled and turned to where her boyfriend sat disheveled and lost in the bed near the window. She passed her head to Arista before crossing over to him. "Hey, how're you feeling? Any better?"

He closed his eyes and nodded slowly, a hand rested casually near his stomach as though commanding it to behave for a little while. "I have a splitting headache." he croaked out with a hoarse voice.

"Yea, well y' were sleepin' in a sauna."

He raised his sleepy brown eyes slowly to regard his cousin wearily then he took in the fact that the three were in his room. He still didn't know why. Amber, he could have believed she was simply here to check up on him, but he doubted that was why his cousin and Arista were here. So he looked to Amber for answers. The look of concern in her eyes made him want to pull her close, to just hold her close and take comfort in her presence but he wouldn't pass on what he had to her. Not only would he hate himself if she got sick, he'd doubt she'd stay in bed long enough to recover since she got bored easily.

"You bored yet?" she asked suddenly.

"A little, I'm just dozing for most of the time."

"Hey, I could steal the play station from the games room for you and the black and white TV from the infirmary."

He raised a brow. "No there's no need."

"Better yet I could take the play station into the infirmary to the black and white TV."

"Ember, it's fine." he replied, running a hand over her head.

"Wha' she mean's is, y' 'ave t' move t' da infirmary."

He frowned. "Why?"

"Well you don't have to." she grumbled shooting Russia a glare. So much for finessing him into moving. "It's just that I don't think you'd want to wake up to Ian screaming bloody blue murder and cursing me up and down."

"What are you three up to?"

"Letting Ian live out a scene from the Godfather." Arista replied, holding up the severed head of a gnome. "To be, or not to be, that is the question."

Amber snickered. "Ris you're such a dork."

"Hey, isn't Hamlet not the one with the skull thing?"

All of them shrugged while Amber rested her head on Kai's shoulder, playing with his fingers as she chuckled at her friends, feeling an overwhelming sense of peace. Her life was on track and she couldn't have been happier.

"What time is it?" Kai finally asked.

Arista tossed Russia the head. "Lunch time."

Brown eyes narrowed. "Shouldn't you guys be getting some lunch?"

Amber smiled grimly. "See I wanted to eat, but Russia dragged me away from the dining hall… in fact everyone seems to be against me getting any food. I really wanted a ham toastie too! But all I got was a measly candy bar."

"Well fine, if that's how you feel, you won't be getting any more of my candy bars."

"Am I da only wan doin' dis?" Russia demanded frustrated, glaring at her friends, one was glaring at the other who was wrapped up in Kai's arms looking content. "Dis was yer idea Ams."

"I know, I'm just the ideas person."

"I 'ope y' get sick."

"You bitch!" Amber spat without any heat as she untangled herself from Kai reluctantly. She always felt cold every time she had to leave his embrace, he was so warm and with this weather, every where else was cold.

Arista rubbed her hand over the fake blood squirted on the sheets and grimaced. "Ick." she grinned and shoved her hand into Amber's face, causing the tanned girl to make a face and duck out of her reach.

"Aw, Ris back off."

Russia smirked, admiring her master piece. Ian was going to shit himself. It probably wasn't the best idea to do this the night before a game, but Amber hadn't been able to wait any longer. Besides it was all in good fun.

"Oh my god! That Bastard."

Arista stopped examining her blood soaked hand for a moment to stare at Amber who was just staring into space with a frown. "Um, Ams, I'm confuzzled."

"Yea, Benson, y'ok? 'r did y' finally lose it?"

"She never had it to begin with." The words fell out of Kai's mouth before he had a chance to stop them but Amber merely shot him a mild glare.

"No, no. Rei mentioned something to me and it just clicked. The DVD player is broken, right and the VCR player is lost so movie night is cancelled because there are no movies on tonight, right? But Shahero said she and Hitoshi were going to watch a movie."

"Hitoshi stole the VCR?" Amber nodded to Arista's question. "Should we steal it back?"

"Nah leave them."

She glanced at Russia when she felt her red haired friend tense at the mention of Hitoshi's name. She knew Russia was wary about Shahero being with the older man. After all, in a few months Shahero would be going to college and leaving him behind, but Amber reasoned that in a few months she would be going to college and leaving Kai behind, which made her gut clench agonizingly but it was just life. And she knew Russia only felt protective over Shahero because she cared. But Amber knew Shahero was one of the strongest of the girls, she had gone through rough times and come out the other side with scars that she wore like medals.

"Righ' I t'ink dis is done now. Anyt'ing y' wan' t' add?"

"Nope."

"Don't think so."

"K, den. Le's go."

"I'll catch up." Amber said moving back to Kai who'd fallen back on to the bed again. She heard the quiet click of the door.

"Ember, you need to get some lunch in you." he mumbled into the pillow as he shifted to face her; his cheeks flushed and his eyes glazed.

"I know. No doubt Bryan or Tala will make me late for my class in order to see me fed. Don't worry, I'll get lunch. Now, do you need me to get you anything? Aspirin, flat lemonade, sweet tea?"

"No, but thanks."

"No problem. I'm the daughter of a nurse, I'm supposed to be able to do things like this. It's like my inheritance."

He snorted a laugh, then groaned. "Shit I hate being sick."

"You and the rest of us. Did you hear that Ian raised all hell when Mrs. Tate said you could stay in your room instead of going to the infirmary?" She asked, sitting down on Bryan's bed.

"Is that why you did all that?"

"What? No, it was revenge for the spider comment."

"Right." he drawled, not at all convinced.

"It was." she repeated earnestly but the look in his eyes told her he didn't believe her. Jerking her shoulder, she arranged her feet on the bed and studied him. How did he look so good while being sick? Despite the pallor and the shadows under his eyes, the flushed cheeks and mussed hair, he looked exceptionally sexy. Idly her eyes trailed down over the prominent cheekbones, the flawless brow, the liquid like eyes, so dark they were almost black; the straight patrician nose, soft velvet mouth, and the firm slope of his jaw. She found her gaze lingering on the glimpse of flesh from the open neckline of his dark navy, almost black night shirt. He was so darkly, dangerously appealing that it scared her at times, how raw her desire for him seemed to be.

A nagging voice reminded her that she should be heading to the dining hall for lunch but she was more inclined to just stay here in Bryan's bed with him. That thought was dashed when she felt the usual gnawing sensation in her gut.

"I better get something to eat."

"Yeah. You coming by later?" he asked, trying to sit up again while ignoring the way the room spun.

"I can't, sorry." And the apology was genuine. "I have practice and after practice, I have a tutorial session with Tala which isn't progressing at all. For some reason we don't seem to get much done." she said with a wry grin, trying not to notice how he looked so sleepy and vulnerable and… dammit, her fingers itched to just stroke his cheek, brush his bangs back from his forehead. She shifted uncomfortably, bringing her thumb up to nibble on it. She really just wanted to stay here, or more honestly, stay with him, preferably with his arms encircling her. Her stomach hopped as his searing gaze dipped to her mouth. She couldn't help but be amused at the situation. He was ill and feeling like shit but still they desired each other, it was sweet… in a perverse way.

Kai watched her sombrely. God, he'd always hated being sick but now more than ever he despised it. He rarely got time to spend with Amber on her own and now he had it, he couldn't touch her the way he wanted to. And the more time she spent in the dorm while they were alone, the more he wanted to draw her close. "You better go then, I'll see you tomorrow."

"Ok, but please take my advice, go to the infirmary tonight. Please?"

She was doing the puppy dog look she'd inherited from Tala it seemed; though Tala's had never worked on him. She unfolded herself from the bed with a grin when he nodded; relenting to her plea. She crossed to him and cupped his jaw, pressing her lips gently to his, pulling away before she could give in to her cravings. "I'll see you tomorrow. Hopefully you'll be feeling better."

"Yeah here's hoping." he murmured as she walked to the door, casting a glance filled with sympathy back at him. He jerked as she yelped on opening the door.

"Jeez, Enrique, give me a heart attack why don't you! What are you doing up here anyway?" she hissed as she closed the door behind her, leaving him alone.

Through the door he heard the Italian respond. "May I escort you to lunch, fair maiden?"

"Ya know, I'm really beginning to get worried about you." her muffled drawl came through the door and Kai chuckled. She'd told him all about Enrique's odd behavior towards her recently but neither of them knew why.

He listened to their voices fade away before he leaned out of the bed and fetched the text book from under it. He really wasn't in the mood to sleep and he couldn't stomach anything else, so he figured he'd turn his busy mind onto something productive, like the History assignment due in April. Already this month was going by fast, this whole year was speeding by. He sat back on the bed, arranging the pillow behind him before flipping open the book and leafing through it until he found something he was interested in. For some reason he particularly liked reading about wars and seeing how they could have created better strategies. It was pointless but he was a natural strategist when it came to hockey.

A thought occurred to him. He may have been laid up in bed for the day but his time could be put to good use for the team. Tossing his covers back, he got out of the bed, clutching his disagreeable stomach as he crouched by the bedside cabinet. After opening the door, he rooted through it and tugged out a box with the one important thing he'd taken with him from Clonmel. His Year Books from various schools including information printed from the school websites and newsletters. He sifted through them and lifted out the book for the game tomorrow night. He didn't want to see Amber or any of his team going up against another Gunner. He couldn't blame his father for the oversight, he'd been intent of forging the team, while he, Kai, usually had been the researcher of the team for the Sharks. His prejudice against the Tigers had stopped him from researching the Indians. He'd almost paid for that dearly. If Amber hadn't been shoved out of the way… his stomach clenched painfully before groaning pitifully.

He glanced up as the door swung open and Kane walked in, flinching guiltily when he saw Kai. "Oh sorry Kai, forgot you were sick. Well don't mind me, I'm just getting a book." he crossed to his bed and slipped his hand under the pillow and retrieving a thin jotter. He paused and looked back at his captain. "You alright? Need me to fetch anything."

Kai rolled his eyes. "Unless you can get me a new stomach, there's not much anyone can get me." he groaned, slipping back into his bed and curling up. He really hated being sick. It made him feel as weak as a kitten.

Kane snorted. "Getting fed up with Benson playing nursemaid?"

The Russian chuckled. "Not really. Just not used to people asking me if they can help."

"Yeah I doubt the Sharks are secret Florence Nightingale's. Well the offer still holds. I gotta go, got to find Arista and get my Bio jotter back. See ya."

"Yeah, bye." Kai groaned, wincing and pressing a fist to his gut as though the pressure would halt the pain. Shit, he was going to be sick!

0-0-0

Hitoshi lounged out on his bed and stared at the ceiling, commanding himself not to look at the clock. So far he'd managed to resist looking for a good 7 minutes; of course to verify that he'd have to look at the clock but he wouldn't succumb quite yet. She was late. It was understandable; getting away from her friends took a while but she would be here eventually and if not, there would be a good reason. He didn't want to think about her not coming, he didn't want to jinx their rendezvous.

It was hard enough to have these moments with her,; what with their work, her studies and both their after school activities and then her friends and the staff; it wasn't exactly the easiest circumstances to have a relationship in. There was always the threat that a staff member could come across them and he'd lose his job, probably end up in a lot of serious shit and god knows what would happen to Shahero. He couldn't risk that happening, and at the same time, he couldn't give her up. He'd never been known to be unselfish and he had no plans to be that way now. Besides, if he did break it off with her with the best intentions, she'd probably never give him a second chance.

Yeah he was selfish, sue him. He flicked through the various channels, boredly surveying what was on and not being very impressed. He had been confronted earlier by Amber about stealing the video player. He'd denied taking it naturally, even going so far as to be affronted by her accusations. Now seeing the rubbish that was being aired, he was glad for using the brains the teachers had always claimed he had. It would be amusing to find out what the seniors did instead of watching their usual movies.

Rolling off the bed gracefully onto his feet, he wandered over to the window, his sock clad feet making no sound on the carpeted floor. Outside the breeze was cold, still holding precipitation from earlier. The threatening storm had died towards the evening and now the sky was clear with only a few stars winking down at him. He rose a brow when he spotted the dark shrouded figures of the hockey team approaching the school, none looking up at him, none of them noticing him watching them with a sharp eye.

A few minutes later, the door behind him opened softly, just the sound of the door handle turning was the only notice he got of Shahero's silent entrance. Even as his heart began to speed up in anticipation, he kept his gaze carefully on the scene out the window. The bed springs creaked under her slight weight as she crawled onto his bed and sighed heavily. Her new position was reflected on the glass and he had to force himself not to look at it, but imagination was much more dangerous. He closed his eyes against the images but the dark canvas gave them an extra vividness. Letting out a slow breath, he turned slowly to regard her with a hard won calm expression.

She rose onto her knees to regard him with those very blue eyes that haunted him when he dreamt. Being around her sometimes was pure torture. His body urged him to move fast with her, to take what he needed so much from her but he had to remind himself that no matter how mature she seemed, Shahero was still a virgin. It was her choice, only, on who she gave that to; no one else's.

He studied her in the soft glow from the lamp by the bedside. She looked tired, he realized and fed up. Concerned, he approached her, sitting on the edge of the bed. "Something wrong?"

She closed her eyes and leaned into him. She'd needed this. Though it may not have penetrated her consciousness, her subconscious knew this was what she'd craved, just the touch and scent of the man who cared about her above all others. She let him hold her and push away the fatigue and discontent that pressed against her.

"No." she said softly; then when he raised her chin tenderly with a finger she relented to him. "Fine, it's nothing really. I just wish the guys would start taking hockey seriously. I love them, I really do, but tonight their hearts just weren't in the practice. I don't mind messing about now and then, in fact I am usually the instigator but tomorrow is a really important match. Yes the team isn't all that great but we really need to keep our points or face missing out on getting to the finals. I've worked too hard to miss out on taking down the Sharks but if the rest don't start being more serious, they're really going to fuck up. They don't act like a team anymore, there's always something much more important." she sighed and rested her head on his shoulder, seeking comfort from him because he was the only one who could offer it. He could understand where she was coming from, her frustration with the lack of commitment her team mates were making.

"What's more important?" he asked; his voice, the smooth baritone, quietly cruised over her skin causing her to shiver. How did she control her reactions to a guy who could seduce her with his voice alone?

"Miyami and Johnny are too caught up in their pride. He's got it into his head that he had every right to be furious with her because she gave him no reason not to doubt what the article read. She's just infuriated that he'd even think that when she's done nothing to make him think she'd cheat on him." she rolled her eyes. She loved her friends but this melodrama was killing the team. "Kane is still smarting over Johnny almost breaking him and Aspin up and they can't be on the ice together without one or the other trying to rough the other up. Ruin and Tala, well nothing really breaks their concentration on the ice, but Ruin's the enforcer, I'm just worried that if she goes down, Tala will get twitchy about-"

"He's been playing a long time with dreams of playing pro, angel, I don't think he's going to dissolve into a blubbering mess because Ruin hits the ice."

Shahero quirked a brow. "Angel? Do I look like a vampire with a soul?"

"Your first reference to the word angel jumps to a vampire with a soul? Most people think wings and halo?"

"I already have a halo? See the glowing ring on my head?" she pointed the empty space above her hair.

"Oh right, sorry and the horns helpfully keep it in place, right?"

"Naturally. It's a whole big fashion thing." she looked him up and down critically. "Which you would have no clue about."

She snickered at his expression of mock hurt then feeling compelled to, she placed a kiss on his chin admiring the way his eyes darkened with pleasure. There was a very female satisfaction that set in knowing she had the power to make him react to her. He wasn't a stupid teenage boy who was more interested in getting into a girls pants; no he was older, more mature and self assured but most of all, he treated her like she was special and important to him. Sometimes it was stifling but most of the time it was just nice to be looked after, it made a change from looking after herself. All the same, she was very independent and she could take care of herself, the fact that Hitoshi both understood and respected that never ceased to amaze her. The guy who got under her skin for most of the teenage life -and still continued to do so- had turned out to be a very good match for her, scarily good.

"I have taste."

"You wear bright yellow! Do you know how much Miyami hates that shirt of yours? She actually has plans to destroy it, labelled and detailed plans with blue prints. It's that hideous." He raised a brow. "I'm being serious. She hates that shirt the way I hate doctors and you know how much I hate doctors. Vile evil beings in white coats, think they're god." she grumbled under her breath.

He smothered a smirk, cuddling her closer to him all the while wondering what he'd done to deserve her. "You were telling me about your team."

"Oh, right. Yeah them. They're annoying! Ian and Amber are constantly bickering or causing mass disruptions, and if it's not them two it's Amber and her new found partner Enrique."

"And if it's not them then it's you, on your own causing more disruption than Amber ever could." he butted in knowingly.

She squirmed and made a face. "Well yeah, but that's different. I'm special." she declared proudly.

He kissed her soundly on the mouth. "Don't I know it."

"Well you should. Everyone should know me." She managed a smile before she snuggled further into his embrace. "I just wish they'd wise up to the fact that we could win the whole league but if they're just going to muck about, I don't want to be part of that."

He stroked her back soothingly, rubbing his lips against her silken hair. "They'll catch on. It's just a hectic year and they're trying to live a teenage life and juggle having the pressure of being part of a team on their shoulders. Give them time."

"I am giving them time." she snapped irritably. "Surely having a whole term of time is enough."

He chuckled, tightening his grip on her. "Didn't Nicolai speak to them about their behaviour."

"Yep and Amber decided to try using her influence as goddaughter to lighten the disappointment speech and he pretty much got all fired up at her, so she sulked."

He flinched. "Nicolai isn't very pleased with her and Kai dating. He's actually against it."

"I know, he's against any of the team mates dating and I can understand that but having the team in common was bound to draw the different sexes closer together."

"No, he's against Amber and Kai dating specifically. Figures it'll split the team in half."

"Oh fuck." she whispered. "Does Amber know? No, she wouldn't." she mused to herself. "If she knew, she wouldn't have pushed him the way she did. It would explain why he reacted the way he did though, after all Amber was only trying to lighten the mood, it's what she-" she broke off on a moan as Hitoshi began to nuzzle her throat. "Are you trying to distract me, because if you are, it ain't working. I'm busy thinking here."

"You know too much thinking is bad for you."

She growled but allowed him to capture her lips, to sink into the velvet heat of the kiss before he eventually pulled away, rolling off the bed to switch on the video. "So what are we watching?" she asked, slightly out of breath and aching for him. He always turned her on so fast.

"Bullet-proof monk, something mindless and fun with a simple enough plot so that if for some reason we get distracted for a few minutes, we'll not miss anything drastic."

She rolled her eyes. "You're-" she broke off, her eyes lighting up. "Lightning!" she exclaimed, scooting off the bed and skidding to a stop by the window. "Oh man, check this out?" she watched the electric blue light dancing a frenzy over the sky in the horizon. Her eyes brightened with wonder and a shiver of delight shot down her spine followed by goosebumps rolling over her flesh when Hitoshi stood directly behind her. His arms came around her with enough possessiveness to make her stomach hop deliciously. She turned in his embrace to look up into his striking face. His eyes never failed to make her bones melt just from the sheer warmth and power they held. His lips tilted into an alluring smirk and because she wanted to, she fisted her hand in his long slate blue hair, dragging his mouth down to hers.

The kiss was rough and a little desperate, feeding of itself and becoming more as they used teeth and tongue to intensified it, never quite sated. His hands closed around her hips, pulling her into close contact with him, her own arms wrapping tightly around him, fingers tangling in his hair. He shifted the angle of the kiss to deepen it further and his blood fired at her greedy moan.

Eventually all good things must come to an end, so the sumptuous kiss slowed to a stop. Parting breathlessly, they regarded each other, eyes soft with wonder.

"You know, if you really want, we could forego the film and head up to the roof and watch the storm brewing." he suggested.

She grinned. "Sounds like a plan." she ripped out of his arms and grabbing the quilt off the bed, she raced out of the room calling out. "Last one up is a rotten egg!"

He rolled his eyes good naturedly, before following her, pausing only to stop the VCR.

0-0-0

The corridors were empty and silent, void of any noise as he navigated his way through them. He was glad for the peace, it saved him from being interrogated by people for carrying Shahero bridal style. She'd fallen asleep in his arms up on the roof, but if anyone did happen to ask, he'd found her in the mess curled up in a deep slumber and had decided to bring her back to her dorm. He was known to pick on her so no one would question his methods of taking her back, no matter how questionable they might be.

He stroked a black strand twisted with silver out of her soft youthful face, taking in the fullness of her lips, the crescent shaped sooty lashes on milk pale skin and tilted nose. His gaze moved along her throat and he frowned, during their time necking on the roof, he'd ended up marking her pale throat. She'd have to conceal it, or make up a relationship with one of the boys but he didn't like that idea. He'd just have to be more careful in future, even if he did tend to lose all control whenever he was around her.

He meandered up the stairs to the girls dorm, making a note to pop in and inform the freshmen girls that curfew had begun and lights were supposed to be out hours ago for them. He shifted Shahero in his arms and chuckled as she murmured inaudibly and curled further into him, nuzzling his throat making his skin tingle.

The girls room smelt of vanilla honey which he knew, from Shahero's complaints, was due to Sonia liberally spraying room perfume around the dorm to stop it from smelling like the boys'. He always found the reaction to that comment to be amusing. Shahero would roll her eyes and go back to sleep, Arista would wonder what was so bad about the boys dorm and go investigate, Miyami would say that Johnny smelt good, maybe they should spray heather scented perfume in the room, Ruin wouldn't give a damn, just leave, Aspin would agree with Sonia and Amber would pull her covers over her head and tell them to crack open a window before she died from asphyxiation, such a big word for a small girl.

He crossed to Shahero's bed, smiling softly at the little wolf that stared up at him with empty glass eyes. He nudged it out of the way and with a free hand, pulled down her sheets before placing her in the bed knowing she'd be miffed about sleeping in her clothes but she was wearing a pair of sweats and a t-shirt, so he left her be rather than be called a pervert. Tucking her in, he brushed his lips over her velveteen mouth. He pulled back to stroke the water soft underside of her jaw.

"Hitoshi?"

He looked over to the corner of the room where the soft rusty voice called to him. His eyes adjusted to the dark enough to make out the rumpled appearance of Amber, outlined in the hall light, sitting up in her bed. "Hey, you waiting up for her?"

He felt more than saw her smile. "Guilty, I know she was with you but I just wanted…" she trailed off sheepishly.

"It's ok. I shouldn't have left it so late."

"What time is it?" she whispered.

He cast a glance to his watch, switching on the neon back light. "Shortly after two. Go to sleep, you have a game in the morning."

"Ok, night, night Hitoshi."

"Night, night Amber." he replied vaguely amused at the phrase. He kissed Shahero one last time before moving to the door, glancing back to the bed beside Ambers, his cousin Mimi's. Did she really hate his shirt? He frowned. "Hey Amber, what does Mimi think of my yellow shirt?"

"What?" she sucked in a breath and sat up in bed again, inhaling heavily. "Oh, I think she has wet dreams about shredding and shrinking it, why?"

"Just wondering."

"Oh, ok. It's a very bright color though." she mused. "But like Shahero says, you can carry it off and still look good, unfortunately."

His brows winged up in surprise. "Hero said that?"

"Well that's what she said in layman's terms. Now go to bed."

She disappeared under her covers again, leaving him shaking his head softly at the door. Damned if he'd ever understand his woman. "By the way Amber-"

"Hitoshi go to sleep!" she bit out, temper beginning to simmer as she fought against the seductive grip of sleep.

"Nicolai wasn't angry with you earlier, he's just tense about the game."

"I know, I shouldn't have tried to make light of the situation. We really need to buck up. Now I'm going to sleep, if you speak again, I'll not be held accountable for my actions."

With one last glance in Shahero's direction, he closed the door tightly behind him, enveloping the room in darkness once more.

0-0-0

The storm that previous night washed everything clean, so the next morning everything seemed fresh and new. Raindrops glistened on the lush green leaves on the trees surrounding the school grounds, reflecting the morning sunlight. Everything outside looked tranquil and perfect outside, so vivid with the hints of Spring in the air. Of course appearances can be deceptive as Amber soon found out as the door to her dorm burst open halting her attempts to dress. She froze and raised a brow at a seething Ian.

"Ian, I'm trying to get changed here."

"_You_, it was _you, _wasn't it?"

"It was me, what? And hello, I'm half dressed here, come piss at me later." She grumbled shrugging her pyjama shirt back on over the white crop top she wore underneath. She was eternally grateful that it had been cold enough last night for her to have worn a top underneath her pj shirt, otherwise she'd have been standing here in her bra and pj bottoms, not a pleasant thought especially with Ian's obsession with her cup size.

He opened the sack he'd brought with him, which was just his tangled up bed sheet. A head rolled out onto the floor and lolled on the floor between them, smeared with rusty blood stains which echoed his sheet that had a pretty large splotch on it. Her lips twitched almost imperceptibly but other than that she had no reaction to his show and tell exhibit. She folded her arms under her breasts, not minding too much that an expanse of her flat stomach was on show, it was better than standing in a bra. She wasn't going to button up in front of Ian, that would only make him think that she cared what he thought about her body, she didn't give an ounce of a damn.

"This!" he snapped pointing to the stain on his sheet and the head. "You did this!"

"Ian… is that blood? Christ are you injured? Oh my god, you're having your man period, aren't you?"

"I'm not laughing Benson. You're a walking dead girl."

"Actually I'm standing, and what are you going to do even if it was me? See there's nothing to say it was me. There's no evidence, no witnesses and all you're going on is speculation. You're just paranoid and quite frankly, I like that. It's a pretty neat image, you wandering around looking over your shoulder in case I'm coming to get you. Actually, no you're not just paranoid, you're also acting guilty. What have you done that would require this manner of retaliation? I mean this is big fish stuff. Me, I'm only a little tadpole."

He ground his teeth. He hated when she used that tone of voice, that singsong drawl always put him on edge. She only used it when she was right and she just used it to annoy him. "I know it was you and I swear, I'll get you back."

"Why are you so upset Ian?" her grin spread slowly. "You screamed like a girl, didn't you?"

"You just wait-"

"No, now listen here, this ends now. You had your fun, I had mine. But Coach is right, our main priority should be to win these games. It's personal between us and the Sharks, it always has been, but this is our last year, we could really win if we put our minds to it." she sat down on her bed. "I think we should call a truce."

"You're just scared." the midget Russian sneered.

"No, I'm not. I have shown time and time again that I am much more imaginative than you are. However this was my last prank to get you back for the spider, after this I have no reason to prank you. I have others who require my attention so I can't afford to be fighting with a team mate, now do you accept the truce?"

He regarded her warily. With good reason he wondered if this was another part to her plot to humiliate him. Relieving the Godfather scene had freaked him out the night before. His roommates had nearly died of laughter after they'd been startled awake by his very manly scream of fear on finding his sheets sticky with blood. He narrowed his crimson eyes at her. She looked sincere enough and a little tired, but that could have all been part of the act.

"Come on Ian, we're what, seventeen? We can't prank each other indefinitely, we have to unite and form a strong front against the Sharks."

He gazed levelly at her. "Is this because of lover boy? Is that why you're acting reasonably mature?"

"No." she bit out the word. "Now what do you say? Do you want a truce or not?"

"Fine." He snapped.

"Shake on it."

He snorted, but spat on his hand and held it out. She rolled her eyes before clasping his hand. "You never spat Benson."

"Ian, I'm _never _going to swap saliva with you, ever! I'll call a truce but that's as intimate as we're ever getting."

He snickered. "Strange girl." he muttered before wiping his hand on his jeans as she did the same. "Hey, they're my jeans, wipe your hand somewhere else."

"It's your saliva." she replied.

"Hey, what's going on?" Shahero mumbled, shoving her hair out of her face as she sat up in the bed. She frowned and looked down at herself. "And why am I wearing my clothes?"

Amber opened her mouth to make a quip about the way she had phrased that question but she shut it again since Ian was there. "Um, I'll answer that when Ian isn't here."

She whipped round to pin Ian with a glare. "What do you want?"

"Oh that's real friendly." Ian grumbled but Amber flipped him the bird.

"How come it took you so long to come to me about this?"

Ian smirked. "Didn't figure I'd sleep in your boyfriends bed, did you?"

"Oh, ew. I better give him a heads up that he'll have to disinfect his bed because it's been contam-IAN-ated."

Shahero snorted a laugh. "Yeah it'll probably have Ian cooties."

Ian sneered. "You two are a real riot." They flash him grins of equal malice before he turns and leaves.

Amber watches him go, then decides to leave herself. "Oh and Shahero, ask Hitoshi about why you're wearing your clothes." With a snicker at her sisters expression, she exited the comfort of her dorm.

0-0-0

The infirmary was quiet when Amber entered, softly closing the door behind her and she padded over to the bed she figured Kai occupied as it was the only bed in use in the infirmary. There was a curtain drawn around it making the place look like an informal unused hospital ward. The whole place gave her the heebie-jeebies. She rarely spent time here if she could help it. If she had to be confined to bed rest, she'd much rather rest in her room even if it did mean putting up with the headache that was her friends, it was an exquisite pain.

She frowned at the empty bed, the sheets and cover were entangled and there was an imprint of a body on the cold mattress, a sure sign that someone had slept in it. That someone was gone now. Silently, she pressed a hand to the mattress already cooling but it meant Kai hadn't been gone long, and if she knew him half as well as she thought she did, he'd be back before long. If he'd been planning on going back to his dorm, he'd have fixed the bed. He was neat like that and besides it was just good manners.

Stifling a yawn, she sat down on the bed and curious, she placed her head in exactly the same spot Kai had laid his. The pillow carried his scent of autumn and sandalwood. She liked that scent, found comfort in it. Curling her legs up onto the bed, she arranged herself so she could doze lightly and not end up with a creak in her neck. If Kai came back she'd wake up, until then she just needed to catch forty winks and she'd be as good as new, really… just a few more minutes of doze time…

She had only shut her eyes when she felt the bed shift beneath her. She grumbled inaudibly and turned on the bed, forcing her eyes to open bracing herself for the intruding light. So she was pleasantly surprised to find she had turned onto her back and all she could focus on was Kai. She absorbed the sexual jolt she constantly got every time she saw him which was just plain odd, crying out loud she knew what he looked like why should it send such a shock to her system to just look at him? She knew he had really pretty two toned hair, not that she'd ever tell him it was pretty, again. She'd learnt her lesson. She also knew how perfect his face was, how could she not? And she also was very aware of how well built he was so there was nothing shocking about that. It was the eyes, she decided. They did her in. Those dark depths of them that could warm and soften or go frigid and brittle at a careless word.

She smiled up at him, having no clue how her whole expression softened at the sight of him, not even noticing how anything that had been bugging her before went completely out of her mind just because he was there shielding her from the light with his whole body. "Morning."

He dipped down, unable to help himself to taste her lips, thrilling at her responsive moan. Pulling back, he noticed the changes in her that she couldn't. Her whiskey eyes became liquid like with arousal, so filled with warmth and light. Her mouth curved up and a dimple winked in her left cheek. A dimple she hadn't even been aware of until he'd pointed it out to her. How the girl could go her whole life not noticing how incredibly beautiful she looked astounded him. He could spend much time simply looking at her, enjoying her presence.

"You feeling better?" she asked, shifting then squinting when the glare of sunlight caught her eyes illuminating them. She grumbled some more before settling back into position again.

"Much." he replied. He'd woken up clear headed and he no longer felt as weak as a kitten and the only noises his stomach had been making had little to do with finding food repulsive, most of them were to remind him that either his throat was slit or he was punishing it. "So why are you down here?"

She purred as his fingers played with her hair, tugging it so lightly it was pleasurable. "I wanted to see you." she closed her eyes. "What do you plan to do today?"

"Sleep off the rest of this bug. You shouldn't be here." he said quietly.

Her eyes snapped open and locked on his. His blood hummed under the intensity of those light filled lights. "What, why?"

"I don't want you catching this." he said, rolling away from her and making a move to get out of the bed. Her hand latched onto his arm.

"Kai, I have a high immunity to stomach bugs. I haven't caught one in years, almost a decade besides, I'm a little more concerned about you. I missed you." she blurted out, removing her hand from his arm and distancing herself.

He frowned, turning back to her and placing an arm around her. "I don't want you to blame me if you become sick." he growled, pressing her back onto the bed, arranging himself so he could lie beside her without alarming her. "If you're staying, then go to sleep."

"I can take one of the other beds if you're worried about me getting sick." she offered.

He quirked a brow, his lips curving but he didn't open his eyes. He simply curled his arms around her, holding her in place. "We've shared a bed before and nothing happened."

"Right." she drawled, barely suppressing a smile. She snuggled into him. "Unless you count… nah you're right."

His eyes opened and he shifted to see her face better. "What?" when she simply shook her head, he growled and moved so he hovered over her. He could easily read the laughter in her eyes mingling with the heat. "Ember, if something happened, I'd rather know."

"Nothing happened." His eyes narrowed. "Honest. Well… You see… Ok nothing bad happened."

"Ember."

She frowned and tried to slide herself up the bed to sit up but his weight prevented that. "Shit. Nothing bad happened, I swear. You just rolled onto my side a bit or a lot, so much so actually that you forced Joe out of the bed, and if it hadn't been for your arm around me, I probably would have fallen out. You also must have been having a very vivid dream about Mariam because-" she broke of snickering at his mortified expression. "No, no. Sorry, I'm just messing with you. You were on my side and your arm was around me but other than that, you were the perfect gentleman." she omitted some of the truth but it was for the best. She figured Kai would see him touching her as betraying Mariam and though he wasn't with her, he'd still feel guilty and she definitely needed to leave out his state of arousal too. It was for the best.

He studied her with shrewd eyes. "Fine Ember, but if I hear that-"

"If you hear what? Kai, nothing else happened. I woke up, saw your ugly mug and fled."

His lips twitched. "My ugly mug huh?"

"Mug as in face." she muttered huffily.

"I know."

"You start being smug and I'm getting out of the bed."

He chuckled at her sulky threats. She had a great pout, he affirmed that thought by sucking her lower lip into his mouth, watching how her liquid eyes darkened and a soft sound fell from her lips.

"You know what's been bothering me for a while?"

"No what?"

"The scar you have." she lifted her fingers to languidly trace a finger over the white line in his beige skin.

"Ah, I don't know how I got it. Something from my childhood." he answered, lifting her hand to graze his lips over her own pinkish scar. "Unlike your hand though, I'm sure mine didn't come from being a klutz."

"One more word, buster, and I'm gone."

His arms slid around her pulling her back flush against his chest, nuzzling his face into the silken warmth her throat, before skimming his lips over the sleek golden curve of her shoulder, like gold silk he mused but she smelt better, tasted better. "Go to sleep, you have a big game tonight."

"We." she corrected. "You'll be on the ice for a few plays."

"I'm sick, Dad's not going to-"

"You're the great Hiwatari, ex shark captain, every one wants to see you on the ice playing for the Tigers, being a true Tiger and more importantly, instilling fear into the opposition. No one moves on the ice like you do, your Dad would be a fool not to play you for at least a little while. It's just not smart and your dad is anything but a fool."

He frowned. "I instill fear?"

"Yeah in the brain dead." she quipped, wiggling seductively when he nipped her skin.

"Quit that." he growled.

"Sorry." she closed her eyes, letting his heart beat against her back soothe her to sleep. "Oh by the way, Ian slept in your bed. You might want to get it disinfected."

Kai chuckled, and resting a palm on the butter soft skin of her stomach, he let himself fall deep into sleep.

0-0-0

Arista got off the bus and looked round. She felt like she was in the middle of a James Bond film, always checking over her shoulder to make sure she wasn't being followed or that no one she recognized was around to see her meeting with the enemy. Her stomach fluttered with excitement and she fought the grin of her lips. There was one good thing about Brooklyn, he got her away from all the stresses of school. Sometimes it could be so stifling there. She didn't know if the others felt it, but then again, they had others they could just seek out to get away from the team but she didn't. Her whole life was involved with the team and now it was nice to have someone who wasn't so involved in her life that he knew things about her before she did.

She shielded her eyes from the sun and glancing both ways across the busy main street, she dashed across, skipping onto the pavement before striding down the street towards the ice cream parlor. They'd chosen a café in a town midway between both of their hometowns that no one rarely went to. Mainly Arista never came here because it reminded her too much of Pleasantville. Every one was so nice and cheerful and they tended to do everything at the same time. It was just odd.

She grimaced as too boys whizzed past her on their bicycles, the shrill ring of their bells going right through her ears. She turned into the ice cream parlor, no hitch in her stride as she scanned the occupants and noted that Brooklyn hadn't arrived yet. She took a seat near the back close to the bathrooms so that if she saw anyone she recognized, she could dart into the bathroom before they could notice her. She smiled up at the waitress and ordered her usual of butterscotch ripple and a soda.

Her gaze trained on the doorway. The sun spilt through making the café seem dimmer while the air conditioning kept the patrons cool. Curling a strand of silver around her finger she allowed her mind to wander to the game tonight. A part of her echoed Shahero's frustration with the team. Too much of their personal lives kept infiltrating the game and it couldn't be allowed. How could they play to their best if their hearts weren't in the game. Tonight wasn't a particularly hard game, the team was reasonably good but these were the types of teams she didn't like playing. The underdogs always had the thirst for the win and the drive to achieve victory. With that hunger, they would play better, often outplaying the obvious choice to win.

"What's got you thinking so hard?" a low voice murmured in her ear and she hunched her shoulder in reaction to the vibrations causing her assailant to chuckle softly.

She looked up and lifted a brow at Brooklyn as he took the seat opposite her. Her lips quivered at the shades and the cap he sported. "Gee, they'll not even look twice at you." she drawled dryly. "What's with the cap and shades? You look like a movie star trying to be inconspicuous."

He removed the tinted lenses and hit her with the power of those green eyes that never really had a nameable shade with their ever shifting hues. His cap kept the orange locks firmly in place, with the bill shadowing his high brow. He smirked. "Belle, that sharp tongue is going to do you an injury someday."

"My tongue and I are firm friends." she replied with a small smile, then her brow furrowed. "You know what bothers me? How come you don't have freckles? Sonia's a red head and she has a sprinkling of freckles but they're pretty much hidden by her tan but none the less, they're there. You and Tala don't."

"We're Russian." he replied as though that solved everything.

Maybe it did. Arista shrugged. "Supposedly my freckles are in my eyes." she quipped. "Miyami told me that once when we were younger, to explain the flecks."

His lips twitched, an achievement for a guy who barely smiled just did a lot of smirking superiorly at everyone. "Your friends say some odd things."

She shrugged again, smiling up at the waitress arrived with her ice cream. She waited patiently while Brooklyn gave his order without even looking at the waitress who left disappointed. "Do you intentionally do that?"

"What?" he wondered, slouching back in his chair and 'accidentally' brushing his leg against hers. "These tables are kind of small."

"Keep your legs to your side." she grumbled battling the heat of the blush that threatened to creep up her neck. "And don't avoid the question."

"What do I do intentionally?"

"Ignore girls who obviously are interested in you? It's kind of cruel to purposely ignore their existence."

"No, I don't do that. I don't ignore you, do I?"

__

Walked right into that one, didn't you Arista, she berated herself. She recovered quickly without even a hint that she'd been thrown by the casual comment. "I'm not interested in you in the same way as she was."

"You're right, you're not the type who's just out for a quick fuck. I respect that because I'm the exact same."

"Dickie that was degrading to that girl. She just might have been interested in getting to know you."

He raised a brow skeptically. "Why are you so bothered? Aren't you relieved I'm more interested in you than her?"

"Dicklyn." she growled under her breath, entirely uncomfortable with this conversation. It was a lot more serious than the usual light hearted flirtations he showered her with.

"Belle." he replied completely at ease, so at ease he reached over to scoop up some of her ice cream he'd taken a liking to ever since she introduced him to it. He savored the taste on his tongue as she glowered at him.

"Great, now I need to get a new spoon since you contaminated mine."

He smirked and gathered up more, shoving it in her mouth when she opened it to snap at him. She jerked the spoon out of her mouth and spluttered indignantly. "Christ you're cute Belle, no doubt about that."

"Yeah right." she snapped irate.

"Cuter still when you're in a funk, which you are. Want to tell me about it?"

She narrowed her eyes at him. "You're in too good of a mood and since when did you care to listen to my problems? I thought the great Dicklyn didn't care about anyone."

He shifted uncomfortably, her words, no matter how casual, stung. The fact was, he found himself thinking about her at the strangest times. She popped into his mind when he really shouldn't be thinking about her and she made whatever was bothering him seem miniscule for a while. He liked that about her. She allowed him to focus on something that wasn't school work or hockey. "Look, do you want to talk about it or not? If you don't then that's fine. I just thought that's what friends did."

She sat up a little straighter in her chair and studied him. Oh yeah, she'd managed to piss him off but how? By saying he didn't care? She was only joking, if it was one of her other friends they'd just laugh it off or jokingly declare their undying affection for her. But Brooklyn wasn't like her other friends, she had to remind herself forcibly. He didn't have the same surroundings the Tigers did.

She sighed. "You're right, I'm sorry." she managed to choke out. Sorry's were valuable words not to be wasted on just anyone or anything, she had long ago decided and if she wasn't sorry, then apologizing was just hypocritical. But Brooklyn… well she was sorry for whatever had upset him. "I don't want to bug you with my problems though. They're nothing serious."

He rolled his moss green eyes at her. "Oh please. Just tell me, it'll give me a chance to laugh at the pathetic antics of your friends." he drawled drolly.

She knew that should have put her back off, but the twinkle in his eyes belied his words. He was interested in her life and friends because it was such a stark contrast to his relationship with his team. She didn't like reminding him about how different their lives were but… "Well, it's nothing really and it's nothing juicy that you can use to blackmail them. Everyone's pairing up and that's affecting team practice. Johnny and Miyami are still at each other's throats which I don't like seeing. They're really good together and it just seems… Well if you find the one you really care about, wouldn't you do everything in your power to keep them?" she asked surprising him.

"I guess, yeah I guess so. But it just sounds like he didn't trust her and trust is important in relationships I hear."

"I suppose, it's just exasperating, but I can't really comment. I haven't dated much, my track record is pretty dry on the boyfriend front but I always figured, the right one comes along and everything falls into place." when his brows winged up, she quickly added. "I don't think that anymore. Now all I see is a load of hurt going around. I don't need that screwing me up on the ice, so I'll forego the whole romance scene until I need to sprout out some babies or something. Maybe I'll have a wild fling with a hot guy before I go lie on my death bed."

He snickered before laughing out loud at her claim. A little while later, he'd calmed down so he only chortled every few seconds. "Sorry, Belle but that was just funny." he chuckled again before sobering. "I haven't laughed like that in a long time. Are you always so practical about life?"

They both looked up as a waiter placed Brooklyn's order of black coffee on the table. The girl obviously embarrassed had asked the guy to serve them. Brooklyn nodded his thanks before dumping liberal amounts of brown sugar into the black substance. He lifted the napkin off the saucer, then frowned catching sight of something. "Oh god not again."

Arista watched bemused as he rubbed his forehead, a sign she realized he only did when he was embarrassed. She reached over and took the napkin off his hands before snickering. "Wow, hit on by both sexes." she glanced up at the counter to see the waiter watching their table for a reaction from Brooklyn.

Brooklyn glanced over his shoulder and groaned quietly when the waiter flashed a killer smile. "Shut up Belle."

"Oh no, this-this is too funny. And what do you mean not again?" He grimaced. "Has this happened before?" she demanded, a evil light brightening her navy orbs.

"Once when I was out with Mystel. He kind of…" he trailed of mortified he was even going to tell her. "He kind of implied that we could be a threesome."

Arista choked, clapping a hand desperately over her mouth.

"Stop laughing Belle."

"No, no, oh god." she broke off into more peals of laughter prompting his own lips to lift. "Ok, seriously? A threesome? Well, he had great taste if not a bit weird."

"Belle!" mortified, he glanced over his shoulder, feeling the prickle of a blush up his neck. "This is not to go any further than this table. No telling Valkov or Hiwatari. Got it?"

"I promise not to say anything to them, besides they wouldn't know what to do with this kind of juice, the girls on the other hand-" she broke off when his legs snagged hers between them. "Ok, I promise not to say this to anyone."

"Good, because Mystel's under a death threat not to mention it and if I hear it from anyone, I'll know it came from you."

"Fine, fine. A threesome, oh god. Are you sure you're not that way inclined? I mean you're a pretty hot guy and you don't have a girlfriend-"

"Belle!" he all but whined her name. He felt a stirring when she lifted her eyes shining with laughter to his.

"Right, I'll drop it but if you find you need to tell someone, then you can always come to me, Dick-ass." she told him affectionately. "Well, my ice cream is thoroughly melted, so do you want to go somewhere else? I have another half hour before I have to head back for my big game tonight."

"Sure. Oh and good luck for that match." he rose from the chair and clipped his shades into the army green shirt he wore. Placing a few notes on the table to avoid another run in with the waiter, he led Arista by the elbow out of the place, absently slipping his arm around her waist when he caught sight of the waiter still leering at him, not put off by his female companion or his arm around her. Frowning, his male pride injured, he led her down the side walk before stopping her.

She turned and frowned up at him. "What's up?"

"I need a favor."

"Sure, what is it?"

He didn't answer, instead he swooped down and captured her lips with his. His hands slipped around her waist pulling her effortlessly closer, drawing her closer to his own body. She leaned into him, her own arms winding around his neck, her fingers slipping into his silky locks. He parted her lips, and invaded her mouth with his tongue, tasting the flavor of the ice cream and something heady underneath that had to be purely Arista. Nothing else tasted so incredible. Her body warmed and softened, melting into his own until he was sure they'd just merge as the kiss heightened. Desire wound his gut tighter and tighter, an exquisite pain he didn't ever want to relieve.

Her head spun dizzily, unsure quite what was going on. The world around them had faded, the sunlight grew stronger until she was sure it would explode or maybe she'd implode. Something was going to burst, she knew it, could feel it. His hands were so large and capably holding her against him in a possessive manner, while his mouth on hers destroyed all reason within her. Everything she'd said about ignoring romance until she was old flew right out of her head or maybe they'd fizzled away with her brains, melting in the heat that was frying her circuits. She tingled every where all at once and it was becoming unbearable but she couldn't think how to fix it.

Eventually they parted breathlessly and the world suddenly began to move on all around them. Panting shallowly, she looked up at him, eyes wider than possible in the pure lily white skin. She opened her mouth but couldn't find anything to say.

Brooklyn closed his eyes, trying to regain control over his emotions which were scattered to every corner of his world. He exhaled quietly, and began to walk slowly down the pavement, casting a glance at Arista when she fell into place. "I should tell you that was for the benefit of the waiter." he said quietly.

Because he was expecting it and hoping for it, he caught the flicker of disappointment that moved over her features before she nodded. "Right I knew that. I think it worked."

"Arista…" he trailed off and grabbing her shoulders, turned her to face him. "I should tell you that, but I can't deny that I've been wanting to do that for a very long time."

Her heart stopped before thundering back three fold. "Oh…" unsure what to say, she looked away from his eyes because if she looked into them she'd end up saying god knows what.

"Look, it doesn't have to change anything if you don't want it to. I'm not going to pressure you and risk losing your friendship, it means too much to me."

A smile curled the corners of her lips. "It would be awkward to develop anything more." she began then catching the surprised glint in his eyes, she quickly added. "I didn't say impossible, just awkward. How about we take things slowly. I mean hockey comes first right?" she wasn't sure if that's what he wanted to hear. Quite frankly she'd never expected this so soon, if ever. She hadn't allowed herself to think anything like this even though the flirty manner he used around her did point in this direction so it wasn't such a big surprise. And the kiss… well the kiss had been… wow. It was the only word that seemed adequate for it. A small part of her felt giddy at the thought of the next one.

"We can take things slowly, but I am going to have to kiss you some more."

She rolled her eyes but smiled anyway. "Uh-huh."

"Come on, let's head somewhere a little less public." When her eyes widened, he shook his head. "Jeez, Belle, I'm not going to maul you the first chance I get, well not unless you want me to because if so, that's always an option."

She laughed then. "Alright, how about the arcade."

"Air hockey?"

"Time to whoop your ass and hear you beg for mercy."

"I don't beg for mercy and for you information, I'm one point ahead of you."

"Well then I'll just have to change that." she decided determinedly. She looked down as his hand caught hers, interlinking the fingers and she fondly noted how well his hand covered hers with its width. She let him lead the way.

0-0-0

Russia rolled her eyes and tapped her foot as Shahero hurriedly shoved her stuff in her sports bag. "Yer gonna be late."

"I'm already late, shit Coach is gonna kill me."

"More dan likely. Ya wouldn' 'ave bin late if y' adn't bin out wit Hitoshi."

Shahero counted mentally to ten and took a cleansing breath. "I know you don't approve but I'm not going to have this discussion with you."

"It's not dat I don' approve, I jus' t'ink y' could do bet'r."

"Russ… ah never mind. I really gotta jet."

"Fine."

"You going to be fine here?"

Threading her hands through her red hair, the Irish girl shrugged. "Yeah I'll be grand."

"Have fun with whatever you're planning." Shahero smirked at Russia's devious grin before heading out the door followed by the red head. She had been about to pack for the trip to Harveston a good twenty minutes ago but then she'd inadvertently been detained by the Assistant Coach and so now she was five minutes late and with Coach being the way he was, she wouldn't have been surprised if he left without her. She frowned as she caught sight of Arista rushing up the steps.

"Hold the bus for me!"

"Where the hell were you?"

"Bitches get your ass down here!"

"Fuck off Kane!" Shahero shouted once again to the annoying bluenette positioned at the bottom of the stairs. He'd been sent to fetch her and he was pretty vocal about his dissatisfaction at having to round her up.

"Yo, Ris, where were you?"

"Up town, I got waylaid."

"By what?"

Arista shrugged then realizing no one could see her, she scowled. "Injured puppy."

Russia and Shahero exchanged bewildered glances. "Injured puppy?"

"Yeah it had this limp, see and I figured I'd take it to the animal hospital."

"Um, ok."

"If you two would leave Belyaev alone, she'd pack that much quicker. Kaeto go down to the bus and wait!"

"Who the fuck died and made you the boss of me?"

"Woman get down here."

"Kane!"

"Ah fuck." he cursed under his breath, looking over his shoulder at his girlfriend who was looming over him. "Sorry." he mumbled, catching her hand and pulling it to his lips.

"Where are my skates?"

"Where you left them!" Aspin yelled up the stairs to the frantic Russian girl.

Kane shook his head. This dorm was such a mess of sound and motion. His dorm and wing wasn't in any way this chaotic.

"Oh found them!"

"Would y'all hurry up? The sooner we get there, the more practice time we have and that has to be good for you especially Kaeto because you can't even seem to get a puck in the net!"

"Do you wanna see what I can do with Bobby, Kane?"

"Who the fuck names their stick?"

"Loads and loads of people, personifying an inanimate object makes you wield it better." Aspin interjected solemnly.

Shahero smirked down the stairs at Kane who cursed under his breath. "Shit Kaeto, fuck off."

"Better run Kane."

With a quick flash of a grin at his girlfriend, the bluenette unfolded himself from the steps and strolled down the hall towards the exit. Shahero only waited a second before waving bye to her friends and chasing after him, issuing imaginative death threats. With a bemused smirk, Aspin climbed the steps and stood beside Russia when she reached her.

"Do you miss going with them?"

"Nah… well, yea a li'l." she rolled her shoulders then chuckled as Arista sprinted out of her dorm.

"Wish me luck guys." she yelled over her shoulder as she hurled herself down the stairs.

The two remaining girls exchanged a look. "Injured puppy?"

Russia snorted. "If she t'ought we bough' dat she's stupider dan she looks."

"Boyfriend?"

"Yup an' one she don' t'ink we'd approve of." Russia added her two cents.

Both girls made their way back to their dorms and had just reached the door when Mariam poked her head out. "Hey-"

"If you're looking for Kai or Amber, they're away to their match." Aspin interrupted, instinctively knowing where the question was heading.

"Oh, I didn't see Kai around the school today."

"Dey were together in da infirmary." Russia replied entering her dorm and shutting it in Mariam's face.

"You do know how that sounded." Aspin muttered.

"I do." the red head smirked causing the violet haired girl to chuckle wickedly.

0-0-0

Miyami skidded to a halt and surveyed the time ticking away too fast for her liking. It takes less than a second to score, she mused as she began to urge herself back into the fray, ducking out of the way of enforcers, her spidey senses informing her that Johnny was coming up behind her, a little to the left. With a simple roll, she outmaneuvered another enforcer and shot the puck in Johnny's direction before hitting the ground hard, throwing herself instinctively into a forward roll.

The buzzer sounded as she got back to her feet, but the alarm wasn't the one she'd been hoping to hear. She snarled and looked in Johnny's direction, recognizing the hunched shoulders and ducked head as a sign that he was berating himself. Furious, her eyes flashing crimson, she skated towards him. "Hey!"

His head whipped up to regard her. "What?"

"You had a clear shot, why didn't you take it?"

He tugged his helmet off and shoved a hand through his damp red hair. His amethyst eyes flashed darkly. "I missed alright?"

"How the hell did you miss? It was a clear shot!"

He shook his head before gliding back to the box where Nicolai stood awaiting them so he could give them his 2nd period pep talk that hadn't been all that peppy so far. They were one down, the game being 3-2 for the moment. One of the shots had been a cheap shot, two of the opponents had blocked Ris' view so she couldn't see where the puck was coming from. He should have taken the shot. He could have leveled the playing field but watching Miyami go down like that, his heart had been in his throat. It was stupid. He'd seen her fall and hit the ice plenty of times but this time was different. If anything happened to her, she'd leave thinking he didn't care about her which wasn't the case. He was being melodramatic. It was highly unlikely that Miyami was going to die on the ice, but it just brought it into sharper focus, he didn't want her thinking he didn't care about her, that he didn't love her.

Miyami removed her own head gear and swiped her silver locks out of her eyes. The lights were far too bright, the music that was being pumped out of the speakers had a heavy bass that didn't quite drown out the crowds chanting for the home team. God what she wouldn't give to be playing at home at Preston with the home crowd chanting 'Send them home' or 'Fight to win'. The home atmosphere was electrifying, it made you want to play better, it made the blood pump faster and her heart beat faster.

She blew out a breath unsettling her pink bangs. Silver lupine eyes traced the broad shoulders of Johnny's back as she followed him down into the changing rooms. As they moved further down it, the jeering from the home crowd lessened. The cool air on her flushed cheeks was a relief but her eyes smarted from the shift from dim light to bright light as they entered the changing rooms where the rest of the team were glumly seated awaiting the dreaded speech from coach. She shuffled over to the space beside Kai and dropped down beside him. He patted her shoulder and she nodded her thanks.

Nicolai stepped into the room and regarded his team. These drained, weary teenagers were the Tigers, the only opposition the Sharks had, though Christ sometimes you wouldn't believe it. They had lost their hearts. Hockey no longer was their one true love, instead they were too caught up in lust and physical attraction to even look twice at their once paramour. His gaze stalled on his son and goddaughter who were huddled together, and though it warmed his heart to see the unit they were, it was pissing him off that they weren't focusing on the game.

He leaned against the wall of lockers and watched them. "Well, any excuses?"

No one spoke. Tala shifted to rub his face and Nicolai had to choke back a chuckle when all eyes fell on the red head who just shrugged at them.

"Good, excuses aren't going to get you anywhere. Johnny-" he watched the Scottish teen resignedly raise his head to regard him warily. "When you have the puck, focus on nothing but getting it in the net. If Miyami hits the ground, then she'll take care of herself and if not, it's up to the enforcers to deal with anyone intending a team mate harm." Johnny nodded but didn't look at Miyami. "Guys, this isn't on. You are a team, start acting like it. Leave all personal problems off the ice and if you can't do that, then use them."

Several heads jerked up in surprise. "You're better than those guys out there. They know it, they just think Christmas has come early for them. Now unless one of you is secretly Santa, then don't think you have the right to give them anything. Take your win." He watched some of the light come back to some of their eyes. "If you're not going to play your best, you're sitting out. Got it? This is a game for winners. Any losers, put your hand in the air."

He stared bewildered at his son as Kai put his hand in the air and the snickers erupted around the team. "Kai?"

"I want to play."

"You're sick Kai. You've barely eaten much today, you're not in a fit state to play."

"But Coach-"

"No Kai."

"Hold on." Amber called out, jumping to her feet. "Just wait a second and think about this. The Tigers bring out their Captain on the third period, a captain who was once the captain of the supposed best team in the league, who is one of the or arguably the best players we have. Ever hear the saying, saving the best till last?"

Nicolai sifted through the babble that just spewed out of the girls mouth. "Is it going to stop you both moping about?"

"I resent that! I was not moping."

"Yes."

"Fine you play but when I call you in, you get your ass in. You, Amber, and Tala up front. Bryan and Ian on Defense. Line two will consists of Rei, Johnny and Ozuma, Shahero and Spencer on defense, ok?" a nod from the players confirmed the play. He'd been reluctant to play Shahero on defense because of her spry stature, but on seeing her violently shove Hitoshi into the checking boards for no reason that he saw, he'd reconsidered. "Enrique, Michael and Miyami on line three, Ruin and Kane on defense."

They nodded and voiced their understanding of the lines. "Now go out there and win us some points. Arista, you ok with all this?"

"Yeah coach, I'm super."

0-0-0

"I was not moping." Amber grumbled as she glided out onto the ice to warm up. Kai shot her a bemused look before shaking his head and taking position center while Tala patted her helmet and rounded the circle to stand opposite her. Since she was on Kai's left, she would be the one getting the puck if Kai won it. The referee came up to the circle, muttered the same things as usual, good clean game and all that. She listened to the rhythmic slap of sticks before the coach dropped the puck and Kai cast it to her and they were off.

****

"Benson down center field, Malkovich hanging back behind her. Oh and that's Dunlop down, not sure if that was a hooking or not. Petrovich is not claiming any responsibility for that nasty tumble. No the ref.'s not calling anything. Benson to Valkov, oh and that's a nice interception."

It was a pretty damn lousy interception, Amber grumbled under her breath as she chased up the left flank of Di Costa who'd been leering at her for most of the bleedin' match. She hadn't even seen him when she passed to Tala but he'd come zipping up and swiped it clean out from under her nose. She was figuring it was some sort of teleportation thingy.

She smirked as Kai slammed into him and Tala retrieved the puck, shooting it to her before ending up on the ice due to the Harveston Demons enforcer. She caught it then catching a glimpse of black and red, she passed to Ian who'd appeared on her right. He skated furiously down the ice, feinting a pass before casting back to Kai who took it over the blue line, around the nets and with a flick, he found the back of it nets.

Score! The alarm wailed mournfully.

****

"One timer goal by Tiger Captain, Kai Hiwatari." the commentator droned monotonously.

Kai smirked satisfied and high-fived Tala before hugging Amber back when her arms were flung around him. Ian glided up to pat his back and Bryan nudged his shoulder in congratulations before they moved off to take another face of.

"Line change!" Nicolai shouted out over the jeering of the crowds.

They shuffled to the box, Line two carefully making sure line one was in before going out. They weren't being hauled up for too many men being on the ice.

****

"Line change from the Tigers. Kon and Duncan taking the face off."

Rei narrowed his eyes at the teen opposite him who grinned ferally. Out of the corner of his eye, he noted Johnny scuffling with a Demon to retain his position on his right. As soon as the puck was dropped, he passed to Ozuma who passed back when Rei circled back to create some space. Rei took the puck then froze as the whistle sounded. With a snarl he looked over his shoulder and watched as the demon who'd been fighting with Johnny came up behind him and shoved him roughly.

"Johnny don't do it!" Shahero yelled out but her voice was drowned out by the crowd as they began to get rowdy and started chanting.

Johnny whipped round, his temper sparking in his eyes. "Fuck off if you know what's good for you!" He was shoved back a few steps. "I gave y' yer warnin'." with a snarl, he grabbed the waist of the Demon and began to punch the guys stomach, giving him a few shots in the head, getting sucker punched a couple of times before he knocked the boy to the floor of the ice.

The referee glided between them. "Five minutes for fighting." he snapped.

****

"And that's a game misconduct. McGregor's getting thrown in the penalty box for five minutes, fighting. Same for Carson."

Nicolai shook his head. "What is with you boys and fighting?"

"On behalf of the girls, I'm going to point out that Shahero gets done for fighting more than any of the boys. Go Shahero."

Kai snorted. "You know that kid was just spoiling to get Johnny out of the game. Easy pickings since McGregor's so hotheaded."

Kane inched back from Miyami as she growled under her breath. Nicolai shoved his hands into his pockets restlessly, before removing them and folding his arms, pacing up and down behind the bench.

"Hey at least it's not just Johnny in there." Michael pointed out.

"The man makes a point." Enrique nodded. "Come on Ozuma. Score for Son- Ow!"

"Don't distract him, Christ." Amber muttered scanning the crowds. "Sir, I suggest we bring some of our home crowd with us, these puritans are hostile… Jesus H. Christ, there he is again!" she exclaimed.

Kai and Tala followed her gaze and found Brooklyn sitting on the top bleacher as far away from the ice as possible and almost hidden in the shadows.

"How come we don't crash their games?" Kane wondered, looking at Nicolai.

"You don't need a run in with the Sharks before your time."

"No fair, they crash us all the time."

"It would be handy to catch some info on how they're playing without their golden boys." Ruin mused.

"Is either of us gol- Fuck! That's a bastard of a move." Tala cursed standing up as he watched Rei go down awkwardly. "Where the hell was Spencer and Kaeto?"

"Shahero's on the ground." Amber pointed out, rising beside her best friend. "And no, you're not golden but I don't think she was referring to your hair."

Nicolai rolled his eyes. "Change it up!"

Ozuma and Spencer pulled Rei to the box and helped him in while Kane held the door open, waiting for both Johnny and Shahero to enter the box too, before he exited and closed it behind him. He immediately locked onto Miyami's movements and skated up to assist her. He easily moved into position to intercept a tackle aimed at her, shoving the guy out of his way as he followed her, taking the puck when she passed it to free herself up.

****

"That's Thompson taken down by Mulryan. Giancarlo -is that his name?- goes down by the hands of Narx and Suzoru -why can't they have normal names?- passes to Parker - nice American name- who shoots and yes, the goalie comes up quick. Pickard has frozen the puck."

"Go Tigers! Come on Mimi!" Shahero shouted from her position, bobbing her head to imaginary music and tapping her foot. Every so often she'd start clapping her hands in time to her cheer. "We need cheerleaders, they'd get the crowd going."

Amber looked at her and raised a brow, watching amused as Shahero paled. "That did not just come out of my mouth."

"You're indeed possessed, sis. But you make a good point. Let's go Tigers, Let's go!"

"Someone hand them some pompoms." Kai murmured to Tala and Ian who snickered.

"We heard that." the girls informed them.

Michael took the face off, smashing up against the Demon, while Miyami moved smoothly around them to gather the puck and tap it towards Enrique who cradled it deftly and began to move fast down the ice, weaving in and out of Demons before passing it to Ruin who nudged it to Miyami. Up close and personal with the goalie, she smirked and flicked the puck into the top corner.

The siren soared into the stadium while the Goalie kicked the ice violently with his skate.

"Nice one Mimi!"

"Woot!"

"Seems like you have your own cheer team." Ruin commented slinging and arm around the silver haired girls shoulders.

"Oh they're the latest fashion out of Milan." Miyami replied, waving to her friends in the box and sending Arista who was shimmying around her nets a thumbs up.

****

"Score by the Tigers, Miyami Kinomiya."

"Now that was one heck of a wrist shot!" Nicolai called out to her, grinning when she bowed with a flourish.

"Kaeto if you wiggle your butt in my face one more time…" Ian trailed off on the threat with a growl and gritted his teeth.

"Oh yeah, we rock!" Amber cheered.

"Line change!"

****

"Line change by the Tigers."

"Why does he even bother?" Amber questioned looking up at the bored commentator. "Must suck having to deliver the bad news."

"Come on Ember, let's finish this."

"Whatever you say Mon Capitan."

****

"The ref drops the puck and Hiwatari passes to Benson, passes back to Malkovich. Petrovich takes down Dunlop and there goes Petrovich. Valkov is speeding down the ice."

Tala felt Amber flanking him on the left, knowing she'd guess his game, he spun out of the way of a check and passed to Amber who took the puck round the net and passed to Kai shot at the nets. The goalie came up fast and cast the puck up the ice. It passed over the blue line, red and blue lines.

Arista rolled her eyes, this was the most action she'd seen since the first period. They were dominating the game ever since the third period began. She got the puck and cast it to the referee. She'd felt like she was being watched the whole time but she couldn't see where from. Hunching down in the nets, she readied herself for the face off to her left. Keeping her eyes focused, she tuned out the clash of sticks, how Tala scuffled with his opponent. Out of the mess of bodies, the puck flew straight at her with the speed of a bullet. Out of instinct more than anything and reflexes honed on the ice, she whipped her stick up and deflected it. Her pulse thundered in her ears before slowing as Ian claimed the puck, took it round the nets and waited until he was out of the danger zone before clearing it down the ice. He came back to her.

He shoved the visor up. "Nice save Ris."

"Thanks Ian, nice clearing."

"All in a days work." he ducked his head and the visor fell into place.

She let out a sigh of relief. Looking up at the time, she grinned. "It's over baby!"

Kai's thoughts reflected hers as he followed Amber down the ice, keeping track of anything that could get in her way. With a curse, he noticed her pull up and cast him the puck before getting out of the way of a charging Demon. He couldn't get the shot off now, the goalie was ready but weak on the other side. He rounded the net and tried to flick it in but the goalie kicked it out of the way and straight at Amber. With a smirk, looking directly into the goalies eyes, she wound up. The goalie braced for it but cursed his luck when she only cast the puck a little in front of her before she tripped it into the nets between his legs.

Another siren followed by the buzzer and they'd won!

The commentator said nothing, simply flung down the microphone and stalked off. In the corner, Brooklyn smirked. The Tigers weren't half bad and his Belle, was much more than he'd ever imagined. In nets she was a goddess not to be rivaled. That was something he'd have to consider. He got up and walked out with the crowds who didn't want to stay around and watch any more.

0-0-0

"Oh I feel like singing!" Amber declared, looping her arms around Arista and Miyami while Shahero rubbed down Bobby, murmuring praises and affectionate words as they exited the changing rooms, on their way for the bus.

They caught sight of Kai and Johnny leaning against the walls outside the boys changing rooms while Tala and Ian tried to 'persuade' the vending machine to give them a snack.

"Hey champs."

Kai looked up and smiled at his chipper girlfriend who was still glowing from the win. "Nice goal Ember."

"Yeah Benson didn't think you could make any, anymore."

"Bite me Ian."

"Nah, you probably taste like crap."

"She doesn't, I can vouch for that."

Ian sneered and rolled his eyes as he watched his captain kiss the minx. "Oh get a room."

Tala snorted. "Hey where's my woman?"

"About to kick your ass for calling her your woman." Arista told him cheerfully, enjoying the quick glimpse of panic on his face before he awarded her a cool glare for lying to him.

"Oh he's so pussy whipped."

"Ah Benz, my ears. Go kiss Kai or something."

"God I'm giddy."

"Yeah I forgot what a win feels like." Johnny commented to Miyami's declaration. She smiled softly at him before turning back to the group.

Amber caught the look between Kai and Tala and pressed her fingers to her boyfriends mouth. "Don't you dare." she growled the warning.

The lights weren't on, only the dim light of the rising moon illuminated the corridor they stood in. A sliver of light came from the boys changing rooms, growing as the door opened and Enrique shuffled out. "We are the Champions, of the worrrrrrldddd!"

"Oh put the cat out of its misery, please!" Michael shouted from inside.

"Where's Coach?"

"Out on the bus I guess. Hey do you think he'll let us go out somewhere?" Shahero asked bouncing on the balls of her feet.

Kai arched a brow. "Why are you asking me?"

"Um because you're his son." Amber pointed out, turning her back into him and pulling his arms around her securely. Goosebumps prickled over her skin from the chill in the hall. "Besides it's Tiger tradition. If he doesn't, we'll sneak out, it's a Sunday tomorrow anyway."

"I say we should spy on the Sharks sometime, see how they like it." Shahero voiced.

"What do you mean?" Enrique asked.

"Oh, Dicklyn was spying on us."

"Really?" Arista asked, well that made sense on why she'd felt she was being watched.

"Yup so I say we repay the favor in kind on their next match." Shahero took a swig from Tala's drink. "It'd serve them right."

"Well can't be next week, we have our open day."

"Exciting." Tala drawled with a mock shudder and grinning when Arista punched his arm.

"Come on you guys, get on the bus before the mob decides to lynch us for beating their precious demons." Nicolai said stepping into the corridor and observing his victory high team. "You played well tonight."

"Well enough to go bowling or to the cinema or a night club?" Miyami asked sidling up to him.

"Well enough to go home and go to bed."

"Aw coach!"

"Fine, we can stop off at MacDonald's."

"Oh yeah, a happy meal! Woot."

"Amber anything more like that from you and we'll go nowhere at all."

"Sorry."

"Come on get on the bus."

They grumbled under their breath but despite that nothing could take away from their giddy pleasure at winning once again.

0-0-0

****

Did you enjoy that? Any grammar and spelling mistakes are solely mine and down to my tiredness and complete lack of interest in checking this, so I apologize profusely and maybe some day I'll go back and check it but I want to post this now. Check out my live journal for my review replies. K?


	20. To coin a phrase

**Disclaimer: _Here we go again. I don't own Beyblade or their characters, I just love messing with their lives and making them do daft things they'd never in their right minds do... see chapter 21 when I post it. LOL! I do however own Amber who I don't mess with, unfortunately she actually is quite in her right mind when she does the daft stuff... that's not saying much. The Benson family and their tag alongs are mine, except for Daichi, Bryan and Ozuma and Kirby. Kirby belongs to Kindred Insanity. Miyami and the Kinomiya clan is Lil... Unlucky... I have no idea what pen name Meg is going by these days so... shrugs Shahero is the glorious creation of my cyber sister Coors. Arista is my penpal Arcada's - Cads, I sent a letter but me dunno if it got sent... shrugs Aspin belongs to Animerle... who has disappeared again. Could Animerle please report her whereabouts to me, I thought you were going to write a brilliant Aspin and Kane story! Sonia...The most unfortunate of my borrowed Oc's belongs to SpitfireSae. And Russia belongs to Zimo. _**

_HELLO! How's it goin'? Well here's the firstpart ofChapter Twenty. It was supposed to be only one chapter, but yeah, I got carried away and itbecame a two part. So what can I do, I just write too much so youhave to read a lot.Oha belated Happy Halloween to everyone! _

Chapter Twenty- To Coin a phrase

Amber scowled, her brow furrowed as she hoisted the corner of her mattress up and shifted to tuck the sheet under it. Open day was all good and fun, but cleaning up their dorm and making it presentable was not. Especially since the senior dorms were exhibited to the entire visiting group in order for them to view the rooms the potential students next year would be inhabiting. Part of that pissed Amber off, the other part that knew that she wouldn't be here next year, mourned it. She whooshed out a breath and collapsed back onto the bed, exhausted. Wrestling the mattress used up muscles that hockey never did. Her diaphragm ached like a mother… and her shoulders were far too tense.

She rolled back into position and turned her attention to the top corner of her bed. The rest of her friends had already been up and had made their beds, either last night or early this morning while she dozed. She had to admit, the dorm really cleaned up well. The books were neatly placed in the small battered book case, and the bedside tables had all been dusted down, shoes placed out of sight and all bags had been thrown in the wardrobes. It looked clean… too clean and nothing like their dorm. But that was fine with her. She was more interested in besting her bed. She would get it done. She would not run to Miyami or Aspin for help. She would conquer the mattress from hell that despised and hated her.

"Damn right I will." she grumbled, sliding her boot clad leg down the side of the bed between the mattress and wall, and planting herself firmly, she yanked up the corner of the mattress, yelping when it slipped out of her grip and thumped down again.

With a growl, she sighed and sat up, throwing her hair out of her face and began to sing along to the chorus of the song playing on the CD player.

There was a trick to finding Amber Benson, Kai mused as he leaned against the door jamb and watched the pleasurable view that was his girlfriend, and that was to listen out for her. You always heard her before you saw her, but that was disappointing. She had a great voice, though this song was a mite too high for her, and her strong voice with its gravelly hints singing along with the girlishly feminine singer was strange. But although her singing was above par -though she'd deny it- it was nothing compared to just watching the irate girl tilting her head and surveying the mattress as though it was going to do something amazing, like attack her.

He'd come searching for her when she hadn't been at breakfast and since he'd made it a personal mission to make sure she got breakfast most days, he'd come to find her, a true testament to how much he cared about her that he'd risk facing his ex-girlfriend first thing in the morning. Though to be fair to Mariam, she'd been nothing but pleasant lately. That made him twitchy. When Amber hadn't liked him, she damn well made him know it. People who pretended to be friendly when they had no reason to made him suspicious so he remained wary of her despite wanting to see the good in her. But Amber needed to eat, so he'd come in search of her.

And a good thing too, he thought with a small twitch of his lips as she bent over and gave him a great view. He was once again hit with the usual bolt of lust he was always struck with around her at some time or the other. Whether it was hearing her chuckle wickedly when she'd accomplished something, or when she would rant and rage over something and bring her blazing eyes up to meet him, to just simple things such as a smile or a pout, he always felt it. The familiar low throbbing ache he lived with flared up.

She shoved in the sheet under the mattress and whipped her fingers out before they could be crushed to death. Ha, Ha, take that Mattress Monster! "Ooh money." she chirped, reaching down and picking up a shiny coin. Payment for a job well done, she decided, slipping her coin into the back pocket of her school skirt, that Miyami had created for her.

She was just dusting off her hands satisfactorily when she felt the hand slide down into her skirt pocket and pinch her ass. Too surprised to move, it took her a second to react. First someone had stolen her money and then pinched her ass! Not nice! She rolled over with the intent of confronting the thief, but with her boot lodged in the small gap between the wall and the mattress, it wouldn't budge. Fluidly, still in the motion of rolling, she slipped her foot out of the boot, kind of smug with her smooth move until she felt the bed give underneath her. Gravity yanked her down and her ass smacked hard against the floor.

"Ow!" she cried; her hand tentatively moving to rub her bruised butt. "Dammit, I broke my butt!"

A decidedly male chuckle informed her that she wasn't alone and that the culprit/ thief that stole her damn money was still present. She jerked her head up to give the guy a piece of her mind before her brain even placed the familiar chuckle. Her eyes landed on Kai and all words melted right off her tongue at the sight of him. She swallowed, feeling a flush work its way up her throat, and she cursed herself for acting so ridiculous. She'd been with him a whole month, you'd think she'd be at least used to how he looked and how he affected her at this stage but the longer she was with him, the worse and stronger the reaction was.

She had to concentrate a little to work up her mad again. "Hey, what are you doing here? And that's my goddamn money for dealing with the mattress monster buster, so hand it over pronto!"

He raised a brow, and looked down at her. Her fascinating gold legs were splayed out before her, over the heap that was her quilt and pillow and other assorted bed linens. He was glad to see the skirt again, it was one of his favorite pieces of clothing for her. Today it was accompanied by the knee high rainbow socks and the flat soled suede boots. He couldn't say he was too fond of either accessories mainly because they kept her legs hidden but if it stopped other guys ogling them, then that was fine with him.

"Stop that." she huffed out as she began to struggle to get to her feet, but she was at a little disadvantage since her legs were inclined higher than the rest of her body so she couldn't plant her feet properly.

He stepped forward and offered his hand which she glared at for about a full second before clasping her own smaller and finer hand in it and allowing him to yank her to her feet. Not about to miss out on an opening, he tugged her a little harder than necessary so that she all but stumbled into his arms. She righted herself and glared up at him.

"What?" she demanded but the awareness in her eyes and the slightly breathless undertones belied her gruffness.

"I never got to say hello." he murmured before closing his mouth over her snarling one.

When he pulled back, her mind was suitably hazy. "Hey." she managed weakly, before winding her arms around his waist tilting her head up to offer her mouth to him. She pressed closer to him, his arms enfolding her waist, holding her firmly in place, as his mouth took hers slowly in a bone melting kiss while her own hands moved down and squeezed his butt, sending a sizzling hot bolt of lust straight through him.

Amber pulled back from him, her heart beat erratic but a smug smile of triumph lit up her face. She held out her hand with the coin laying flat out on it. "Ha, two people can play at that." she chuckled and thumped down onto the bed while he tried to process what had just happened.

When he did, he growled. "Minx."

She pressed her tingling lips together and stretched out before lying back on the bed and gazing at her well earned cash. "Yup. So why are you up here?"

"Miyami sent me up to fetch you." he replied nonchalantly, watching her carefully out of the corner of his eye, his own lips quirking when he caught the flicker of disappointment slide over her face before it faded into a frown aimed at the coin.

He lay down on his side, beside her, brushing her bangs out of her eyes. "There was also the fact that I was missing you desperately, but that was-" he broke off on a chuckle when she punched him non too gently in the stomach.

"Not funny!" she grumbled, rolling onto her side, turning away from him. She felt him shifting before his arms slid around her waist, his chest pressed against her back as his hot breath tickled the slope of her neck. She tensed immediately, the myriad of nerves along her spine going haywire at his closeness, then she arched and moaned as she felt his teeth bite lightly at the weak spot on the base of her neck. His hand slipped under her top to play his fingers over her golden skin as she melted against him, tilting her neck to allow him more access to it. He greedily took advantage, kissing, nipping and nibbling his way up the column of her neck to her ear. He nuzzled at the spot behind her ear, enjoying how her breath quickened and her flesh heated.

He pulled back enough so that she rolled onto her back and his mouth found hers, and sank in. One of her arms moved to his shoulder, her fingers digging into the firm muscles underneath while the other was entangled with his. His tongue sought hers, drawing it into his mouth and sucking on it. His other hand slipped down the long lean line of her thorax, following the indent of her waist and over the subtle slope of her hip before moving back up and around her back to the spot along her spine. Her outcry was muffled by his mouth as she arched against him when he pressed against it.

He moved from her mouth to her jaw, enjoying the scent of her skin, the taste and feel of it. He'd never been enthralled with someone like this before, it was as though she'd weaved a spell over him and his entire being was caught up in her only. Her body was filled with so many secrets, he'd only begun to unravel, especially with her modesty. It was like playing pass the parcel only by himself, she only allowed him to remove the paper every so often so the anticipation of the present inside grew and grew. He was just enjoying unwrapping her slowly but surely until he possessed her completely.

She frowned, only for her eyes to roll back in her head as he found yet another sweet spot beneath her jaw. She tried to draw in a shaky breath to soothe the fireball in her lungs but she couldn't seem to get in enough air. "Kai…" she trailed off as panic began to seep in at feeling his arousal. She didn't want this to go any farther than she was ready for and she knew Kai respected her, but it was so easy to get carried away. For crying out loud, even as she was panicking and needing him to slow down, her own hand was playing over the taut muscles of his smooth back.

Sensing the alarm in her body, he pulled back, his breath clogged in his lungs as he looked down at her. He caught the desire in her eyes, but the lurking fear made him sigh. Despite what she thought, he wasn't ready to take the relationship any further either, not at the moment. He was just enjoying being with her and discovering her, so with this in mind, he pressed a quick kiss to her swollen mouth before kissing her nose and her eye lids closed.

When she opened them, he'd rolled off her and was playing with her coin. Her eyes widened and she sat up abruptly. "That's my money. Mine." she growled, diving for it. "Gimme!"

He chuckled, allowing her to tackle him but keeping the coin out of her reach. He bit back a yelp and an oath as her talented fingers found a ticklish location along his ribs. He snorted back a laugh and squirmed, trying desperately to fend off a hand.

She sat back and viewed him skeptically, all the while running her fingers over his soft skin, feeling the muscles tense underneath it as she repetitively skimmed her fingers up and down his side. "Oh, you're ticklish aren't you?"

"No." he managed to choke out.

"Oh you really are." Glee welled up inside her as did a smug feminine satisfaction at seeing him vulnerable and writhing beneath her. She smirked and began to mercilessly tickle him. "Say mercy Kai-pai."

"No!"

"Say it."

"No! Shit woman…" he trailed off, bucking and flipping her over and pinning her hands with their wicked fingers over her head. He worked on getting his breathing back to normal as he looked down at her, surveying her with dark brown eyes. Her sculpted cheeks were flushed under her golden skin, her eyes were darkly aware of him. Her lips were bruised from his, a ripe cherry color. Her hair pillowed her face like a blackened halo with glimmers of gold. There was going to be another mar on her slender neck, he was pleased to note. A good thing too with all the boys turning up at the school today including that Foxy brat and Wyatt. She'd berate him for it, naturally, but he didn't care too much. Her chest rose and fell slowly with every breath and her pulse jumped at her throat.

"I want my money…" she whispered.

"Ok we'll trade."

"Trade what?"

He smiled lopsidedly before lowering his mouth to hers once more. "I think this will do."

"Hey guys can I-"

They broke apart and stared surprised at Mariam as she strode into the dorm and clapped eyes on them. Amber cursed silently, what was it with Mariam walking in on them in compromising positions? It was actually quite unfair. The girl had been spending the past fortnight quite successfully avoiding them both and but whenever she and Kai got remotely involved in a romantic clinch, Mariam always seemed to materialize.

Kai winced inwardly as he watched the blood drain from Mariam's pretty face before her eyes veiled over and her face became expressionless. She averted her gaze and mumbled an apology before walking out, but not before Kai read the hurt in her body language. He was truly sorry for causing her pain, but he didn't see how it could be avoided, not in a boarding school such as this. You were always tripping over the same old people, so how did others manage it? It wasn't as if he'd broken any relationship rules, he'd broken up with Mariam before even making a real move on Amber. He didn't see how this could have turned out better, maybe if he'd told her before of his feelings for Amber, maybe it wouldn't have been such a shock but there was nothing he could do now.

He turned his gaze to Amber who was silently staring at the door, her eyes showing him every emotion she was feeling, even while her face remained passive. There was true sorrow in those eyes. Sorrow he rarely saw in them because she usually preferred to laugh at life or get angry. He sighed, hating himself for putting her in this position. Her liquid eyes looked at him and she managed a quirky half smile.

"Well, that was… bad, huh?"

"Yeah." he agreed, rolling off her and sitting up on the bed.

She mirrored his move and resting her chin on her open palms, her elbows on her knees, she leaned forward to look out the window. "How are we going to fix this? I hate this."

"Me too."

"You really cared for her, huh?"

"Yeah I did, but it was… it's different."

She nodded, understanding what he was trying to say. Her thumb found it's way to her mouth and she bit the fleshy pad of her thumb. "I never had to deal with anything like this before. I always thought that if anything should happen, I'd never let a boy come between me and my friends, but now… I still believe that. But now I know there a certain circumstances where that rule has to be adjusted. I know Mariam can't be happy for us, because she still cares about you and I respect her for not trying to hurt either of us. I'm not sure if I'd be able to be civil to you and your new girlfriend. No, I know I wouldn't be able to be civil. I'd hate you for breaking my heart and I'd try to hurt you in any way possible."

He watched her as she spoke softly. "What if she was a friend?"

A small smile played on her lips. "I said I'd hate _you_ and I'd try to hurt _you_, if you were with a friend, say Miyami or Aspin or even Ruin, I'd try to maintain my friendship with them; well not just right away, I'd need some time. Nevertheless, it's too important to lose, but if you were at it behind my back, well that would be a show of a complete lack of respect for me, so the gloves would come off against both of you."

"Well some how I don't think you need to worry about that. I'm not likely to be 'at it' behind your back with any of those three, well maybe Aspin-" her head shot round and he smirked. "Kidding, kidding. They would never betray you."

"Yeah, that's what I said too and what did I do?"

"You never betrayed Mariam. Crying out loud, Amber, you made it your mission to make my life a complete misery. You failed, fair enough but you tried. The point is, you never gave me any indication that you felt anything for me that would lead me away from Mariam. Things just died off between us. We burned out."

"Oh, I guess… But I still feel bad." she confirmed. "Just not bad enough to break up with you."

"You shouldn't."

She smiled softly still not looking at him, then to where her foot was pressed against the heap on the floor. "Well, I have to get this all fixed up. Wanna help?"

"Make a bed? Somehow I don't think so, Imp."

"Still don't get why you call me that." she grumbled, getting to her feet and glaring down at the pile as though she expected it to spontaneously combust at her feet. Stupid Dickinson and his stupid rules. Her attention was brought back to Kai, when he caught her hand and brought it up to his face, his eyes remaining on hers. Whatever he was searching for, he must have found it and been satisfied by it, because he turned his whole attention back to her hand, his thumb rubbing over her still pink scar. He tsked over it while she simply grinned.

"You find this amusing?"

"Nope but it is kind of cool."

"You think scars are cool?"

"Yeah, as long as they aren't massively big ones or long ones, then yeah they're cool. Signs of battle and danger that you confronted and won against or so my Daddy use to say every time I fell and got a scrape."

"That happen often?"

She shrugged as she made a thinking face. "S'pose. I wasn't overly graceful as a child but I had an innate knack for managing to catch my balance at the last minute or sensing if there was something that could injure me in close proximity, call it a sixth sense if you will. Besides what about you Scar-Jaw?"

He shrugged. "Fell down a hill, hit my jaw off a rock, slashed it, knocked out a tooth or two. But they were milk teeth, nothing serious."

She tilted her head. "I thought you said you couldn't remember how you got it."

"I couldn't so I asked Mom, oh and she sends her love by the way and she'll see you later."

Amber smiled at the thought of both Jean and her mother coming over later. She liked her mother to see how well she was doing in school and how many friends she had. Sure it was sort of showing off, but non the less, she'd always been a attention seeking child, being an only child and everything. "So you took a klutz attack and ended up getting a scar on your jaw, did you have to get stitches?"

"A few." he grimaced with the thought. He couldn't really remember it but it couldn't be all that great a memory so he didn't quite mind. Amber on the other hand seemed enthralled.

"Cool. Meh, my scars are nothing as cool."

He rolled his eyes. How she could think getting scars was all that great was beyond him. At least with his skin the scars were practically invisible unless you saw them close up but with Amber's skin they'd stick out like sore thumbs. He didn't like the thought of her skin marred by anything. Why couldn't she see that? She had all this beautiful gold skin that made her unique from every other girl here and she thought it was cool to have a few white lines on it? She'd never cease to surprise him. Most girls would freak out to have their pale flawless skin ruined but oh no, Amber would get them out and start regaling tales on how she got hers complete with gory facts. Because the image was so vivid, a smile played on his lips.

"I don't think it's funny." she rambled on, as she tossed her pillow now encased in its cover onto the bed. "It's all very well and good having your mother make your bed for you because you're a boy but how do you handle it when Mommy's not around and you've had an accident?"

"I've been toilet trained for a long time now, and it's been working out quite well thank you."

"Feh. Not the point I was making." she scowled. "Ack, g'on clear off till I get this done."

With a shake of his head, he got to his feet, catching her chin and laying an infinitely tender kiss on her mouth before leaving. She watched him go, then blew out a breath. "The guy sure knows how to make an exit."

* * *

"So you're saying Mariam walked in on you." Rei asked as he shifted in his chair, his eyes flicking uncertainly down to the pulpit on the stage where Mr. Dickinson was getting ready to greet the guests and make a speech.

Kai nodded uncomfortably. He wasn't one to talk about his problems with others, it was more the other way round, people came to him with _their_ problems. But since he figured Rei had to have gone through the same situation, he didn't feel too bad talking it over with him. "Yeah, we were just messing about and Mariam barged in looking for something. I just…"

"You're wondering if you could have done something different and spared her the pain." Rei surmised, his own gaze moving to Salima who sat with the royal bluenette. They moved on to where Mariah stood chatting with a certain bubbliness to a few of her classmates. Her pale pink jacket lay on the seat beside him and if he concentrated he could pick up the traces of rose lingering on it.

"Yeah just a little. You care about Mariah right-"

"I love Mariah." Rei corrected, noticing how Kai flinched slightly at the L word. Not quite content with the term or comfortable with the emotion quite yet. "So there was never any chance for Salima. I like her, she's a great girl but she's just not Mariah."

"So how do you cope seeing her hurt every time you and Mariah enter a room."

Man had a big heart, Rei decided, hidden under that cool aloof exterior. "It was hard at first, because I counted her as one of my friends and when I found out, I figured the best thing for all concerned was to break off my relationship with Salima so I wouldn't give her any false hopes. She accepts me and Mariah, she even supports us."

"Sometimes I think it'd be easier if Mariam was trying to break us up."

Rei laughed. "Yeah then you wouldn't have to feel guilty about hurting her. But you were broken up before anything happened between you and Amber, it's not like you cheated on her. So there's no real reason for you to be guilty. And you care about Amber, right?"

Kai nodded, his gaze warming on sight of her as she skipped down the steps, her hair swishing with the movement. She glanced over her shoulder at Spencer and Bryan who she was talking to as she led them to a spot on the other side of the auditorium, two rows before him to take the empty seat beside Ian. Spencer said something that made a warm grin curl over her lips, making her entire face brighten. His breath caught in his throat and his stomach swooped almost painfully. She turned to Ian and snatched his earphones of his head, before placing them on her own and listening to them. Just as Ian was about to berate her, she said something that made him back off and answer her civilly. A second later, she removed them, gave them back to him before leaning over Spencer to nudge Shahero who'd taken a seat beside Bryan.

Rei watched his friends expression the whole time and inwardly smiled before turning to Mariah as she slipped into the row and took her seat.

"Sonia's freaking out, like serious hyperventilating."

"Where's Ozuma?"

"Um, he's not accompanying her anymore." Mariah answered. "It's part of some big plan that Miyami has planned."

"Did I hear my name?" a voice over head asked.

They both looked up as Miyami stood over them, leaning against their row to let Aspin lead Kane past to take seats beside Ruin and Tala.

"Yeah I was telling Rei that your idea for Sonia didn't require Ozuma to accompany her."

"Oh, yeah that. He's pissed naturally. And of course naturally he won't tell us he's pissed, but he's not sitting with us. He's sitting with Daichi and his parents."

Kai looked up at her to acknowledge her before following the direction of her gaze. He found Ozuma sitting with a black haired man and a red haired woman, both were listening to Daichi and Kirby as they told them some story that had Tyson looking sheepish and Max roaring with laughter. It hit him again, how different Preston was compared to Clonmel.

Murmurs rose in a crescendo, and the group looked around to see what had caused the commotion. Kai clenched his fists so tightly his nails bit into his skin and sensing his change in attitude, Miyami lay a hand on his shoulder as she watched Brooklyn Adams walk down the steps accompanied by a shorter blond, a tall pale blue haired teen and a boy who looked as though he could circle her throat with his fist. A shiver ran down her spine and she immediately wished Johnny was here so she could draw his arms around her and ward off the chill but she and Johnny were still, iffy, at best.

* * *

Mystel rose a brow at the animosity he felt radiating off the students as he walked down into the hall with the others. Brooklyn had decided to come along to see his Belle since she had to stay at the school and Mystel had convinced his vice captain to bring Garland and Moses along, that way it wouldn't look too suspicious and Balkof wouldn't be able to blame just Brooklyn for going to Preston.

There was also the fact that a little off campus time without the pressure of hockey might break down some of the barriers between the vice captain and the captain. He had to admit, the Tigers didn't seem to have many problems with their team, or not that he could see. He nudged Brooklyn.

"So which one is Valkov and which one is Hiwatari?" he had a vague idea but he couldn't be positively sure until Brooklyn pointed them out.

The red head looked over his shoulder, scanning the rows and picking out the faces. "Hiwatari is the guy sitting beside the Chinese boy with the silver haired girl behind him."

Mystel frowned and raised a brow.

"In the third row, Mystel." Moses added. "From the back."

Mystel looked again and nodded. "Oh the guy with the weird hair, two different colors?"

"Yeah, Tigers colors." Brooklyn spat with distaste.

"Cool." at Brooklyn's narrowed gaze, he added. "Well it is. Gotta say the guy has team spirit."

Moses choked back a chuckle, covering his mouth and pretending to cough when Brooklyn glared at him. "Sorry."

"So which one is Tala?"

"The red head beside the girl with the gothic make up who thinks she's Frankenstein's bride."

"Frankenstein was the doctor." Garland informed him with a roll of his eyes.

"So he made himself a bride, she still looks like a freak."

Mystel turned to Moses who's dark eyes sparkled with contained laughter. "The row behind Hiwatari."

He found the red head who's frigid blue eyes were fixed with murderous intent on the four of them. "Hmm, he doesn't seem too happy with us, and she's not half bad looking for a girl dressed like the walking dead." he turned and lounged out on his seat, interlinking his fingers and stretching. "So he and Hiwatari are the proverbial traitors. Interesting." he leaned closer to Brooklyn. "So which one is your Belle?"

Brooklyn looked at Moses and Garland who was simply looking boredly into the distance with his arms folded. "I'll point her out later."

"Oh c'mon."

"Fine. She's sitting on our side of the room, in the middle column, sixth row down, with silver hair."

Mystel had to strain his ears to make out his friends words. Turning in his seat, he surveyed the crowd of students. He easily picked out the silver haired girl who was discreetly watching them, but not too discreetly. She was pretty, very pretty and she didn't look like a floozy which was what he was afraid of when Brooklyn mentioned her. "She's pretty." he informed the red head. "And she's watching you."

"Is she really." Brooklyn inquired dryly.

"Yes." Mystel answered distractedly.

"I think the headmaster is about to say something." Moses interjected.

Their gazes turned to the stage as a small, stumpy man with barely any hair came to the front of the stadium. "Ladies and Gentlemen, on behalf of the students and faculty, it is my pleasure to welcome you all here to the schools twentieth annual open day."

A polite chorus of applause echoed through out the room while Mystel and Moses snickered at Brooklyn's gagging motion, Garland simply quirked a slight smile. None were aware of the two pairs of eyes drilling holes into their skulls, one of icy blue, the other flaring a crimson brown.

* * *

She was going to be sick. Oh god, oh god she was really going to be sick. God help her, she was going to make an idiot of herself.

Johnny watched amused as Sonia paced back stage, her pallor a worrying shade of pale that her tanned skin shouldn't quite have. She clapped a hand to her mouth and dashed for the toilets. He grimaced as he heard her dry retch.

"Yo Sonia you ok back there?" he asked, strumming his fingers over the strings of his guitar nonchalantly.

"No!" came the almost mournful reply.

"Well better get ok because you'll be up soon." he replied. Faintly he could hear Mr. Dickinson's speech. Having heard it so many times, he could almost repeat it word for word. It was amusing how the old man expected the same jokes to be funny each year but as long as the parents gave their usual weak laughs, he'd continue until someone begged him to change it but no one would in case they upset the jolly old man.

He nodded at Mrs. Tate as she walked in and tutted sympathetically at the poor girls plight. "Oh, I hope she'll be ok."

"She'll be fine, just needs to calm down and stop getting so jumpy."

"Are you sure about this whole plan? It doesn't strike me as a good show of the schools music facilities."

It was one of Miyami's plans spawned from Amber's mouth, of course he wasn't sure of the plan but he nodded and gave Judy the spiel Miyami had given him. "Sure, it shows that the school can cater to other variations of music, not just the classics but modern music. It'll influence students who have no interest in classical music to come here as well as the ones who like classical music." Of course Miyami phrased that whole spiel much better.

He wasn't quite sure where he stood with Miyami. She hadn't broken up with him, but at the same time, they hadn't spent any time together. He figured all the needed to do was talk things out but they both lived busy lives and fitting the other in was becoming increasingly difficult.

Judy eyed him skeptically. "Well if you say so. At least it will provide some sort of entertainment I suppose. Now I thought you needed a drummer."

"Yeah we do."

"Well shouldn't you be getting one."

"Kane doesn't know the sequence and Arista refuses to drum and she's the only one who knows this particular track. She's embarrassed."

"Why?"

He jerked a shoulder. "Dunno, I just know she's embarrassed."

"Ok, well I'll go talk to her. Sonia sweetheart will you be ok?" she winced and placed a hand to her mouth as she listened to the girl retch again.

"Word of advice, don't bring up her parents to her. I think she'd just about faint."

Judy blew out a breath and shook her head, her bright sunshine blond hair swinging gently. "Right, ok. I'll go talk to Arista." She left the room and Johnny sighed, tapping his hand to the music circulating around his head.

* * *

Judy cast a nervous smile at Stanley as he rambled on telling the rapt parents about the advantages of attending such an elite school as Preston. Her bright blue eyes roamed over the back rows allocated to the Preston students and searched for Arista. Her eyes fell momentarily on her son who waved to her before his attention was claimed by his girlfriend. She noticed Miyami first and since Miyami was on one side of the room, then the other silver head that was ducked down low had to be Arista. She strode up the stairs as discreetly as possible, even though she was aware of a few people following her instead of focusing on Stanley.

She reached Arista's row and beckoned the girl to come to the end of the row. With an exaggerated sigh, Arista climbed out of her seat and walked to the end of the row, not looking around her as she followed Judy up the stairs and out of the lecture theatre. Even though she didn't look, she was well aware of the moss green eyes following her out.

* * *

Ozuma stifled a yawn, smirking as his father's eyes drooped precariously before his mother nudged him awake. The speech was never stimulating but hearing it year in, year out didn't help the cause any further. He turned his thoughts away from his principal, tuning the old man out as he focused on his own problems with Sonia. He had really thought they were making some progress towards being friends, but no, she suddenly decided she didn't want him to accompany her any more. She said it had nothing to do with her not wanting his help, more that she wanted to do a different song that required other instruments and she hoped he'd understand. How could he do anything but nod dumbly when he was faced with the power of those cobalt blue eyes.

And then this past week she hadn't been around much, far too busy rehearsing and when he told her she was going to wear herself out, she just told him that it was important and she needed to practice. He groaned out loud, his eyes snapping open when he felt everyone looking at him. His neck burned as he heard his friends snicker at his expense. He looked up and mouthed an apology to the bemused old man while Maye glared at him.

Aubrey shook her head at her sons antics and nudged Daichi to stop him from laughing himself to an early grave. Her husband wasn't helping matters since he was half asleep. She raised her ruby eyes to heaven, catching her sister in laws amused gaze as she lowered them again. She smiled back at Treasa, admiring how well she looked for being pregnant. She missed that flush of being pregnant but though she wanted more children, it was more a risk to her health to have any more and Seth and her boys refused to let her take that risk.

She looked at her eldest son and she wondered what was going on in that head of his. Ozuma was a smart boy who knew what he wanted and took it. He was good at finessing things, he was good at making people see his point of view but right now he seemed confused and miserable. Oh he might not look it on the outside, but she knew her baby better than anyone. She'd ask him about it later and if he wouldn't tell her, well that was what Daichi was there for. She nudged her youngest once more as he shifted about the seat as though he had ants in his pants.

"Daichi stop it." she hissed.

He looked up at her with his bright green eyes and a wounded expression. "I'm bored." he whined.

She gave him a disapproving look. "Sit still."

"Daichi do what your mother tells you." Seth drawled lazily feeling sympathetic for his youngest son. He was bored as well. No doubt Dickinson ran a fine school but he did tend to run on at the mouth a bit. Seth would rather be outside tinkering around a motor or watching his sons and co on the ice. That was the only reason he was here to be frank. It wasn't as though he had any other children to come here, though not from lack of trying, he thought with a smirk at he and his wife's activities earlier that morning. There were advantages to sending his sons away to boarding school after all, even if it did mean sitting and listening to the same speech over and over.

Another two years, he thought unknowingly echoing his youngest thoughts, _just another two years and then I'll be free._

, he thought unknowingly echoing his youngest thoughts,

* * *

Arista stepped into the place at the drum kit that had been set up on stage behind the curtain Mr. Dickinson was standing before. She figured the only bright spot to this whole situation was that Dickinson had probably lulled everyone to sleep at this stage and hopefully most would sleep through this and she'd never have to hear about it again. Of course she doubted she'd be so lucky. And why did Brooklyn have to be here? Didn't he know the sort of trouble him being here would cause? And god, if her friends found out about them. She shuddered, dreading to think about the kind of exile she'd be forced with.

Johnny frowned at Miyami, genuinely uncertain as to why she'd turned up with Mrs. Tate until she said she'd forgotten they'd need a bassist. That had to be bullshit since Miyami never forgot things, not when she had planned them. He plugged in his amp and took a deep breath, hoping that everything would go off without a hitch. He'd fixed up the guitar earlier that morning, but still, things always went weird during live performances. His gaze flicked to Sonia as she walked out to the microphone and took a deep breath, listening out for Mr. Dickinsons' cue.

Arista idly mapped out the drumming pattern with her empty fists, her feet tapping out the beat while Miyami hummed under her breath and Sonia mimed blowing into a paper bag.

Mr. Dickinson introduced them with a well rounded speech on how the school not only catered for the academic side of the curriculum but had a great arts section and blah, blah, blah. Honestly Sonia couldn't hear the words, her stomach was clenching violently and her breathing was too shallow and her head was spinning lazily- All that was halted by the curtain rising and the polite applause of the audience accompanied by Aspin wolf whistling and Shahero and Amber making cat calls. She looked around apprehensively and her eyes widened when they landed on her mother, father and elder brother. Oh dear.

She gulped as the first bars were strummed and Arista tapped out the drum beats. Her blood roared in her head and she swayed dizzily.

"Sunny, now would be a good time to start." Miyami coaxed with an inclination of her head.

She wasn't ready, oh god why didn't she just stick with the classical route? At least then Ozuma would be on the stage with her and wouldn't be out in the crowd witnessing her humiliation. Ozuma! She searched the four rows for him frantically, frowning when she didn't see him. Oh don't tell me he didn't come, he has to have come! Dammit this was all for him.

"Sonia?"

Her brow furrowed, then relaxed when she saw Daichi and moving across, finally Ozuma. A small smile played on her lips and she nodded at the others that she was ready to go. Taking a deep breath and centering herself, she waited for her cue.

"I want you to want me, I need you to need me, I'd love you to love me, I'm beggin' you to beg me. I want you to want me, I need you to need me, I'd love you to love me."

Miyami released a sigh of relief, picking up the tempo and sharing a private grin with Johnny as she rocked on her feet, her fingers dancing magically over the strings.

"I'll shine up my old brown shoes, Put on a brand new shirt, Get home early from work, If you say that you love me-"

The senior group jumped to their feet, those familiar with the song began to sing along while the adults clapped along. Ozuma just stared at her mesmerized, her eyes hadn't left his the whole time. She was singing to him and jeez, this was corny and clichéd.

Sonia felt a smile break over her face as she picked up the microphone and began to shimmy over the stage to the chorus. "Didn't I, didn't I, didn't I see you cryin', Oh, didn't I, didn't I, didn't I see you cryin', Feeling all alone without a friend you know you feel like dying, Oh, didn't I, didn't I, didn't I see you cryin'!"

Mystel clapped along, getting into the swing of the song, grinning all the while. "Now this is a lot cooler than hanging out at the dorm pumping weights, eh, Garland?"

Garland shook his head but sat back and enjoyed the song. Moses was wiggling about in his seat to the song, not quite ready to get up on his feet while Brooklyn stared unwaveringly at the stage.

"I want you to want me, I need you to need me, I'd love you to love me, I'm beggin' you to beg me, I'll shine up my old brown shoes, Put on a brand new shirt, Get home early from work, If you say that you love me."

Arista grinned as she beat on the drums and watched Sonia play up to the crowds. They were really loving this, then again, after Mr. Dickinson's dreary speech, how could they not. All the same, for a girl who had been throwing up only moments ago, she sure was having fun. Miyami hummed into her own mike to provide backing vocals while Johnny concentrated on his guitar. The crowds were eating this up. They were on their feet, clapping and singing while Amber and Shahero were up on the seats boogying away, with Spencer and Bryan doing their best to keep the girls from slipping off. She almost skipped a beat when she caught sight of Ian getting up with them.

"Mimi!"

Miyami looked over her shoulder, then to the place Arista pointed. Her eyes widened and she gaped at Ian before walking over to Johnny, hands still strumming away, and telling him. He hit a chord wrong before he caught himself and continued.

Absently, Arista's gaze moved to her right and locked on Brooklyn's before she averted it to a point above his head. She supposed the blond beside him was Mystel since he was actually having fun, well so was the bulkier chocolate skinned boy but she'd never pictured Mystel as someone who could crush her.

"Didn't I, didn't I, didn't I see you cryin', Oh, didn't I, didn't I, didn't I see you cryin', Feeling all alone without a friend, you know you feel like dying, Oh, didn't I, didn't I, didn't I see you cryin'. I want you to want me, I need you to need me, I'd love you to love me, I'm beggin' you to beg me" The tempo wound down as Sonia encouraged everyone to clap along. "I want you to want me, I want you to want me, I want you to want me, I want you to want me."

Sonia finished and whooshed out a breath, a silly grin plastered to her face as she looked out at the crowd. Her friends were screaming her name and cheering the loudest, but what did she expect from them. Her parents were clapping heartily, her brother just looking a tad bit annoyed but she figured he was just moving into his overly protective phase.

As if under it's own laws, her gaze found Ozuma. He was staring at her, an indescribable expression on his features and his eyes were dark. Panic reared up and seized her. Oh god what had she just done? She'd just humiliated herself in front of the entire school and what was Ozuma going to think now? She'd just wanted to seduce him, catch him on his own and make him kiss her but now she'd made it into a public forum. Oh dear.

As Ozuma got to his feet, she stumbled back with a jerky bow before she turned and fled.

* * *

"No!"

"Come on Kirbs, for me?"

"No!"

"Kir-"

Kirby whirled on Miguel and snarled. They were striding down the corridor towards the girls dorm, well Kirby was, Miguel had caught sight of her and decided to follow her with his absurd demand. Folding her arms, she glared at him but the flashing crimson eyes didn't bother him at all.

"What part of no, don't you understand Davidoff? N-O spells no. No I will not do it."

Miguel shifted his weight and looked down at her, enjoying his added height advantage, but not once in their many years of knowing each other, had Kirby been intimidated by him. She simply caulked her head and rolled her eyes.

"The answer is still no."

He grinned sensing a chink in her armor. She was weakening. He knew she would if he kept at her. The draw of the ice was too strong for her to ignore for too long. But if he started prodding at her, her back would go up and she'd stick her heels in so he simply settled for gazing at her waiting for her to crumble. She looked so pretty when she was riled up, it was hard not to poke at her, but he refrained.

With a flick of her hair, she sighed and tucked her tongue in her cheek, surveying him. "You say you need me?"

"Desperately." A peek of the boyish grin was showing behind the solemn exterior.

She contemplated his demand while avoiding his eyes. It would be nice to play again, her forced sabbatical really wasn't working out quite as well as she had hoped. There was no doubt she liked wearing the odd skirt and hanging out with friends who weren't of the male gender and being treated like a girl but she needed an outlet for her temper and the ice had always provided that. Cheerleading and prancing about with a few pompoms really didn't give her any kind of a thrill. And it would be nice to feel like part of the team again… She bit her lip unaware of the way Miguel's eyes dipped.

He watched her fascinated with how such a tomboyish girl could be so oddly seductive. He was sure the lip biting and button fiddling weren't ploys. She'd always had a habit of toying with the top button or zip whenever she was thinking, same with the lip biting, but usually she wasn't wearing the top couple of buttons undone so that if she loused this one, her cleavage would be in full view.

He wanted to curse her for the way she drew his gaze, tempting him so deliciously but it wasn't her fault. She didn't see him as anything more than a friend, she figured they'd known each other too long to be anything but. And even though he'd never had strictly platonic thoughts about her, he had been beginning to move on from her since she hadn't been on the team but it was destroying him not being around her all the time. Of course she was completely unaware of what she was doing, that was what made it all the more damning. He shifted restlessly.

Kirby was having a similar problem. If he would quit moving, she wouldn't be so aware of him, she assured herself. He had such a formidable presence, something she couldn't quite ignore. It pressed against her, forcing her to acknowledge him. She swallowed thickly, suddenly aware of just how empty the corridor they were in was.

"Um, give me a while to think about it, ok Mig?"

He rolled his eyes. "How long do you think I have Kirbs? C'mon, you can quit again afterwards if that is what you really want but I _need_ you."

The tension broke and she rolled her shoulders, leaning back against the door, tilting her head back to observe him. The sun from the windows dappled in and gilded his pale blond hair as it casually framed his face in such an odd but undeniably attractive style. Tanned skin was taut over the plains of his face making his hair seem paler and the lake blue of his eyes stand out. The white shirt he wore was unbuttoned over a loose black t-shirt he sported. His hands were shoved in his pockets but not so much that he made them sag. His whole figure spoke of authority.

"Well isn't this sweet, boys."

Kirby's shoulders sagged and she slumped against the door to regard the figure or group of boys who'd appeared around the corner without either noticing. She did, however, notice the way Miguel immediately tensed, his fingers curling into his palms, tightening so that they had to be uncomfortable. Part of her ached to just place a hand on his arm, to tell him she was there, but knowing the other boy as well as she did, that would only make him goad Miguel further. And that goading would inevitably lead to fighting no matter how easy going Miguel could be. Dammit, she wished Daichi were here.

Instead she turned to the newcomer, taking in the shock of gold hair, the blistering blue eyes and the tall figure of someone who resembled Tala so very eerily. "What do you want Foxy?"

He flashed her a grin. "I came to say hello to an old friend, you wouldn't begrudge me that, would you Kirbs."

Miguel tensed further, uneasy with the way the other boy so casually talked to Kirby as though he had a right to be so intimately familiar with her.

"I'd hardly say we're friends, acquaintances yes, but not friends. I'd have to see you more than a few times a year for you to be a friend." she replied, not unkindly, just matter-of-factly. Her garnet eyes swept over Foxy's companions, recognizing Wyatt with a slight smile and Queen with a frown. She didn't like Queen, but did many?

"What are you doing here?" Miguel bit out tightly, trying desperately to rein in his emotions. If Foxy was here, was his mother? And if so, he hoped his parents were far away from here.

"We just figured we'd come and see your big showdown." Wyatt intervened, sensing the growing resentment between the two captains.

"Well that'll be held after lunch, but feel free to look around. We're needed elsewhere, aren't we Miguel? Come on, we have a team to organize."

Miguel snapped his gaze from the blond to his red eyed friend. "Uh, we do?" at her subtle nod, he added. "Right, yeah sorry. C'mon." Before she could evade, he grabbed her hand and pulled her through the Rejects and out of the corridor.

"See you around… little brother."

Miguel froze, his hands tightening and his shoulders shaking, before Kirby used her leverage to pull him away before anything to start between them.

She jerked him outside and round a corner until they were out of side before rounding on him. "You shouldn't let him get to you Miguel."

His hand was still tingling from her touch but he forced his attention away from the offending hand and completely onto her. "I know, I know that. It's just that that bastard gets under my skin with his whole superior attitude. He's the one that Dad left, not the other way round."

"Miguel." her voice was as sharp as a slap and he flinched knowing that he shouldn't gloat over his father's action. "Knowing your father abandoned you sucks, ok. But knowing he abandoned you to live with another woman and start a family on the other side of town, well that's fucked up." she pressed a hand to her forehead and sighed. "I'm sorry."

He tentatively placed a hand on her shoulder, before running it down her arm and slipping it around her back to pull her close. He rested his chin on her hair, concentrating the faint feminine scent of her hair instead of the warmth and softness of her body as it pressed against his. Her hand rested on his heart and he was sure she could feel it pounding, even if she hadn't had her hand over it, she was bound to hear it slapping against his ribs, demanding to be released into her hands, to let her do what she wanted with it. If it were possible, he would probably have done it.

She drew in a catchy breath. Her emotions were in turmoil. Most of the time, the fact that she had been adopted never bothered her, in fact she was glad she'd been adopted, many people had terrible experiences being shoved from one foster home to another or being abused or all sorts of horror stories so she was forever grateful to her parents for the gift they'd given her. Not just a family, but a life and friends and inadvertently Miguel -who smelled really good! But it wasn't the fact that she was adopted, it was the fact that she'd been put up for adoption, abandoned by the woman who'd carried her for nine months before forking her over to an adoption agency and the man who'd helped create her hadn't even raised so much as an objection. If they hadn't wanted her, why didn't they just abort her, yes it was cruel to think about, but why have a child just to give it away. They hadn't even made sure she'd go to a good family, falling into Anne's hands had been a bit of good fortune for Kirby, maybe because with the garnet eyes, she'd reminded Anne of her sister-in-law Aubrey, or it could have been the green hair reminding her of Ireland, it could have been a number of things, but none of them had to do with who had borne her.

No she didn't like to think about it. It brought up too many what if questions and all sorts that made her feel bad, so she usually just pushed it to the back of her mind and enjoyed the life she had. As far as she was concerned Anne and Crane were her parents. Julia and Alyssa were her sisters and Molly was her granny and so on. That's just the way it was for her. She had no ideals of finding her real parents and being reunited with them. She didn't want them. It was as simple as that. But hearing Miguel talk that way, well it just made her annoyed. It shouldn't because Miguel was hurting too, having a half brother who tried to make his life a misery couldn't be easy, especially with a woman who despised his whole family and wanted to cause them as much heart break as possible, but he didn't have to be so callous about Foxy being abandoned.

She pulled away, her face flushed from the heat of being near him. She bowed her head, keeping her eyes glued to the concrete beneath her as she scuffed her hiking boot's toe into it. "I'm sorry for blowing up at you like that." she said softly.

"No, I should say sorry. I keep forgetting you're adopted."

She looked up at him squarely. "That shouldn't matter. I don't consider myself adopted so I shouldn't just bring it up whenever I feel like it."

"You don't Kirby. That's exactly why I forgot. You don't tell everyone you come into contact with that you're adopted, and I admire that. You could play that card for sympathy so many times, but you never do. That's just not who you are." he stroked his hand up and down her arm absently. "I'm sorry for being a jerk. Foxy just winds me up the wrong way. I guess he has a right to feel bitter, but not at me. I had nothing to do with this, I just was born."

"Maybe he thinks your dad stays with your mom because of you."

"That's stupid. If that's all it was, wouldn't he have stayed with Foxy's mom when she had Foxy?"

Kirby shrugged. "Your family's fucked up. You just have to deal with it. Family is family. It's not always perfect but you have to deal with them because you're stuck with them."

He squirmed. "The Fox's aren't exactly family."

"Not a regular family nope, but family nonetheless. Sorry Tonto but you got-" she broke off on a yelp as he pinched her for the nickname. "Oh right, you were the lone ranger, forgot. Anyway, as I was saying, you just have to deal with-" she broke off, grabbing his arm and crouching down. "Hey, there's James and the woman beside him must be his new girlfriend."

Miguel peeked over in the direction she pointed to. He recognized the tall black haired man with the rangy build in a suit easily enough. He didn't look too different to Daichi's Dad except for the polish. It was easy enough to predict that he was Amber's father. The woman beside him was a statuesque bluenette, more legs than anything else. "Wow."

He winced at Kirby's jab. "Get your mind out of the gutter Davidoff. But seriously, yeah wow. If Aunt T sees this… aw man this can't be good. We need to find Mom."

"Why?"

"Because if we find Mom, we find Aubby and possibly Grace, we get them together and they can spend the whole day running interference and possibly stopping Treasa from running into Pricilla." the name rolled off her tongue accompanied by a shudder.

"Surely Treasa wouldn't be jealous."

"Of James and Pricilla, no. Of Pricilla looking like a Barbie doll and her all dumpy because of the baby. Oh yes. She's going through a serious case of the vapors, even Amber's wimping out about hanging around her." Miguel chuckled listening to Kirby's running commentary.

"How's Amber taking this whole thing with her Dad?"

"The typical Amberesque way. Ignore it until your confronted with it. She only found out the woman's name during the Christmas holidays and James has been with Pricilla since around the beginning of the summer. And there's a rumor that Pricilla is Nicolai's sister."

"Doesn't that make her Kai's-"

"Aunt, yes." she grinned back at him as they crept around the corner, scanning for Anne or Aubrey. "And you think your family is fucked up."

"Does Amber know?"

"Probably."

"And she's fine with it?"

She shrugged. "The girl's ignoring that too."

"Ok."

They both stopped to watch Sonia make a mad dash along the quad to disappear into the west wing entrance to the girls dorms. A few seconds later, Ozuma ran a frustrated hand through his hair as he came into view and turned and left again. Kirby turned to Miguel. "See, told you my family is beyond fucked up."

He felt his lips curve into a smile as he let her lead him off to find her relatives.

* * *

Music blasted out of the history room as Miyami walked in. She immediately spotted Mr. Shallow in one of his usual comfy sweaters bent over a table displaying projects by the freshmen but she doubted he was the one who'd put on the music. So instead she scanned for the other person who should be in the room. It was very doubtful that Mr. Shallow would be listening to _Garbage_ of his own volition. She frowned when she couldn't spot her friend at all.

She approached Shallow, who looked up at her and grinned motioning to his display. "What do you think?"

"Um… interesting." Hers had been so much better and the color's clashed violently, puke orange and an icky color stuck between red and pink. It looked like a fruit salad sweet. "Where's Amber?"

Shallow stood up and looked around, his eyes fixing on a small corner of the room. "Amber, you have a visitor."

"Oki-doki."

Miyami flicked her silver hair over her shoulder and meandered around the desks to the corner where her friend had wedged herself between a cupboard and the wall. Her face was crumpled in concentration as she cut out paragraphs from photocopied pages. With a slight grin, Miyami crouched before her.

"Hey."

"Heylo, how's you?" came the chipper reply, the ochre eyes never left her spot.

"Tired. I left Ruin and Kai down in the art room to take a wander around. Figured we could go get a coffee in the dining hall and make fun of Russia in her apron."

A smile curved Amber's lips. "Tempting, very tempting. But unfortunately I'm stuck here." She motioned for Miyami to sit down and handed her a handful of papers. "Take these and cut out anything and everything you can see about Hitler." she ordered, her eyes following Mr. Shallow as he greeted a couple and their son who looked as interested in the history room as a person was in watching paint dry.

"Everything on Hitler?"

"Yeah. Some Freshman was supposed to do a poster project on Hitler but he didn't do it and now I am left with these photo copies and three sheets of colored sugar paper to fill."

Miyami crossed her legs and leaned against the wall. "How about I do a few caricatures for you. Hitler meets Mussolini who in turn becomes his lap dog, Hitler stabs Stalin in the back before Stalin bites back, something along those lines."

"If I wasn't with Kai, I'd kiss you!"

The Japanese girl grinned as she grabbed a few blank pages from the table near her as well as a few marker pens. Snatching a thick text book, she placed it on her knees and settled down to draw. "So things are good between you and Kai?" she motioned to the barely concealed mark on Amber's throat.

The Irish girl's eyes darkened as her fingers found the spot and idly she rubbed it, still able to feel the phantom caress of his lips. "Mariam walked in on us, when we were, ya know."

"Better specify what that 'you know' means, Ams. You two were making out?"

"Well we were hardly having sex when anyone could just walk in." she bit out.

Miyami raised a brow. "Uh-huh, but you guys would make out when anyone could just walk in."

"Well that's different…" she trailed off her mind going back to the morning, remembering just how easy it had been to just give into her needs. "Ok, yeah fine. We were making out when she walked in." If she'd walked in earlier… Amber shuddered to think about it.

Miyami paused her hand and watched her friend, watching the flickering emotions in the topaz eyes. "How did she react?"

"She walked in, saw us, walked straight back out again. I feel like such a bitch, Mims, I really hate myself."

"Why? You never set out to hurt her and she hasn't asked you to choose… if she did, Ams, who would you?"

"Well if she hasn't asked, why have you?"

"Kai's my friend." Miyami answered simply. And he was more her friend than Mariam. Sure she'd known Mariam a long time, but for some reason she cared a lot more about Kai than she did for Mariam. She couldn't put a finger on why she felt a bond with Kai, but it was there, as simple as that.

"Honestly, I know this sounds selfish, but I'd choose him…" Amber shook her head, honestly appalled at herself. "That's sounds so horrible doesn't it?"

"Not really." Miyami replied. "Don't worry about it, and don't beat yourself up about being with Kai. You're entitled to a bit of happiness for you, Ams."

The shorter (by half an inch) girl sighed and stretched out her legs, frowning at a picture of Hitler. "What about you Mims, are you happy?"

Miyami shrugged. "What's happy?" she asked with a slight smile but it didn't reach her solemn silver eyes.

"Mimi." she warned softly.

"I'm fine Ams, quit worrying."

"I just don't want you thinking that you have no one to talk to when you can come talk to me."

"I know that." she smiled at her friend who glowered at her skeptically. She turned to her art work admiring the bold lines of the shadows where the light couldn't reach and the comical features of the dictator exaggerated for the cartoon. "I think his moustache could have a life of its own."

Amber scrambled up to take a peek. "Hmm, maybe Hitler wasn't actually evil, just being controlled by his facial hair."

Miyami's eyes flicked to the only male in the room who was scratching his cheek while reading through a piece of literature. "Do you think his is good or evil?"

"I think his is evil, but he has more control. Hence the mood swings."

She snickered. "God we're good."

"Yeah Mulder and Scully have nothing on us."

"Girls?"

They turned to regard Mr. Shallow, both trying to smother a smile as his moustache twitched.

"Yeah?" Miyami inquired.

"I was going to ask if you'd like to head off to get your lunch now. I know your match is at two, if you ate now the food would have time to settle and you could come back here and give me a hand with the visitors."

"Don't you need us to stay until Lunch starts?"

"No, it's alright. Most of the parents will be over at the Science block until lunch, they're doing experiments and that's a little more interesting than looking at projects on History."

"Um, ok, if you're sure." Amber tossed her papers off to the side and placed the scissors on the bench near by. Rising to her feet, she offered a hand to her friend and pulled her up. Waving a goodbye to Shallow, they headed out of the room and into the cool corridor. The heating had been pumped up a notch but the bitter sleet was splashing against the windows fought against the heat until they were stuck at an impasse of temperate.

"You know what I hate about open day?"

"No, but I'm sure you're bound to tell me."

"Naturally, you have to know everything I think, otherwise how can you think like-ow! Shit, Mims, you've got a wicked punch." the Irish girl grumbled rubbing her upper arm.

"So what were you saying?" Miyami asked, her eyes falling on a flame haired figure out side striding over the campus with his shoulders hunched against the attack of the icy rain. Her heart gave on hard thump as his head snapped up and his eyes locked for one entrancing moment on hers, before she moved out of sight.

"…Blizzards!"

She blinked and stared at Amber? "Blizzards?"

"Yeah, they're here too. Of course I didn't know who they were until I saw their shirts, I mean they were all wearing their hockey shirts, isn't that a bit pathetic?"

Oh, so she was talking about the various teams that were wandering around the team, Miyami deduced with a nod of her head.

"And why are they all here anyway? Since when did the Tigers suddenly become popular?"

"Since we have two ex Sharks on our team." Miyami explained. "Everyone wants to see them, I can't explain it. The Sharks want to see if they fit in, the others want to see how they react to the Sharks now they're no longer part of their team and if we're honest, we want to see how they'll react too. But having seen Kai's reaction to seeing Brooklyn, I can say that Kai is definitely on our side."

"Don't doubt that. And Tala was never really a shark anyway." Amber pointed out, valiantly defending her childhood friend.

"That wasn't what you said when he turned up in September, babes."

Amber shrugged. "Meh, call it a momentary lapse of something or other. Look, the point is that I trust both of them. I didn't think I could say that a few months ago, it's strange how everything has changed and why is it so bleedin' cold?"

Miyami smothered a grin. God forbid Amber stay on topic for a few moments. "Because it's winter, or didn't you get the memo?"

"Kiss ass."

"Sorry, babes, don't swing that way but if I did, I'd definitely take you up on that offer without hesitation."

"I said kiss ass, I didn't say kiss my ass."

"Aw but it's so cute."

Amber curved her body round to regard said ass. "It's flat and it's, MIMI!" she yelped and jumped when her friend slapped it. She tried to scowl, but her lips quivered and her eyes danced with laughter. "I'm telling Kai on you."

Miyami exploded with laughter. "God, that sounded so third grade."

With a shrug, her dark haired friend, twirled away. "You just trying to goad me into not telling him."

"Who says he'll take your word over mine, eh? I've been his friend longer."

Amber glowered. "Well I can take away all kissing rights."

Miyami snorted. "Well if you did that, I'd just have to see how he likes good old fashioned Japanese girls."

"Old fashioned, my arse. You are as far from old fashioned as I am from being Japanese."

That made her friend raise a brow as she scanned her friends face and she nodded. "Ok I'll give you that one. You're no where near being Japanese, though if you and Kai marry your children will have Japanese blood in their veins." she flashed a bright grin at the revulsion on Amber's face. "I think you and Kai would have adorable children, they'll have his eyes and-"

"Shut up Mimi! Jeez, you just love making fun of me, don't you?"

"Oh you take plenty of pops at me too. What was it, oh yeah, Johnny and Miyami up a tree, does that ring any bells?"

Amber feigned innocence though she could remember very well what her friend was referring too. She'd sang that song through four classes, even getting Enrique in on the act since he was always too happy to tease a female in any way possible. It had been his way of flirting, sadly enough. She winced and stumbled back as she collided with something or some_one_. She looked up and suppressed a groan at the sight of the blond Tala.

"Oh hey Foxy."

"Hey Benson, how's life?" he asked, tipping down his pink lens shades.

"Good, very good."

"I was beginning to think you were hiding, too ashamed to come say hello to your old friend now that you're back in your fancy posh school."

Miyami rolled her eyes and folded her arms. Preston could hardly be considered a fancy posh school, it was just well funded by people who cared. Unlike Bakuten high, though it wasn't that bad off either. Foxy looked at her and nodded a greeting, but Miyami didn't smile back.

"So would you care to show us around your school? Be our personal guides?"

Amber looked up at him and took in the people with him and tried not to sneer in disgust when she caught sight of Queen clinging to his arm with King not too far away. Queen didn't seem like a clingy girlfriend, it seemed so wrong for her to be glued to Foxy's side but it had to do his ego some good, Amber figured, rolling her eyes when Queen's brown eyes swept over her. The taller girl caulked her head to the side and her eyes narrowed.

"Finally got yourself a boy toy Benson?" she queried casually.

Amber sighed, her expression turning bored, her eyes heavy lidded to disguise her alertness for the zinger that would follow. "I don't see how that's any business of yours."

Foxy frowned, then caught her chin and tilted up her head. "Hey, you have a hickey."

King sneered. "Who would be desperate enough to touch her?"

Miyami was suddenly at Amber's side, eyes flashing crimson. "Back off!" she growled, baring her teeth.

Foxy stared at her. "We aren't here to cause trouble. King stop being a royal pain in the ass, lots of guys would like Amber, she's a sweetheart."

"I doubt Wyatt would agree." Queen murmured quietly, sizing up Miyami as she squared off against King.

"So how about it Ams? Show us around?"

Amber bristled at the nickname that only her friends called her and the overly friendly tone Foxy used. It slid over her like slime and made her skin crawl.

"Actually we're busy, we're on our lunch break and then we have to head back to the teachers we've been assigned to." Miyami jumped in, ready to save her friend; all the while keeping her tone casual.

"Well we could go for lunch." The Reject captain replied, shooting a look at his companions who shrugged boredly.

"Sorry, it's students only, I'm afraid. Lunch for the visitors will be held from one to two. There's still displays going on in the gym or the science block if you'd like to check them out."

Foxy shrugged indifferently and let the girls pass. He watched them walk off and was about to suggest another place to hang out when a figure stepped out of the shadows.

"Ouch, rejected again Fox."

Foxy sneered as King stepped up beside him, carefully placing himself in front of his sister without shielding her too obviously. Brooklyn quirked his lips as he surveyed them with Garland and Moses flanking him; Mystel stood to the side looking around the hall.

"What do you want Adams?"

"Nothing, I was just enjoying the show. Must be harsh when even your old school buddies look at you and your team like you're shit they stood on accidentally."

Foxy balled his fists. "Well at least we received a better welcome than you did. Does Balkof know you left the school all on your own? Do you even have any say in what you do? You're a mindless drone for him."

Brooklyn calmly raised his brow, his eyes darkening to a moss green. "Better a drone than a reject, I say. At least I have a future? What about you? You looking forward to working in the local supermarket? I hear they have a great benefits package these days."

"You'd know all about benefits wouldn't you, Adams? It benefited you when Hiwatari and Valkov left. Balkof boosted you up to captain, but I guess you weren't giving him enough benefits that he had to bring in Mr. Zero Personality over there to take your place. Shot down to vice captain again, replaced by someone who had only been on the team a day, what a screw over. Or was that the problem, you wouldn't screw." King snorted and Queen smirked.

Brooklyn smirked, then shook his head. "Wanna talk about screwing, what about the nice little _ménage á trois_ you got going there. Homosexuality, bisexuality and incest, all in one team. Even the Tigers haven't sunk that low."

"Brook, let's just go, they're not worth it."

"You're right, they really aren't. God they're worse than the shit you step in, they're the flies that eat it."

With that the four Sharks walked off, leaving the Rejects in the middle of the corridor. Foxy snarled. "We'll see who has the last laugh."

"What are you talking about? We're going to lose against them anyway." Queen snapped.

"They do have all the advantages." King added, flicking a dove white curl out of his face.

Foxy glared down the corridor. "I'll think of something."

* * *

Johnny sighed and blew out a stream of smoke, offering it to Tala who shook his head in decline. He wasn't an avid smoker, pretty much because it was a disgusting habit. He knew that, yet there were just times when he needed to indulge himself. Today was one of those times. He lipped the top of it and sucked in, before exhaling.

Rain lashed down on the pavement not millimeters from the tips of his shoes. He sat at one of the tables set up for smokers, his feet stretched out, his eyes scanning the dismal surroundings for any member of the faculty, present company excluded, he thought glancing at Hitoshi who sat on the other side of the small metallic table.

His skin prickled from the chilly air but he didn't mind it. The noise inside was becoming a headache and all the people, all the young preteens were making the place crowded. He wasn't claustrophobic, he knew that for certain. He quite liked small, tight spaces, especially if a certain silver haired girl was with him in said space. Then again, she hadn't seemed to want to be in any tight spaces with him recently. Maybe that was why he needed to escape.

"I saw a couple of Rejects earlier." Ruin interrupted the quiet with her silky sultry voice, her eyes fixed on the edge of the wooded area.

"Yeah Foxy's roaming about somewhere, with the royal twins." Tala sighed, crossing his feet at his ankles and closing his eyes.

"Saw Adams too." Hitoshi added.

"Aye, didn't figure he'd show up. Some Blizzards and an Indian or two were wandering about. Didn't figure we'd turned the school into a zoo or a museum but shows how much I know."

Ruin smirked. "Somewhere in that school my parents are cooing over the delights of the modern education and praising the staff on what a great job they've done with their money."

"And somewhere up there, Maye is figuring out how to milk more money out of the Mulryans."

Ruin eyed her boyfriend with a bemused glint. "Very true. It's just a pity that my parents won't give any money to the school unless they get a new VP."

Hitoshi looked at her sharply. "What? When did this happen?"

"Aye, how did y' get your parents to play that card?"

"Threatened dear mother and father that if they didn't do what I wanted, then I'd give away all their money to charity when they died. Of course, that should be an empty threat since they could and would write me out of the will but where would their money go? Invest it, but then how would they access it? They need me, they have no one else to give the money or the companies to if they even hope to keep it in the family and the family name is very important to them. I just pulled a few strings. I have quite a bit of a say in the company since I turned eighteen, so I called in a few favors from them. Although I do have to attend some functions for them." she added glumly.

The bluenette shook his head. "Sometimes Ruin, you completely astound me."

Tala gallantly lifted her hand and pressed his lips to the back of it. "Milady you may have saved so many lives from the torture of Mayefly."

"Yeah as long as the school folds to your parents demands. They may not do it."

"Ack, sure isn't Dickinson looking for a way to get rid of her anyway? None of the staff like her, do they?" Johnny directed the question to Hitoshi who sighed and agreed with his comment.

"Hey where's Kai?" Tala suddenly asked.

"I left him down in the art room, he said he wanted to finish up some of his abstract work."

"I didn't think he did Art."

"He does and he's good."

Johnny nodded, stabbing out his cigarette and flicking it towards the bin. It fell against the bottom but he made no move to pick it up instead the group looked at it for a second before turning back to the world outside the doorway, oddly silenced by the wall of sleet and rain.

"So why aren't you helping out in the chemistry lab?" Hitoshi asked Tala as he sipped on his coffee.

"Got chucked out for messing around with a corrosive substance with Ian. Which wasn't such a big deal, stupid Doc was in a bad mood because he managed to singe off his eyebrows in an experiment."

"So that was what that burning smell was."

Tala smothered a chuckle. "Yeah that would have been the source of the smell. Hey what happened in Maye's computer session?"

Hitoshi's lips quivered. "Shahero's virus decided to attack. All the computers crashed. Maye had to call it off because she hadn't a clue how to fix it."

Johnny snickered. "Point to Sen. I'm not quite sure on the current score though. Who's winning who?"

"I'd say it's something like a draw." Ruin commented, with a flick of her hair.

"So how's your team faring for the match?"

Johnny kicked back in his chair. "Fuck off Toshi, we're not giving you anything. Heard you got the Baby Benson back on board."

Hitoshi's lips curved. "Yeah I heard that rumor too."

"Rumor." Ruin snorted. "Seth told us she was back on board."

"Who's he betting on?"

"Us of course." Tala said with a snort. "Dad's betting on us too, mother doesn't have a clue yet. If she finds out, he'll be sleeping on the couch."

"Why sleep on the couch when your bed's available?" Johnny demanded.

"You think I leave my room unlocked when I'm away. You must be kidding."

"If Amber can pick your lock, I'm sure your dad can." Ruin muttered with a roll of her eyes.

"Why the hell would Ams be picking your lock?"

Tala shrugged. "Because it's Ams and she does things like that."

"Actually, he stole something of hers, she was just getting it back." the only female in the group explained, shooting a pointed look at her boyfriend.

"Ah right. Well I'm hungry, so I'm heading into the dining hall. Anyone coming with me?"

Ruin scrunched up the litter on the table and deposited it in the bin before following the red haired Scot. Tala soon followed.

* * *

The Dining hall was almost deserted aside from the long banquet table surrounded by the group of Tigers who were talking more than eating, Brooklyn decided as he settled down in a corner table with Mystel and the others. So far he hadn't seen anything amazing about Preston Academy. It was a nice enough building, but that was about it.

And the students, well… They were hardly the prodigies of the western world. He saw nothing about them that would endear Belle to them, nor could he see why Hiwatari would rather be here. Valkov was understandable. He had his woman and he'd never truly had the ruthlessness of a shark. He was much better suited to this school with their second rate team, but Hiwatari bothered him. There was nothing to really keep him here. Not that Brooklyn had seen and that annoyed him. He rarely cared about why people did things, but when he did, he liked to know. The fact that he still didn't know ticked him off.

Still he hadn't seen Hiwatari with the other students yet, he'd just seen him here and there with Valkov or sometimes with the silver haired girl he knew to be Belle's cousin. Yes, Belle said Kai was happy here. But Brooklyn couldn't for the life of him see why. Hiwatari had brains and he knew how to take orders, he could have gone far with Clonmel, but instead he'd come here to Preston. To Preston where everyone was treated fairly, what would possess someone with ambition to do that?

He accepted the coffee Mystel handed him and sipped it, idly watching Arista as she bobbed her head to the music from her earphones and read something that was open before her. She wasn't involved in the conversation around her, nor was she aware of him as she sat with her back to him.

"How long do you plan to stay here?" Mystel questioned.

"You have a problem being here?"

"Nope, I'm actually enjoying it. Beats being at school, I'll say that much. Just wondering how long you plan to stay before you confront Hiwatari and get us kicked out. I'd say leave it till after the match, I want to see this big show down. Sounds like a big deal."

"It's just a match between the senior team and the junior team." Brooklyn told him.

"It's not just a plain match." Garland intervened. "The senior's assistant coach is the juniors coach, players from the junior team have played on the senior team and the senior team have two new players that puts them at a disadvantage. It's a David vs. Goliath match."

"Yeah a real matter of pride. Come on Brook, it won't kill to watch it. Think of the Belle game you'd get to see."

Moses cast his blond friend a concerned look. "Belle?"

"Beautiful in French." Garland muttered.

"I knew that. Just didn't know Mysty here liked to speak French."

"Just a few words here and there, pretty words." He said keeping his eyes on Brooklyn.

"Fine, we can watch. You know, before meeting you, I actually did what I wanted."

"Yeah you were a right selfish bugger, but thanks to us, we'll make you a martyr yet."

Brooklyn snorted. "Right."

"And they keep mentioning some guy Benson, is he some big deal or something?"

Garland pressed his lips together. "Benson is mentioned so many times because there are a few people with the surname Benson here."

"Oh?"

Garland passed him a pamphlet with the days activities. On the back, Mystel found a list of the two teams and the names. "Three, I spot three. But they mentioned a Baby Benson and I'm sure it's a she on the Junior team, the only Benson on the Junior team is male. Daichi Benson, nearly sure that's a boys name."

"It is."

"The only girl is a Kirby Preston-Lee." Moses added reading his own pamphlet.

"Yeah, Kirbaby." Brooklyn muttered stirring his coffee absently.

"And how do you know that?" Garland asked.

"I do my research."

"Hmm."

Brooklyn cast a glance at his captain but his expression remained neutral. He turned back to watch Arista. She was now leaning closely towards one of the enforcers with strawberry blond hair. She was conversing with him and occasionally laughing at something he said.

Mystel followed his gaze. Ah young love, he thought with a slight grin.

"OW!"

He lost his smile abruptly and his attention jumped to a raven haired girl who'd shot to her feet clutching her hand and scowling at a curly haired blond. The watery light from outside streamed in and drew out the gold glints woven into her hair which was pulled back from her face, with only choppy bangs falling into it giving her a careless look. She was slender, with no hips that he could discern from the loose white shirt she wore. Her legs were bronzed and encased in knee high boots with a glimpse of orange and blue socks beneath them. The skirt was almost lost under the hem of the oversized shirt. Her eyes flashed a brilliant tawny color as her gaze scanned the dining hall, a pink hue darkened along her cheeks and her teeth bit into her soft lips before she dropped back into her seat.

He turned to Brooklyn. "Who's she?"

"Amber Benson."

"Huh. Interesting."

"Not really. She's a pest."

"Wait, she plays hockey?" he asked as he scanned the list of names knowing he'd seen it before. "Amber Benson, left wing. How come I've never heard of her before?"

"You have, they call her the Plague." Garland supplied helpfully his own attention wandering to the female players. Not many schools had this many girls playing, but he knew that with some sports, girls really were superior. He remembered his sister mentioning how the star team in Quidditch had mainly an all girl scoring team. He'd tuned her out shortly after the mention of a fictional sport. When she wasn't playing tennis, his sister was known to lose herself in the world of Harry Potter. It was about the only book she read since she was usually quite busy but she adored them and would tell anyone about them if they stood still long enough. He was usually the main target because he was home the most.

"She's not a big deal. Kaeto and Mulryan are a force to reckon with. Belyaev doesn't let many goals past." Mystel wondered if Brooklyn noticed the way his tone softened over the goalies name. "And Kinomiya can streak down that ice faster than anything I've seen. She could give you a run for your money Mysty."

Mystel rolled his eyes at the name. "Well we'll see. Now I really want to see these girls on the ice." he turned to Brooklyn. "So no causing any trouble, please."

"Right, right." he raised a ginger brow as Arista yanked the Plague down onto her lap.

* * *

Amber frowned on finding herself horizontal with Arista looking down at her. "Ok this is weird." her eyes rolled back to see Spencer. "Hey Spence. How's life down in work shop? You doing anything interesting? Creating any bombs? Why am I in Arista's lap?"

"You want that answered in any specific order?" Arista teased.

"No I'm feeling benevolent today, you may answer in any order you see fit. I may even go so far as to repeat the questions… Please don't ask me to repeat the questions." She quickly added.

Spencer frowned. "What makes you think we create bombs in metal shop?"

The Irish girl shrugged. "You say that like I should have a clue what goes on in that class. I pay no heed to nothing. I heard ignorance is bliss, I'm giving that a shot. Um, so why am I down here?"

"Saving you from Enrique." Arista replied.

"She doesn't need saving from me." Enrique shot back. "You love me, don't you Ams?"

She heaved a sigh. "Well someone has to, I suppose." she grinned up at Arista who chuckled. "Move that hand Enrique." she ordered grimly as she felt a pressure on her inner thigh. "Before I smash it with your head."

"Aw feel the love." Michael joked over a mouthful of food.

Enrique sported a wounded expression taking Amber's hand to help her up. He brightened immediately as soon as her arm slung around his shoulders. Her eyes roamed up and down the table, taking note of who wasn't there. She nudged Miyami with her foot. "Hey, where's Russia and Shahero?"

Miyami shrugged, sipping on her flat coke. "I dunno. Anyone know where Russia and Shahero are?"

Ian shook his head. "Nah, but I saw Kane and Aspin mosey off to go smooching."

The whole team shot him a bewildered look. "What were you watching last night?"

He raised a brow at the question. "Uh, nothing. Why?"

"Mosey off to go smooching?" Amber quirked a brow and looked to her friends to see if they agreed at how weird that sounded.

Ian jerked a shoulder. "Dunno."

"Amber if you're finished with that, can I have it?" Tyson asked eying her plate of lasagna. "If they're serving decent food, I'm not going to miss out."

Amber pushed it over to him, stifling a yawn. Shahero dropped into a seat beside Miyami. "Hey, I can't find my mixed CD."

"Ask Daichi."

"Why would Daichi have my mixed CD?"

"Because whenever anything of mine goes missing, he's always to blame."

"Same here. "Miyami jumped in.

"Well that's just because he's your friendly neighborhood stalker. But ask DC, if it's not him, well you could just blame him anyway."

"I say good riddance to it, your music taste is shit."

"Shut up Ian." Shahero growled, unimpressed with the midget Russian. She stalked out of the dining hall greeting Johnny and Tala as she passed them and catching Hitoshi's eye. He about turned and followed her out of the hall.

Tala smirked and nudged Johnny who rolled his eyes before dropping into the seat Shahero had just vacated putting him in close proximity with Miyami. Tala pulled up a chair and sat down beside him.

"What's good for lunch?" Johnny asked.

"Dude it's all good." Tyson mumbled.

"The shepherds pie is good." Michael added.

"They're even serving real dessert, not the package stuff."

Johnny ran a hand through his burgundy hair. "Sounds good. Tala, g'on up there and get me some."

"Get it yourself."

"You'll be going up there any- Who's leg is that?"

Amber growled as Tala's foot connected with hers as he tried to find out who's leg Johnny was asking about. "Watch it T."

"Amber get your foot off my leg."

"Well then move your leg! Mine was there first."

"So why is it on top of mi- ow! Did you just kick me?"

"No!"

"Who just kicked me?"

Curious Arista peeked under the table to see what was going on in this elaborate game of footsie. She grinned and looked up again. "Wow it's very chaotic down there."

Amber snickered, moving her foot out of the fray from where it had been wrestling against Tala's. Her attention locked on Ozuma and she excused herself from the table, heading towards a small vacant and isolated table near the end of the hall. She sighed at the sight of him. He looked like a wreck. Usually he was completely casual and carefree, just taking life in his stride and now he looked troubled.

She pulled the chair around so that she straddled it and watched him silently.

"Go away Ams."

"No can do Oz." she replied softly.

He didn't look up at her, just continued to shred the napkin with his finger tips, his stormy jade eyes cloudy and distant. His black and red hair was mussed by restless fingers and there were bags under his eyes.

"Jaysus you look like crap."

He tossed his head back and chuckled bitterly. "Ever the honest opinion, eh, Ams?"

"What, do you want me to ladle you up some sympathy? Sorry, I was born void of those genes, something to do with faulty genetics. I got a double helping of annoying brat DNA."

"Yeah, I can really see that coming through." he sighed and folded his arms, regarding her warily as she folded her arms on the back of the chair and rested her chin on them.

"Wanna talk about it?"

"Talk about what? That every girl I take an interest in screws me up inside? Or maybe I'm just going after the wrong type of girl. Maybe I should actually be with Mariam."

Amber rolled her eyes. "Drop the pity me act, it doesn't suit you."

"Oh and what does?"

"Tell Sonia how you feel. No acts, no games, no pretty words. Lay your heart on the line, cuz, because unless you're honest, she's not going to play fair."

He stared at her, then blew out a breath. "You don't think she's playing fair?"

"Running hot and cold like that? Nah, not even close to playing fair, cuz. But, I understand her. She's scared. Believe me, I can understand that."

"So how did Kai win you over then?"

"He didn't win me over. He just wouldn't take my shit. He realized I was being difficult and damn well told me I was being difficult. Sometimes when I think your heart is involved, you have to be cruel. Sonia really doesn't know what she wants. She accepts that she likes you and she knows that she may never get another chance to be with you. But deep down she's scared of rejection, scared that things might change between the two of you. I think you both have to decide if that's worth the risk. If you decide it is, then I can lock you in a room together and you can let her seduce you." he choked and made her laugh.

"Seduce me?"

"Oh yeah…" she chuckled at the memory of the week before, then sobered. "But you don't know nothing about the seducing thing, ok?"

He blinked surprised. "Sure, ok I don't know about the seducing."

Again Amber laughed. "You two are quite the pair and she's scarily psychotic, seriously!"

"So I have to get Sonia alone and without an escape route?"

"Pretty much or you could use handcuffs."

"You have handcuffs? What does Kai think about that?"

"Oh he thinks it's too early in our relationship for handcuffs, but I don't think it's ever too early for handcuffs." At Ozuma's pale look she grinned. "I'm kidding. Handcuffs creep me out, unless they're Aspin's handcuffs, cos they're cool and all furry and…" she threw her head back laughing as Ozuma squirmed in his seat.

"I don't think this is funny. Kane's my best friend, I don't think I'm going to be able to look at him the same way again."

Amber froze. "Oh god, I never thought about it like that… dammit O-Z!" she tapped her feet rapidly against the floor as though to get rid of the thought. "Ugh, gross. Besides she never bought them, they were a gift from Mimi. Ruin's the only one I could ever seriously see wearing them or maybe making Tala wear them. Maybe Hitoshi too, he strikes me as a kinky sort of guy."

"Amber please."

She suppressed another laugh.

"So this is what your daughter talks about when we're not around, eh, James?"

Amber froze and looked over her shoulder and winced. "Shit." she turned back to the table, suddenly finding the table very interesting. "Hey Seth, Nicky, Daddy."

Now it was Ozuma's turn to laugh as his cousin squirmed uncomfortably under their gazes of green, brown and blue.

"Oh c'mon it's not as if I use them. I'm sure y'all have at one stage."

James grimaced and eased himself into the chair between his daughter and nephew. "Amber, let's move away from that topic."

She nodded and watched as Seth took a seat beside his son and Nicolai took the last one beside her. She felt surrounded. These were all men she looked up to and respected. Now all they needed were Hiroshi, Rory, Crane and Hitoshi and then she'd be all set for the grilling of a life time. "I wasn't being serious. I was trying to cheer Ozuma up, right?" she looked to her cousin for help.

"I don't know, you seemed pretty serious to me." he answered with a sad shake of his head.

James rubbed the back of his neck. "Your mother did give you the talk, right?"

"Which talk Daddy?" she tilted her head to the side, all innocence and youth.

"You know, the talk."

"About? I'm going to need a topic to narrow it down. She gives me a lot of talks, though they tend to resemble lectures. Don't leave the TV plugged in all night, turn off the light when you leave the room, don't play your music too loud, keep the noise down, remember to take the morning after pill, don't flush your pads down the toilet, they only float back up again-"

"Alright, alright. You got the talk." James shook his head while Seth and Ozuma smirked. "I was just making sure."

"Of course I got the sex talk, if she didn't give it to me, who would? Nana Molly?" she pondered that for a moment then grinned. "Oh god, wouldn't that be a laugh."

Seth snickered. "She'd take you outside to watch a cow and a bull and explain everything that way."

Amber stared at him. "She would not."

Nicolai nodded, then something entirely different hit him and he snickered too. Seth must have either caught on or had another extremely funny idea, because he broke down laughing as well while James looked plain mortified. Amber exchanged bewildered glances with her cousin, then looked around to see if anyone else was confused. Oh good, she thought when she saw everyone watching them, we're the entertainment for the night. As the men continued to laugh she tried to think what could be so funny. Cows and sex and… "OH!" she blinked rapidly as though that could block out the image. If Nana Molly explained sex to them while giving them the demonstration of a cow with a bull…

"Didn't Nana use A.I.?" Ozuma asked carefully.

All three men paused for thought, then Seth broke down once again, leaning against Nicolai in an effort to not fall off the chair.

"Jeezus, Seth get your mind out of the gutter." James growled, a hot flush working up his neck, burning darker when he caught his daughters horrified look.

"OH! OH God, stop it! Stop it, fragile mind, fragile mind. Oh god it's broken." she whimpered and banged her head against the table. She stood up hurriedly. "Ok, I'm going to find some female company because you guys are warping my brain."

"She says that as if she has one." Seth joked eyeing her with amusement.

She shot him a plastered grin before she turned around and exited the dining hall, giving it a quick sweep in case Kai had entered without her noticing. She knew he hadn't, but it was a habit she couldn't quite force herself to kick. When she didn't spot him, she ignored the twinge of disappointment and exited the dining hall and headed off in search of her mother.

* * *

"Ok, so what are you two doing here?" Arista asked as she hoisted herself up onto a desk in the empty classroom. Outside the sounds of visiting families and potential students flooded the corridors but in here, it was almost like a refuge from the chaos. Her eyes flicked to Brooklyn, since he was probably the instigator of the Sharks being here and he was the one who'd accosted her in the corridor and dragged her into the refuge.

Brooklyn finished scrawling a faint outline of the Shark emblem on the board and dusted off his hands. "Why shouldn't we be here? It is after all open day and everyone is invited, are they not?"

Arista rolled her eyes and looked to the platinum blond who was tossing a tennis ball up towards the ceiling before snatching it out of the air to throw it up again.

"Is he always this evasive?"

Mystel grinned. "Pretty much."

She rolled her eyes and turned back to her… boyfriend? She wrinkled her nose at the term. Boyfriend was a term for someone like Johnny or Kane or Rei who'd been with their significant other for god knows how long and who were allowed to be with them. She wasn't allowed to be with Brooklyn. If her friends found out, well, she dreaded to think how they'd react which was exactly why he shouldn't be here, she reminded herself.

She shifted on the desk and pinned him with a no nonsense look. "Answer the question."

Brooklyn sighed and folded himself into a chair so he could look up at her. "Is there a reason you don't want me here, Belle?"

"Let me think, oh yeah, if Tala or Kai catch you, they'll kill you. I think that's a pretty good reason. Not to mention how they'd react to me. Above all Brooklyn, they're my friends."

Mystel watched the exchange out of the corner of his eye. The Tigers interested him. Even though the Sharks surpassed them in the game of hockey, they seemed to have quite an obsession with the rival team. And it wasn't borne out of fear that they could take away their title, it was more to do with the relationships within the teams. If he didn't know better, he'd figure that it had a lot to do with the Sharks being envious of the close knit team. That and the fact that two of their best players had deserted them to join the Tigers.

Brooklyn glanced at Mystel. "Go outside and keep watch for any of her… _friends_." disdain dripped from the term.

Mystel slid of his desk and smiled at Arista. "Nice meeting you Arista."

"You too Mystel."

As soon as the door clicked, Brooklyn was out of his seat and at her side in two strides. "I thought we had something."

"We had, have." she amended, then exhaled quietly. "It's just that we agreed to go slow. Introducing you to my parents isn't going slow."

"I don't want to be introduced to your parents." he bit out, shoving a hand through his hair, a rare show of frustration for the Sharks vice captain.

She watched him though guarded eyes, unsure how to handle him when he was like this. He loomed over her almost acting like a wall to block out the sounds from outside. It wasn't such a bad analogy, she decided. After all Brooklyn was trying to block her from her friends, he was something she couldn't share with them and though it could cause complications, she liked having him to herself. She liked having this world to herself.

"Look, I just wanted to see you."

"You also came to piss off Kai and Tala, didn't you?"

He shrugged gallantly. "That's just a side benefit."

"A side benefit." she rolled her eyes. "I wish you'd stop trying to tick off Kai and Tala. They left your team, big deal, move on and get over it."

He pinned her with a look. "You couldn't understand."

"No I couldn't understand a member of my team deserting us when we needed him the most. Whatever was I thinking." she drawled sardonically. "You forget, dickey boy that we had Tala first. He went to the brilliant Sharks but, oh what do you know, they're a bunch of a-holes so he comes back to us. And while he was a member of the illustrious Sharks, did we once crash your games? Show up at your school? Walk around it like we had a right to be there? No, and why? Because we had better things to do with our time." she growled, moving to get off the desk and leave but found she couldn't.

Brooklyn stood between her legs, his arms braced on either side of her hips, his torso bent over hers with his face close to her own. She inhaled sharply and swallowed to relieve the tension building up around her. His eyes were clear green and intently focused on her with a kind of restrained violence. She knew Brooklyn had it in him to be cruel, after all, he'd hurt Amber for no good reason, but the thought that he'd turn it on her had never occurred to her. Partly because he'd never turned his anger on her. Not directly. So now her heart thumped madly while a part of her mind screamed at her to panic, though something else kept her calm. Something that told her that he wouldn't hurt her.

So she stared him down, until she could no longer look him in the eye because she felt herself being drawn in by the depths of green. "I just don't think you should be here. If you wanted to hang out, then I could have met you later or even tomorrow."

He sighed and ran a finger down the smooth line of her cheek bone. "I wanted to see you today."

Ah and there was another one of his traits. If he wanted, he got it. Never mind that it might interfere with what she wanted or what she needed. But all the same, a tiny part of her thrilled that he had wanted to be with her and that he'd gone out of his way to see her. Her shoulders slumped. "You just have to be careful then, I don't want Kai or Tala beating the crap out of you."

An orange brow quirked bemused. "What makes you think they'd beat the crap out of me?"

"Why wouldn't they?" she countered and smirked up at him. The smile melted at the look of hunger in his eyes. "Brooklyn…" she trailed off, feeling a quiver shoot down her spine.

He placed a soft kiss against her mouth just a simple distraction because he could already see the furrow in her brow that prompted her need to protect her friends from the big bad shark, but when he felt her mouth press against his, felt her arms slip around his neck and felt her response to him, he couldn't deny himself more of her. His mouth pried hers open and his tongue snaked in to toy with hers. She sighed softly and pulled him closer.

A thud at the door had them parting with a jolt.

"What was that?" Arista asked softly.

Brooklyn shot a glare at the door. "Just Mystel being green eyed." he said, pitching his voice loud enough for Mystel to hear. The answering silly grin from Mystel's face in the small rectangular window in the door prompted one of her own.

"So, what do you think of our school, now you have seen it in daylight?"

He chuckled at her jibe and settled himself on the desk in front of hers, so he could sit opposite her. His legs brushed hers and she pulled them back under her desk, knowing that Brooklyn was taking a little more interest in her legs than she felt comfortable with.

"It's not all that impressive. I was, honestly, expecting more. I suppose it's a nice atmosphere but other than that, I'd rather Clonmel."

"Yeah well you're a brainwashed clone." she replied breezily, slipping off the desk and walking to the window.

"So has Hiwatari said anything about us being here?"

Arista shook her head, her silver hair swishing with the movement. "Not that I know. But Kai keeps himself to himself, he never really tells anyone anything except for-" she broke off with a baffled laugh. "What the hell?"

She tilted her head to the side and opened the window, to get a better look. The rain had given way to just plain clouds that made the world seem dull but fresh. Drops of rain dripped from the roof to the ground beneath leaving wet patches on the rapidly drying ground, but that didn't interest Arista. Her attention was solely focused on a group of silly screaming girls and Shahero and Russia who were chasing them with something.

She jerked back almost rapping her head off the window frame when cool fingers slid inside the waist band of her skirt and snapped the elastic against her skin. She winced and whirled round, her navy eyes filled with accusation. "What the hell was that for?"

He smiled mysteriously at her, tugging her forward into his embrace. A faint blush worked its way charmingly over her cheeks and delighted him. He dipped to rub his lips over hers, just needing a moment with her when everything else seemed to pull her away from him. Circumstances were constantly interfering with them and he was damn fed up with it. He just wanted to be with her, was that too much to ask. His gaze flicked to the door where Mystel was still keeping watch. Mystel wouldn't abandon that post, he knew, not for anything. So he might as well savor his moment with her now, because god knows when he'd get her again.

She pulled away from him reluctantly. "I have stuff to do. I'm supposed to be in the English room saving unfortunate people from Mrs. King."

"Consider me as your savior from insanity, Belle. Who's more important? A bunch of people you don't know or care for, or you?"

She sighed. "Me."

"Exactly." he murmured before closing his mouth over hers.

* * *

The art room was warm and cozy from the kiln in the back corner, or maybe the heated embrace of the couple nestled into one of the back rows leant their warmth to the room. The air was dry and had a flush working under Tala's skin as his mouth moved, whisper soft over her milk pale skin. She moaned throatily, a reaction he'd never have thought she'd give to him but she was wonderfully responsive. He watched the way her expression melted from carefully blank to aroused and tense in a heart beat. She bit the inside of her lower lip, a seductive move that never ceased to set his pulse racing. Her deep brown eyes were blurred with pleasure.

He threaded his hand through her silk black hair, pulling her mouth to his so he could sink into it. There were no preliminaries. He simply opened her mouth, molded it to his and dipped his tongue inside the moist heat before retreating again. She tasted like coffee, hot with the addictive bitter undertones. Her own hands were fisted in the back of his shirt and cupping his neck keeping his mouth against hers, not that he would have removed it willingly. If it weren't for the need for oxygen, he wouldn't have minded keeping his mouth on hers.

One hand moved from her hair, down her neck, savoring the water soft skin, smoothing over her shoulder, along her arm and over to cup the firm weight of her breast. She murmured in approval, arching against him.

Her head was spinning lazily. Heat beat inside her as she lost track of her senses. Everything was attuned to him. The scent of him, the ice cool flavor of him, then feel of his long fingers making her shiver sensually. She couldn't get enough of him and somewhere in the back of her mind, part of her was protesting about something but she couldn't process what could possibly be wrong.

Tala pulled away from her mouth only so he could move to suck on the sensitive flesh under her ear. She arched to give him better access which he greedily took advantage off, moving down the soft flesh of her neck using lips, tongue and teeth.

"Can't you guys take that somewhere else?" Miyami asked with some irritation as she watched Tala not so subtly grope Ruin. Being surrounded by couples was just beginning to get on her nerves. A glance at Kai told her she wasn't the only one getting ticked off.

"Suck face somewhere else."

"Wrong part of the anatomy Kai." Tala murmured, lifting his mouth momentarily from Ruin's skin before latching onto her again.

"God!" Miyami exclaimed, seriously beginning to consider grabbing the sponge she was cleaning the sink with and throwing it at the couple. Since when were Ruin and Tala so publicly affectionate? She thought Ruin had some class but this wasn't showing any of it.

"Right, get out." Kai snapped, standing up from the seat he was sitting in. "You two aren't helping so clear off and find a closet somewhere."

"You might consider doing that yourself." Tala mumbled, but he coaxed Ruin to get up and let her lead him out of the empty art room, wearing a silly 'I'm about to get laid' grin.

Kai groaned and hit his head off the table while Miyami frowned after them.

"We've just been had!" she announced to her companion, throwing down her sponge and crossing over to him. She eased her hip onto the edge of the desk he was using. "Those two are never that brazen about making out, they were just trying to get out of work."

"I know, but I couldn't put up with them anymore." he said with a sigh, then looked at her. "They were getting to you, huh?"

Miyami nodded. "A little. I just keep remembering how Johnny and I were."

"Any chance for you two?"

"Yeah there's loads if we weren't both so stubborn."

Kai smirked. "Amber calls it being pigheaded."

"She's one to talk." Miyami retorted and he nodded. Her silver eyes moved to the sketch he was working on. "Jeez, Kai some people might think you're borderline obsessed." she teased, snatching the drawing from him.

He blinked at her before studying the piece she was showing him. His brow furrowed then winged up. "I don't remember drawing that."

"So your mind was on her and you drew this, how sweet."

"Screw off Mims."

"With you, no thanks. I already turned down Amber and it would just be rude to take up your offer when she asked first." she laughed out loud at his baffled expression. "Well she did, but said she couldn't do anything while she was with you but if she wasn't, I'm definitely her first choice."

Kai simply watched her, his mind filled with images of his girlfriend and his best friend. "Ok, that's disturbing."

"Please, you guys think things like that are hot."

"No that's disturbing." then he mock glared at her. "Stay away from my girlfriend."

"Why you afraid of some competition?" she asked with a grin, picking up a paint brush and dipping it in black, she began to outline Amber's eyes.

He grunted in denial and watched her paint.

"Wasn't that why you branded his this morning? To let all guys know that she belongs to someone, namely you?"

The look she gave him was direct and he exhaled slowly, hating how she could so easily see right through him. He tapped the pencil against the desk and leaned back in his chair, raising his eyes to meet hers. Around them the walls were covered in finger painted butterflies and magnificent portraits, still life's and collages. The light from the windows along his back was pale and white. There was no sound from the visitors due to the art room being situated in the basement, the only sound was from the haunting CD Miyami had inserted. It was nice, solitary, isolated. Like a bubble in a chaotic world and because he felt that he was away from the rest of the school, that he had some privacy, he was able to admit things he never would have thought to say out loud to anyone.

"It wasn't intentional but…" he shrugged, nothing more needed to be said.

"Well, it certainly caught people's attention." she told him absently, lifting her gaze to the window. Johnny was out in the school somewhere, she just didn't know exactly where. Supposedly he was supposed to be down in workshop but she doubted that. He had already mentioned skiving off this morning when he'd been sitting beside her at lunch, so close she'd been able to do nothing but notice him. The sound of his voice, each change in tone, the certain words where his accent would thicken. The scent of heather he constantly seemed to exude, musky with sweet undertones that took away nothing from his masculinity. The animated face, the way his eyes lit up or darkened, the curl of his lips, the way a muscle would twitch in his cheek, the faint shadow of stubble he was beginning to grow that gave him a rugged appearance. A faint smile played on her lips as she remembered begging him to let her shave his face, the leap of fear in his eyes, the reluctance and eventually the resignation as he handed over the safety razor.

"…Mimi?"

She snapped her attention back to Kai and shook her head sheepishly. "Sorry what?"

"Are you ok?"

"I'm fine, so what were you saying?"

"Just asking what did you mean about Amber catching people's attention?"

"Your little _love_ bite, you mean?" her lips curved with wicked delight at the flash in his eyes. "Foxy saw it and King made a stupid comment about how no one would touch her." she shrugged noticing how Kai's eyes blazed and his fingers tightened on the pencil.

"How did Amber take that?"

She wondered what color's would mix well to get Amber's eye color just right. Yellow, brown, a bit of gold… "She didn't say much. I jumped in before I could help myself. But she's Ams, you know."

"She takes everyone's words to heart." Kai growled softly.

"True. But it's not like she rushed off to the girls bathroom to cry her heart out."

He nodded. He knew his girlfriend was resilient. What might upset her for a little while, wouldn't break her. "So where did your mind go to?"

She smiled. "Wondering what colors to mix to get Amber's eye color correct."

He gazed directly at her, moving the paint away from her when she went to redip her brush. "I don't appreciate lies, not when they come from a friend."

Her eyes swept to the floor at the disappointment and quiet disapproval in his voice. "It's… I miss Johnny. It's as simple as that."

"If it's that simple, why don't you two do something about it, instead of moping around?"

"We do not mope."

"Oh you do, just not when the other is around but when they're not, you're moping."

"Ya know, I'm getting trés pissed off with everyone butting into my life and offering their two cents." she growled, silver eyes flashing crimson.

"Hn."

"And then there's the grunting. Got something to say Kai, then spit it out."

"Fix things with Johnny, either take him back or dump him, but do it soon or I'm throwing you both off the team." he threatened softly, as he rose to his feet and walked towards the door. He paused and looked back at her. "Mim's I care about you, but don't think I don't mean that. I do."

She watched as the door closed and she pressed a hand to her face. "Fuck." she whispered. She looked down and found herself looking at her best friend's face who was smiling coyly back. "You and your boyfriend scare me." she mumbled; then her head snapped up as a loud alarm wailed through the school at regular intervals.

It took a few seconds for her to identify the sound that pierced through her mind, but when it did, she jerked to her feet. The fire alarm. Her eyes flicked to the fire exit wondering if the alarm was for real or whether it was a drill. Deciding there was no point debating whether it was real or not, she gathered the sketch of Amber, figuring Kai might want it and if he didn't, Amber sure would. She was just about to leave the room when the music caught her. Cursing under her breath she hurried back to it and took it from the CD player before exiting the room via the fire exit.

* * *

_And now the end is near... Actually it's not near. I have like two Chapters on February, some on March, Easter, A couple in May... See nowhere near finished, possibly another ten chapters I think and a sequel I'm determined to do but I'm sorry It's taking so long. The internet bandit hates me. Next time I have a chance, I'm going to post chapter twenty part two. That wasn't as long as I thought, only 37 pages in size 9 Verdana font. It would have been over fifty if I kept the two chapters together. _

_Now please **Read and Review!**__They really cheer me up to know you guys are still reading and loving this despite the internet crisis. _


	21. To coin a phrase part two

**Disclaimer**: Ok, do I have to do this again. I don't own Beyblade. I don't own Miyami, or Aspin, or Russia, or Arista, or Shahero, or Sonia, or Kirby. 

Here's the incredibly long part two of Chapter twenty. I'll try to get a reply to everyone's reviews soon.

* * *

Chapter Twenty -Part two

Everyone in the school had been herded outside onto the quad while staff members checked the school to make sure everyone was out. The prefects gathered the groups they'd been showing around and took head counts while the remainder of the students gathered in their homeroom groups and awaited their homeroom teachers.

A buzz moved through the students as they theorized on how the fire alarm could have been set off. No one so far had claimed responsibility, including Ian who Kane had secretly suspected. Judging by the look Kai and Tala had aimed in the Russian midget's direction; they had come to the same conclusion. He'd heard some people talking about seeing smoke coming from the Home Ec room but wasn't sure if it was true or not.

He frowned and looked around him. Aspin still hadn't turned up yet. She'd been asked by Sonia to take some of her load to show around the school but he hadn't seen any sign of her yet. Sonia on the other hand was talking animatedly to a bulky green haired guy that if Kane didn't know he was her brother, wouldn't have guessed it from their looks. They didn't resemble each other at all. Steve was broad shouldered, big boned, and of average height. His hair was forest green, coarse and in need of a hair cut. His face was open and ruggedly handsome, not someone you'd see in a crowd and immediately notice, but the flat nose added character as did the bushy brows over brown eyes and big easy grin. You couldn't really dislike Steve; he was a hot head who was very into his sports. He wasn't as nice as Sonia, but he was great to hang out with, or he had been when he'd attended Preston.

Obviously he'd suffered a foot injury as it was bandaged and he was supported by two heavy duty crutches. Michael was laughing at something he said while Hitoshi approached and shook his hand. Both boys had been in the same year, not the best of friends but each appreciated the others talent in their sport of choice. Steve was a big football fan and had said that Hitoshi was a glorified figure skater and Hitoshi pretty much retaliated with derisive comments about throwing around a pig's bladder.

Kane shoved his hands in his pockets and leaned back against the wall watching as Emily rushed up with Max and Tyson to say hello to the older boy. Idly he wondered if they'd greet him the same way when he came back again after June.

"Who is he?" Kai finally asked.

"Sonia's older brother. Steven." Tala answered. "He played football. He would go tearing down the field like a Bison toppling the defense like bowling pins."

"Never tried getting him onto the ice hockey team?"

"Tried once." Kane snickered. "Hitoshi goaded him into putting on the skates, lasted ten seconds before he fell on his ass, almost left a dent. After that he said he'd leave the dancing wusses to their sport while he played a man's sport."

"Yeah he called ice hockey players, glorified figure skaters."

Kai snorted. "Typical. It's easy to run around with a ball, but it takes skill to play on ice."

"We know that. But Steve liked to tick off Hitoshi and vice versa. Complete polar opposites. Hitoshi knew how to get people to do things his way, Steve just bullied them, but not in a bad way or anything, he just used his size to intimidate people."

"Well Hitoshi doesn't really have his size." Kane pointed out, running a hand through his messy blue hair. "Where's Aspin?"

Kai looked around him, pausing to sneer at Foxy as he passed with his royal flunkies. "I don't know. I haven't seen her all day."

"Uh, where's Benz?"

Kai straightened and after a quick sweep, his brow furrowed. "She's not here. We'd have heard her by this stage." something else occurred to him. "The alarm can be heard down in the art room, can't it?"

Kane nodded as he continued to look for his girlfriend, trying to ignore the clenching panic in his gut as he remembered the smoke the people had spoken about. He tried to calm himself, absently noting that Nicolai was walking around calmly with his wife and Amber's mother, so there couldn't be a fire otherwise he'd be worried about his goddaughter. But maybe Amber was safe and sound; Nicolai wouldn't be worried about Aspin. None of her family was here. He bunched his fists trying to extinguish the flare of panic. Aspin was fine. He'd know if she wasn't. Still he kept his eyes peeled for her.

They all glanced at Johnny as he came to stand beside them but kept his distance from Kane. He hadn't apologized for the blatantly outrageous claims he'd made against him yet he didn't seem to be holding Kane responsible for the breakdown of his and Miyami's relationship.

"Dickinson says it was just an accident, there's no fire. But they still say we have to stand out here until the teachers do their checks to make sure everyone's here."

"Don't see the point when there's no real fire."

"They're treating this as a fire drill to impress the parentals."

Kai grunted, his eyes locking on Brooklyn's for half a second as the smarmy git chuckled with his blond friend. What the hell did the Sharks think they were doing here? Did Adams really think this would bother him? Did he really think that he was so insecure in his team that a visit from the Sharks would screw him up or cause a rift in his team? If so, Adams had another thing coming. He was a Tiger, no matter what the Sharks thought.

"How many teams are here?" Johnny demanded exasperated with the amount of opponents he'd been tripping over all day.

"Too many." Ozuma observed quietly as he joined them with Rei at his side.

"Seems they want to see the ex Sharks." Rei replied. "I say we give them a show at the big show down."

"I say we flush their heads down the toilet." Shahero quipped as she inserted herself into the circle.

Kai smirked down at her, noting her height compared to the tall lanky boys. Catching his look, she read his thoughts and rolled her eyes. "Would you be able to do that Hero?"

She quirked a brow. "Couldn't be too hard. Brawn is not everything; brains can beat brawn any day, look at the tale of David and Goliath."

"Or any other tale. The underdog always succeeds." Rei added.

"Let's not get philosophical. I was only planning to dunk their heads a couple of times. Serves them right for coming into our territory. Who do they think they are?" She shot a few teams a dark look hoping they'd back down or run in terror. Actually the fleeing in terror was actually kind of amusing, if you chibified the group until they were five but kept their uniforms as they were. She snickered and received a few wary looks.

"How's the JV team acting?"

"Renewed spirits since Kirby came back." Ozuma answered Kai, his own eyes seeking out Sonia's, feeling his pulse leap when they locked on bright blue before the staring girl turned away and blushed. "They know we're not at full strength, so they know they have a good chance."

"Has anyone seen Aspin?"

"Stop worrying about her; you're acting like a mother hen."

"Well at least I care. Did you even notice she was gone, Kaeto?"

"I did as a matter of fact, as I noticed both Amber and Enrique are also missing." she retorted smugly. "So using my brain power, I deduced that they're together somewhere so they'll be fine."

"Shahero, Kane keep your voices down." Kai ordered softly, his eyes absently scanning the vultures watching them with beady eyes.

Johnny shuddered. "Christ, I feel like I'm surrounded." he rolled his shoulders and growled low in his throat as he caught a glimpse of silver out of the corner of his eye. Miyami was striding confidently towards them, her expression pleasant but he could see the crimson glint in her eyes as a boy walked by her side. He looked slimy and probably figured he was being charming but Miyami obviously didn't. Johnny immediately made to intercept her but she finally reached her limit and whirled on the surprised boy, snapping something in a low growl before she strode to the safety of her team. She slipped in between Rei and Kai and met Johnny's cool look with one of her own.

"Something wrong Mims?" Rei asked, placing a hand on his friend's shoulders, missing the dark look that flashed through Johnny's eyes.

"No, it's nothing. Just when will guys learn that the pick up line: 'where've you been all my life?' is really annoying. It really ticks me off when I hear that smarmy line delivered in that slimy tone of voice makes me want to punch his lights out. Might have done it too if Nicolai wasn't watching."

"What did you tell him?" Shahero asked casting a glance at Hitoshi as his smooth laugh rubbed over her like fur causing her to tingle everywhere at once.

"I think the words I used were: 'in your dreams'. But that's not what pissed me off it was that he actually called me babe and winked." she rolled her eyes causing the boys to chuckle. "Do I look like a talking pig? I don't think so."

Kane smirked but wisely held his tongue as he noticed Judy Tate making her way towards them with a clipboard.

"Hello, is everyone here?"

"Well we're here, but I can't speak for everyone." Miyami answered.

"Aspin's not here."

The group groaned. "Jesus Kane."

"You're so pussy whipped." Johnny muttered, quietly apologizing as Judy glared at him.

"I will laugh if she just went to the toilet."

"I'll kick your ass if something happens to her." Kane snapped back glaring at his friends.

Shahero looked at the bluenette then sighed. "Cool your jets, Pain, there's your Aspirin."

He whipped round so fast he thought he heard his neck crack but that didn't matter. And there she was. Looking completely perfect as she walked with her arm slung around Enrique's waist, laughing with Amber who was on the blond's other side. The sun glinted off her purple hair and her emerald eyes were looking around at the group. When she caught sight of him, her whole face softened. She broke away from the other two and hurried her pace slightly to reach the group.

"Hey." she greeted cheerfully; then frowned as the group chuckled. "What?"

"You should have seen Kane, he pretty much freaked out that you weren't there to hold his hand." Miyami chuckled, which turned into a full out peal of laughter when Kane snarled at her.

"I was just worried about her since none of you were." he defended feeling a flush work up his neck. His fingers were itching to just touch her and make sure she was real.

"We knew she could take care of herself." Ozuma said. "If it were a real fire, believe me Aspin, we'd have been in there to get you out." Aspin grinned at the jade eyed boy.

"But it wasn't a real fire and you knew that Kane." Shahero goaded with a delighted grin.

Kane growled and folded his arms, his eyes studiously taking in every aspect of his girlfriend. He frowned and his hand whipped out to grab hers and pull her close. She stumbled to a stop just a breath from him; if she exhaled they'd be touching. She looked up at him, feeling the flare of heat she always felt when he touched her. His hand gripped her chin and tilted up her face. His serious blue eyes peered at her. "Why have you got soot smudges?"

Her eyes widened. She thought she'd cleaned her face of all smoke traces. "Ah well…" she looked around for help and sighed when Amber reached her side with a silly grin on her face.

"Hey."

"Answer me Aspin."

"Hello Kane."

"Piss off Benson."

"Nice to see you too. Why're you holding Aspin like that? What's going on?" she asked with a light tone but her eyes were alert to the tension in the bluenette's body and the nerves in her friends. She curiously looked around at her friends, then gulped when Kai stepped in front of her and angled her head to look at her.

"She's got soot smudges too."

Amber and Aspin exchanged panicked glances; then motioned to Enrique. "It was his fault." they chorused.

Enrique's eyes darted wildly from the bluenette's to the group of potential allies. Lingering on Shahero and Miyami but found nothing but curiosity and suspicion in their gazes. He grinned. "Well you see it's kind of funny… that um… Amber started it!"

"WHAT? Hey! It was all your fault, buster. Who sticks a magazine in a grill?" she whirled on her blond haired friend and poked him in the chest.

"You turned it on." his hands came up to defend himself as he backtracked with the petite Irish girl advancing.

"Yes but I didn't know there was a magazine in it."

"What kind of magazine?" Kane asked.

"Uh, well you know that magazine you were looking at, at lunch?"

"Enrique, you didn't!"

"That was yours?" Aspin demanded, rounding on her boyfriend, emerald eyes flashing.

"I was just…" he shrugged sheepishly. "There were some interesting articles in it."

"Articles of clothing, I bet." Amber muttered under her breath. "Or lack thereof."

Aspin heard her and glared at her boyfriend. "You are such a perv!"

"You know you love it," he murmured in her ear, grinning rakishly and slipping his arms around her loosely, he reached down to pinch her cute butt. She shook her head in mild exasperation.

"That still doesn't explain why you have soot smudges." Tala pointed out.

"Well… Amber and I were hungry, I didn't get any lunch since I was helping Sonia guide some potentials around the school and Amber was peckish."

"Probably because she didn't eat her lunch." Kai growled.

"I did… I just wasn't hungry at lunch time."

"Anyway-" Aspin interrupted not wanting to get Amber into trouble. "She suggested we head to the home economics room to make ourselves something and we inadvertently got lumbered with Enrique." she turned to Amber. "I still don't know how that happened."

Amber shrugged. "Don't ask me. Half the time I don't know why he's hanging around."

"Oh gee, nice to know you care."

Both girls placated him with a smile before Aspin continued. "Well we went to the room and were in the process of making ourselves some food while Enrique was looking at _your_ magazine." Kane gulped at the look she shot him. "When Ms. Maye walked in, Enrique shoved the magazine in the grill without Amber noticing. She turned on the grill to preheat it while I told Maye why we were there. The next thing we know there's plumes of smoke coming out of the grill." she glowered at Enrique, while Amber stubbed the toe of her shoe into the ground. The team chuckled while Judy shook her head.

"Right well, is everyone here then." she went through the names on her list ticking them off. "Wait here until Mr. Dickinson deems it's time to head back in."

Kai nodded; then shook his head at his team mates all the while wondering what the other teams were thinking. Oh well, didn't really matter he supposed.

"Dere y'are." Russia muttered as she approached, hugging her bare arms.

"Hey Russ. You didn't see Zareth around yet, did you?" Miyami asked innocently.

Russia immediately tensed at the mentioning of the dark haired lanky male. She swallowed hard and forced her reply to be flippant. "Naw." she said with a shrug. "Did you?"

Amber watched with a curious look as the two girls hid their real feelings behind smiles and pleasant comments. She jabbed Aspin in the ribs and got a growl from Kane in reply.

"What?" Aspin asked.

"What's with Miyami and Russia?"

"Nothing. Why?"

"They're acting strange. Something to do with Zareth."

Aspin snapped her gaze to her friends. And noticed what Amber was saying. "Zareth turned up at the school for a while but Russia hasn't seen or spoken to him, or not to my knowledge."

"She hasn't." Shahero confided. "But that's up to her and we should respect that, including Mimi."

"I think Mimi's just testing the waters." Amber said softly. "Uh, where's Arista and Ruin?"

Shahero looked around the gathering group of people she didn't recognize and tried to find someone she did. Silver hair couldn't be that hard to notice in a crowd of non silver haired people. Minus Miyami's mother, of course. She caught sight of Mrs. King talking with Mr. Shallow and Foxy laughing with his friends while Zeo talked cheerfully to Wyatt and Tyson. "Can't see them."

"Uh, Tala, where's Ruin?"

"Yeah and has anyone seen Arista?" Shahero piped up.

"Last time I saw Ruin she was talking to Hitoshi and Sonia's brother." Johnny answered.

"Arista is over there, Shahero, with Kirby making fun of Ian." Rei pointed out kindly. The only reason he noticed was because Mariah was with them talking to Mariam.

"Jesus this is just one big group powwow." Amber mumbled, linking her arm through Enrique's and hitting her forehead lightly off his shoulder.

"Isn't that an Indian thing?" the blond wondered, trying to imagine Mr. Dickinson with a feather head dress.

"Well it's a group talk or meeting originating from the Native American Indians."

"You swallowed the dictionary again, didn't you Benz?"

"Piss the fuck off." she snapped irately.

"Oh yeah, I can really see the dictionary's influence on her cursing." Enrique laughed.

"Sure was succinct, Benz."

"Both of you are complete and utter total gits!"

Tala frowned and looked to Enrique. "Correct me if I'm wrong but don't those adjectives all mean the same thing?"

Amber rounded on her friend. "Why are you asking him for? He's blond- yeow!" her hand flew to the back of her head. "Uh, no offence to any blonds… hey wait a minute, there are no blonds here, why am I getting punished for when there are no blonds here to be upset?" she demanded. She could see through it if Max were here but he wasn't, or even if Miguel was here, but he wasn't. No, all people here were dark haired or silver but silver was not blond!

She frowned around at the group. Who had hit her? Russia, Miyami and Rei were in conversation about something or other, which involved Miyami casually placing a hand on Rei's arm. This casual show of affection earned Johnny's sole attention but that wouldn't stay for long. No, he'd resort to the guy he was before he and Miyami got together. The flirtatious Johnny who never really took anything seriously. She'd never personally liked that Johnny, she liked the Johnny she knew, the one she'd gotten to know through hockey and her best friend. Funny, she thought with a slight smile, if it hadn't been for hockey she wouldn't have gotten to know any of them very well.

She would have written off Enrique as an audacious flirt with no brain power which wasn't true, yes he was a flirt and he liked to act the fool, but he was incredibly sweet and so genuinely amazing to be around. He cheered her up when she was down, he liked to joke around with her and he made her feel special. A friend like Enrique was hard to come by and she didn't like the thought of being in a world where they couldn't talk at breakfast or throw paper at each other in study hall.

She had known Rei from a young age, when Rei had moved to Bakuten and he'd always been a nice guy but they'd never been especially close. It was more like they'd say hi, exchange a bit of small talk when they met in the street. However, when they got to Preston they drifted into different groups. Hockey had brought them back together and growing up into the people they were going to become, she'd been able to appreciate the great trait's the Chinese boy possessed. Rei didn't hold grudges and she admired that so much about him, especially since she had always been terrible with grudges. But if they didn't have hockey would she have seen Rei as just a pretty boy who was athletic and dated cheerfully bright cheerleaders? Or maybe she would have gotten to know him as a nice and friendly guy through Miyami but she wouldn't have realized how dedicated to the team he was or how loyal a friend he could be or how much she admired him and needed him to just be there even if she didn't talk to him all the time, the fact that she knew Rei was there kept her world centered.

She would have written Michael off as a plain old stereotypical jock more obsessed with his status and popularity than the game and she wouldn't have gotten to know the sweet side to him. The side of him that would do almost anything for a friend and who went out of his way to cheer people up even if it was at his own expense. The side that had held her hand and offered to help her get over her fears.

As for the girls, well she would have been friends with them; there was no doubt about it. They had so many things in common that even without hockey in their lives, she could see them being friends. But the hockey made them closer. They'd shared triumphs and defeats, they shared something that none of the other girls could possibly understand.

Because of hockey, she had a closer relationship with her cousins that may not have been forged off the ice. She trusted them both on and off the ice, and she knew they felt the same. She and Bryan would always have the bond they shared, but she and Ozuma were sometimes too different. Being on the same team, working together, it made for a stronger relationship. It gave them something in common to base a relationship on.

Spencer had intimidated her the first time she saw him, and he had always seem kind of slow and dull with nothing interesting to say for himself. The simple fact was that Spencer didn't feel comfortable with people because of his size, he was physically intimidating and people had a habit of just labeling him as a bully or just plain stupid. Spencer was none of these. In fact his size was a definite advantage in the game of hockey; in fact hockey had probably helped him the most. It had broken down the social barriers between him and the rest of the student body. He was quiet and thoughtful and what he lacked on the academic side, he certainly made up for on the arts side. He did amazing work with wood and he could fix anything electronic, he was a regular handy man. Not only that but he was, deep down, a soft hearted guy.

Ian and she had instantly got off on the wrong foot. Probably because they were the same essence only in different bodies. Ian and she got a perverse pleasure out of annoying people. And that was mainly what people saw. They never tried to delve deeper to see the person underneath the pranks and snide comments. Ian had a real sense of loyalty to him and being a member of a team had enabled him to be part of something bigger than just him. Ian had been bullied when he was in elementary school so he'd turned around and become a bully during his first year or so, allying himself with someone like Tala so that no one would turn on him. But the team stood by each other, so soon enough Ian had realized that attacking people before they attacked you was a presumptuous way to live and really kind of unfair. He didn't have to worry about being attacked, he had his friends to back him up anyhow and Amber and Shahero had turned into interesting targets.

As for Kane, well he was an old nemesis, both of them had always competed for grades since next to Tala in class, they'd been second and third. He was perfectly amicable to everyone until puberty hit, she remembered. He had exuded intelligence and a maturity that had just about flown out the window where Aspin had been concerned. They got under each other's skin until Kane had lost all control over his smooth attitude and had been reduced into an annoying prat who liked to inject innuendos into daily banter with the purple haired girl. Of course the other girls weren't going to befriend him and incur Aspin's wrath, well except for Arista who seemed to actually like Kane and Russia who just about tolerated him and Ruin who didn't care what others thought. But if it wasn't for hockey, then Aspin probably wouldn't have discovered the normal side to Kane, the one that was capable of caring for someone. Of course the innuendos were never far from his mind but he had at least the decency to reserve them for Aspin's ears only. In fact hockey had shown Amber a whole new side to him. Away from the conceited jerk he liked to pretend he was; he was genuinely funny with an innate sense of right and wrong. He would rather win by fair means than foul and he took care of his teammates never minding the repercussions to his own health.

She'd always known Tala, there wasn't a time when she hadn't known him and she'd blocked out the time when he hadn't been there. But hockey had always been a prominent piece of their lives. When the other boys in Bakuten said she couldn't play, Tala had always stepped in for her and the other boys always listened to Tala. He'd always take time to show her new moves he'd learnt or they'd go to the local high school together to watch matches or gather at one of their houses to watch them on TV. It had forged their friendship, made them as close as siblings and while watching a match, they'd discuss numerous other things that strengthened their bond to a point where either one could tell what the other was thinking. He'd been the one to talk her into coming to Preston with him on a hockey scholarship, there would have been no other way for her to get into the school and then she wouldn't have met this group of eclectic people who'd become, in a sense, her family.

And, she thought with a smile, as two arms wrapped snugly around her waist; it brought her Kai. And Nicolai too. They'd become such a big part in her life that she couldn't imagine life without them now. It was sometimes odd to think of how one sport had put her in the life she was in now, had given her the friends she had. Not many teams could say they liked everyone in their team, even Amber could say there were days that she didn't like certain members and she was sure they could say they didn't like her either at times, but deep down she knew that no matter how annoyed they made her, she couldn't be without them. But soon she would have to and it saddened her to think about it but it was the only thing she could think of. A life without her team would be in a sense wrong.

"What're you thinking about?" his hot breath tickled her frozen ear as he murmured into it.

She shrugged, simply watching her team interact with each other. Arista had joined them with Ian hot on her heels. The JV team was off to the side of the quad talking and laughing and shooting the older team a few looks. The Blizzards looked confused while the Sharks were taking stock of what was going on, looking completely out of place with their stylish clothes amongst the uniforms and casual clothes of the students and other visitors. Only it wasn't just the clothes, it was the way they stood, looking so isolated while being surrounded by so many people. This was a team who couldn't boast to have the same camaraderie as the Tigers and she wondered if they resented it, envied it? If she was standing outside, looking in a window at the Tigers, she'd envy it. She was sure of it and that made her feel all the more blessed to be apart of it.

"I'm just enjoying the team." she turned her head slightly to look up at him. At the strong jaw line, the tender full mouth and the deep brown orbs. She liked the look of him and the warmth in his eyes.

Did Kai feel the same way about the team? He'd come from the Sharks, he had to appreciate the warmth of the team. Did he feel like part of the team? She'd worked so hard to make him feel that he wasn't so he'd leave again, but now she didn't want him to ever leave. She tilted her head slightly as he kissed the side of her neck softly. No she really didn't want him to leave but how did she go about asking if he felt like part of the team? She didn't know how to make someone part of something that she'd never not been a part of. The team and group had formed around her; she had never come from the outside. It had been her and Tala and then Ruin and Ian. The rest of the team had been drawn in by Tala's charisma so she'd always been part of the group but the same couldn't be said for Kai.

"Enjoying the team shouldn't bother you." he spoke softly in her ear.

"It's not." she replied, her voice little more than a whisper but he could hear the emotion in it.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing. It's nothing really, I'm being silly." she inhaled deeply and changed the subject. "Have you seen your parents much?"

He knew she was changing the subject and he let her, only because he didn't like seeing her down. "No, I've seen them around but I've been busy down at the art room. What about you, have you seen your parents much?"

She shook her head. "No thankfully." she shrugged a shoulder at his pointed look. "My mom's suffering mood swings and mood swinging Mom and me, don't really mix. It's better to leave her in someone else's care. Wow, ok that sounds harsh."

"Wimp." he chuckled, nipping at her skin lightly. She was so warm and soft; it was hard to resist tasting that tantalizingly gorgeous skin.

"I'm not being a wimp." she tsked disgusted with herself. "Ok I am. But mom crying scares me. Ya know it makes me feel helpless because parents aren't supposed to cry. I guess 'hormonal mood swing' crying is different from 'he's left me crying'. But sometimes I'm on the phone to her and she bursts into tears and starts blubbering about how precious I am and it's…" she trailed off struggling for a word, her fingers grasping thin air for the word that was just on the tip of her tongue. "Weird, for lack of a better definition. I'd just rather leave the comforting to someone who can actually do it."

He smiled because he knew she wanted him to, but he'd picked up on the vital phrase in that little monologue. He had never thought really about how her parents separating might have affected her. He'd once thought her petty blaming her father for leaving her, but having met Treasa and not just in passing but having spent time with her and knowing Amber the way he did, he knew Amber wouldn't have just been upset for her but for her mother's pain. Amber as a child would probably have been a very loyal child, obstinately fierce in protecting those she loved. Not only had her father hurt her in leaving him, he'd hurt her mother and that would only have angered Amber more. No wonder she was so wary about men.

"Did your mother cry often when James left?" he asked quietly, scanning their group of friends hoping none of them were picking up anything from the private conversation.

She froze in his arms for a moment; then shook her head. "Only when she thought I was asleep. Your mom used to come around after bed time a lot after Dad left. When I saw her car pull up, it's like all the fear melted away. 'There's Aunty Jean, she'll make mommy better.' Stupid."

"No, you wanted your mom to be happy again."

"I did, I really did." her eyes wandered to where her mother stood with Grace Valkov and Jean, the three of them were talking and laughing like school girls.

"Your dad was upset too." he interjected cautiously. "He did love you and your mom."

He could remember James coming around to the house to hang out with his father quite a lot one year. He always felt like he was one of the men when they let him stay up and watch a football match or hockey match with them and as long as he didn't tell his mother and was up early for school the next day, he could stay up till the end of the match. It had been a highlight of his young life. It had been a chance to be alone with his father without his mother butting in with her girly needs. It had been a chance to sip the tiniest amount of beer from the bottom of the glass when they weren't looking and to listen to the curses and just be male.

"I know. I do, it's just… I know they were too young. I mean from what mom said it was this big burst of heat between them and they rushed into everything. So desperate to prove they could be grownups. Dad could have sex whenever he wanted it and Mom had her little family since she'd pretty much lost her own. I guess they just didn't think things through past their hormones. They got married without living with each other and soon enough the heat died away and they grew into different people. I appreciate that they thought it was love but at that age?" she shook her head. "No way, or not the Big long lasting love, they just went too fast."

He listened to her silently wondering just how much of their young relationship affected her. Would she pass up the chance at love because she thought she was too young? Would she even know it?

"So you don't believe they'll ever get back together?"

"I won't say that the thought never crossed my mind. I mean every child from a broken marriage entertains hopes that perhaps the parents will reunite but I don't think so. To be truthful I wouldn't want them to get back together. Mom's happy with Hiroshi, and I mean down in the gut happy, she was never this happy on her own or even with some of the other guys she dated. But even if she wasn't with him, I wouldn't want her and Dad to get back together. Mum loved my dad and part of her always will. She trusted him and he broke it. She depended on him and he broke her heart. If she took him back, how could she be certain that he wouldn't do it again. She'd be forever questioning him and that's no basis for a relationship."

He conceded her point. What she said made a lot of adult sense, for Amber that is. Once bitten, twice shy. It spoke volumes about her as a person, but he understood what she was saying. If James did get back with Treasa, he'd have to do a lot to regain her trust. It was probably better for all concerned if both moved on with their lives. Maybe people would take the risk if there were no children involved or if both parties had a part in the break up. He didn't know if he could do that though.

"So, what about your Dad? Things seem tense between you two."

He opened his mouth to reply then remembered he hadn't told her about his argument with his father. He sighed, shrugging a shoulder. "We had a disagreement back in the holidays but I think he's coming around to seeing my side of things."

"So you guys had a fight. I guess I knew that, I just… Anyway it's none of my business." But it was weird because he knew everything about her life, she could tell him anything and wouldn't feel weird telling him or dumping her problems on him but he didn't trust her to do the same. Oh well, she had enough of her own problems and she had her own friends problems to worry about even though they wouldn't appreciate her doing so; it was something she had to do because they were her friends and that's the type of person she was.

"Amber…" he trailed off. He didn't know what to say, how to ease then tension that had suddenly stiffened her body against his.

"No, sorry. I'm being unfair. What goes on between you and your dad has nothing to do with me. Now if you were having arguments with say Tala or Johnny or someone like that, I'd reserve the right to know because your relationship with them affects me as well as the rest of the team." she twisted her head to offer him a wry smile; then she sobered. "You and your Dad have a really close relationship. Whatever you two fought about, I'm sure it isn't important enough to break that, so try to resolve the problem. I kind of look to you and your dad as a role model for how a father and child should react. I'm even trying to be nice to my Dad."

Even though her tone was bright, the underlying sadness was obviously there. He pressed a kiss to her hair and followed the train of her gaze. James was talking to Nicolai with Pricilla on his arm looking every inch the blue haired Barbie complete with manicured nails and salon style makeup and perfect hair in a tailored suit completely out of place for a school open day.

"Pricilla's my aunt."

"What? Huh? Oh, yeah, I know. I worked that out ages ago, then got Jean to confirm it," she cast him a glance and smiled when she caught the furrowed brow. He looked so cute when he was thrown off guard. "You were expecting me to hold that against you too, huh? See, I am growing up, slowly but surely. Though the closeness of our two families is slightly creepy. We're not doing anything wrong, are we?"

"Not that I'm aware of." he mumbled against her throat, resting his chin against her shoulder. "But if we are, it feels really good."

She chuckled throatily at that; then stiffened. "Shit."

"What?"

"I can feel Mariam glaring at me," she grumbled shifting against him to scratch the itch between her shoulder blades.

Kai casually straightened, keeping his arms locked around his girlfriend's waist as he scanned the crowded quad. Mr. Dickinson was giving a talk now about the up keep of the grounds, taking the opportunity of the parents being gathered in one place. Over his shoulder, he caught sight of his ex quickly averting her gaze. "Hmm, she was."

Amber rolled her stiff shoulders. "I wish she'd just come out and say she hates me. All this waiting and dancing around each other is making me sick."

Unable to resist, Kai nuzzled her neck. "What makes you think she hates you?"

"Oh c'mon! If you broke up with me and started dating her there'd be no way I'd be extending the hand of friendship, at least not for a long time. I wouldn't be able to and neither should she if she felt anything like how I feel."

He tightened his arms around her at her flippant confession even as uneasiness swept through him. "Well…"

Her eyes narrowed and she twisted to regard him. "Well what?"

"She approached me earlier-"

"And?"

"She wants to try being friends. With me."

Her stomach clenched uncomfortably. "What did you say?"

"She wants-"

"No, what did you say to her?" she asked, sinking her teeth into her lower lip.

He inhaled deeply, and let it out slowly. "I told her we could give it a go."

"Oh." she replied softly. She wasn't sure she understood. Mariam had been so angry with Kai and now she wanted to be friends? What had changed? And just this morning Mariam had seemed so angry and hurt.

Kai sighed, his breath fluttering the stands of her gilded black hair. He knew this would happen. There didn't seem to be a way to have both girls in his life without hurting one of them. "Look, before Mariam and I got together, we were friends. She was one of the first people to befriend me."

"Yeah because she wanted to get into your pants." she muttered.

"Amber!"

She cursed and winced. "Sorry, ok that was uncalled for. It's just… I'm allowed to be snippy about this. OK maybe not-" she tucked her hair behind her ears in a sign of frustration. "It's just going to be weird seeing you together and constantly comparing myself to her and coming up short."

Kai swept his stormy gaze over the team who'd casually moved off from them to give them some illusion of privacy. It probably wasn't the best time to have this conversation but he didn't understand why they had to have this conversation at all. Why did he constantly have to explain his feelings to her, it was really beginning to piss him off. "I chose you." he growled and released her, but before he could step away so that his temper didn't lash out on her, her hand latched onto his arm.

She pressed a hand to her face. "I'm sorry. I'm being unreasonable. It's not that I don't trust you, I do. You need friends in life; I know that better than anyone so when offered a friendship you should grab it. So I'm sorry for being bratty."

She made it very hard to be angry with her. Even when he had every right to be so, but unfortunately for him, he could see where she was coming from. He accepted her apology and pulled her into his arms. "Jealousy isn't a good look on you, Ember."

"I am not jealous. I do not get jealous." she said with a thrust of her chin and a pout.

"You're very jealous. Even your eyes are turning green."

"Ha, ha!" she squinted and crossed her eyes as though trying to see if her permanently ochre eyes were actually shifting green.

Unable to help it, Kai laughed at her. "Christ, now I know you've been watching too many cartoons."

She scowled; then because she could feel the prickle at her back again, she reached up and yanked his mouth down to hers. His reaction was instantaneous as his grip tightened on her. Her body strained against his as his dark melt in your mouth taste flooded her, smooth and irresistibly addictive.

The kiss lasted mere seconds but it was long enough for her hands to curl into his hair and for her to lose her breath. She pulled back, dazed and satisfied.

He studied the blurred slits of dark honeycomb, the flush of passion over her clear golden skin and the swollen mouth. "What was that for?"

She shrugged. "Am I not allowed to kiss my boyfriend?"

"Was that show for Mariam? Were you staking your claim on me?"

She flushed and averted her gaze when he tilted her chin up. She was beautiful when she was embarrassed but her actions made him feel strangely smug. He shouldn't feel pleased that she was claiming him in front of everyone most especially Mariam but all the same it amused him because hadn't he done something relatively the same that morning?

"Hey love birds break it up!"

Kai looked up and wisely held back a chuckle at Amber's growl as she rounded on Ian. "Ok, that's it. I'm going to stick a knife in your stomach, midget!"

"Who the hell are you, calling me a midget, bean pole?"

"Bean pole? Well I'd rather be a skinny than thick! And I'm not just talking about body weight." she snarled.

The team stepped back as the two stormed off hurling insults left, right and center. Miyami raised a brow. "I think Ian was trying to tell you that Dickinson says we're free to head inside."

"Why didn't he just say so?" Rei wondered and Arista shrugged.

"Ian's a glutton for punishment."

"Oh they love each other really." Aspin said loftily, resting her head on Kane's shoulder as they headed inside with the rest of the crowd.

"Better watch out Kai, Ian might steal her away yet."

Kai rolled his eyes at Michael's comment. "Oh yeah, I worry about that every night."

"It's the stuff of nightmares."

"Yes it is so stop talking about my sister like that." Shahero shuddered in revulsion. "Oh god, now I'm going to have images." She snarled at Michael before lengthening her stride and quickening her pace enough to lose them in the crowd.

* * *

Hitoshi had never been a fan of open day. Wandering around with his parents had never been his idea of fun. Usually because he liked to keep his exploits from his mother and open day often gave her a way to find things out about him. She seemed to enjoy looking at the girls in his year and speculating which one was his girlfriend. Things had gotten worse when Tyson joined since his baby brother enjoyed tormenting him. Tyson would wander around with his mother and when Keiko pointed a girl out, Tyson would give her friendly hints on how he knew her.

Of course, since Hitoshi was no longer a student here, his mother had given up stupid games like the ones that plagued his teenage years…

He wished! It had taken a great deal of finesse and carefully placed words to extract himself from his mother's claws and turn her attention to Tyson. Now he watched with some amusement as his brother flushed with embarrassment and tried to keep his mother from talking to any girls that Tyson knew. Miyami had quickly claimed Tyson's old job of subtly giving Keiko hints on who Tyson might have an interest in. Right now, the target seemed to be Hillary Mizuno which made Hitoshi really want to switch places with his father just so that he could be a fly on the wall to witness his brother's mortification close up.

He leaned back against the wall and folded his arms, chuckling when Tyson lost his cool and lunged for Miyami who quickly darted out of harms way, giggling and enjoying the torment her cousin was enduring. Her attention was so caught up in the lanky navy haired teen that she didn't notice the flame haired boy until she collided with him. Even from here, Hitoshi could feel the heat the two youths produced on contact with each other. Miyami was instantly frozen in place with Johnny's supportive arms around her before she quickly pulled away with a shy, almost nervous smile; then headed towards her family again.

Even though he, Hitoshi, and Miyami had always rubbed each other the wrong way while growing up, that didn't take away the fact that she was his favorite female cousin. Probably for that exact fact. He had more contact with Miyami. He and Kamryn were closer age-wise but since Kamryn had got a modeling gig at an early age, she'd always been off around the world. He was proud of her, naturally, she was doing well for herself and he didn't begrudge a family member their fame and fortune. He supported her choices, and of course should she plan to give him any freebies or leave a condo to him if she had an untimely death -touch wood she didn't-, then great. But Miyami, well she was something else. She got on his nerves with her ploys and mischievous nature but only because he cared for her a great deal. She was like the sister he was never fortunate to have, though sometimes she was like a female Tyson and one of any gender was enough. She'd also brought him Shahero in an indirect way which gave her more brownie points. She was special and he didn't want to see anything take that light away from her.

Unfortunately her light seemed dimmer ever since she and Johnny had taken a break? He wasn't sure whether they were officially broken up. Then again, no one was sure. They probably weren't even sure themselves. It was so natural for there to be a Johnny and Miyami that the thought of there not being one would probably put the whole team's lives off kilter, or so he'd over heard Arista exclaiming to a vaguely amused Ruin one lunchtime when neither was present.

He wondered if there'd come a time when it would be unheard of for either him or Shahero to be with another. Then he rolled his eyes. Kaeto was turning him into a sap, something he'd sworn he'd never be. In fact, if he remembered correctly, he'd given Tyson permission to shoot him if he ever became one. Tyson being the idiot that he was would probably do so too, he thought with a grimace and probably with a paintball gun. It was something so typically Tigerish.

He glanced down at the clipboard in his hands and pushed away from the wall, rolling the lollipop, he'd snagged from Arista as she'd been walking past, about with his tongue. A group of X's and O's were strewn over the page on the clipboard with little numbers over each one. He tugged out the pop from his mouth with a wet sucking sound and contemplated the play he was toying around with. He knew his team wasn't the stronger team, the JV team was the underdogs; in fact the JV team constantly lost to the senior team it was like a tradition. Yet on saying that, this year they had a real chance. They had their own coach, him, who'd been able to dedicate his time to them instead of sharing it unequally between the two teams. They were a strong team, each knowing where the others strength lay. They had a damn good captain and the senior team still hadn't quite settled. Of course, Hitoshi might have been a little happier if Hiwatari and Benson had kept the romance until after the show down. Any tension, especially sexual tension screwed up players. He knew that better than anyone.

He carefully dodged a family of squealing children and blew his bangs out of his eyes. Despite being back in a high school he'd been glad to get away from, he actually liked his job. He enjoyed it. Surprisingly, he found that being able to coach young teenagers was satisfying. When he'd had the accident where he'd dislocated his kneecap, he had thought his hockey career was over for sure and nothing could have depressed him more. He'd wanted to just lock himself away and pretend nothing had happened; then he wanted to get rid of all reminders of hockey including Tyson for a while.

He could smirk about it now, but his brother hadn't been too thrilled with it. To be honest, the more he hurt Tyson with his comments, the better and worse he felt. Tyson was able to play and he wasn't, and he begrudged his brother that chance for a long time and then he'd met Nicolai.

Nicolai had forced a few home truths on him. That not everything in life revolved around hockey, even though Hitoshi felt it did. And he informed Hitoshi that he could still keep hockey in his life by becoming a coach. At first the idea seemed preposterous. Why would he want to coach kids, when he couldn't even play himself? Why would they listen to him? But eventually he came around to the idea; he'd even begun to like it. His world hadn't ended with his injury; it had just closed one door and opened another. And he was a good coach. He could get the best out of his players, and it would give him a chance to make up for the hurtful things he said to Tyson. Tyson was a better player; people just tended to only see how alike he was to Hitoshi. It was unfair but with Hitoshi out of the game, maybe Tyson would finally be given his chance to prove just how good he could be.

"You look busy. Trying to work out a play for your team?"

His spine stiffened as the voice crawled over his skin like an army of Brazilian fire ants. He grimaced and looked over at the woman who'd fallen into step with him. She swept her black hair over her shoulder like a rainfall of black ink and her face was lightly powdered with a layer of foundation. He could smell the sweet scent of her perfume and shampoo from where he was standing, with Shahero you had to get close and he liked that about her. Any excuse to get close to her and he'd take it. Smoky gray eyes were outlined in dark kohl while she'd slicked something vibrantly red over her pretty mouth. There was no doubt that Selena Kaye was a head turner. She always had been. Tall and slender with full curves and endless legs that fascinated the male mind, she was every male student's fantasy teacher.

"You hoping to steal some plays, Selena?"

She chuckled, and that too was as smoky as her eyes. "Still feeling sore, Hitoshi? Surely you'd have gotten over that by now? It's been what, a couple of years?"

"Three or four more like." he muttered, skimming his gaze over the throngs of people hoping to find a member of his team so he could escape the black widows clutches. Selena didn't make him squirm, she just made him annoyed.

"Keeping track?" she wondered. She didn't look at him, at least not openly but she surveyed him out of the corner of her eye. He had always been a mouth watering morsel. Deep, dreamy eyes with a sharp glint of intelligence. She always liked intelligence in men. Then there was that mane of stone blue hair, sexy, she thought running her tongue over her teeth. And that mouth, a very inventive mouth. She also liked his height and his build which had only improved over the years.

"Not really. I just have a brain." he said mildly.

"You are sour."

He slid his gaze over to her and shook his head, his eyes glazed with disdain. "Not particularly."

"You shouldn't be. We both got what we wanted out of the deal."

"Did we?" now he could smirk. "As I recall, you still lost."

Her lips twisted and she sighed. "Touché. Then again, was that all it was about?"

"You tell me."

"Oh come now. We were good together."

He snorted and looked at her. "What world do you live in? You were after one thing and one thing only. You used me and I used you. As you said, we both got what we wanted, so why are you here now Selena? Trying to get me to fall for the same trap again? Credit me with a little respect and maybe do the same for yourself. Your team would do a lot better if you weren't so busy trying to get into every males pants."

She blinked at the disgust in his tone and the pitying look in his gaze annoyed her. Her eyes blazed with indignation. "Don't try to make me sound like a whore, Hitoshi. You were hardly the innocent party. You didn't exactly turn down any of my invitations."

"I don't have to make you sound like a whore Selena; you do that well enough on your own. And if you think you can come here and prey on some teenage boy running on hormones, think again. Now clear off Selena, I have a team to coach with actual ideas and strategies I thought up by myself."

He strode off or made to but her fingers wrapped around his arm with surprising strength. He turned slowly and his expression was one of resignation and barely concealed annoyance. "What now?"

"You're not better than me Hitoshi." she hissed under her breath, her eyes flickering around the now almost deserted corridor.

"No but he's certainly younger than you." a voice interrupted with a faintly pleasant tone thinly coating the scorn beneath it.

Hitoshi froze; then glanced over his shoulder prying his arm from Selena's talon-like grip. He watched as Shahero walked down the corridor towards them, her hand holding a stick and the other grasping the laces of her skates. Her hair was tied back so that tendrils fell down to brush her porcelain neck and frame her heart shaped face. A curl of lust uncoiled in his gut but was beaten back by the anxiety on what she'd just heard. Judging by the dark shadows in her sapphire eyes, he knew she wasn't happy. That could just have been because another woman had her claws on her boyfriend, quite literally, and he couldn't find it in his heart to be annoyed by that because he'd be furious if another man touched what he considered his but that didn't mean he was happy that she was here.

"Shahero, did you want something?" he asked coolly.

"Miguel sent me to find you." she replied.

"Tell him I'll be there in a minute. I just have some business to attend to here." he caught the quick flicker through her eyes and knew she was angry with him. Her posture stiffened before she nodded jerkily and walked back around the corner.

"Heed my words, Selena. There won't be anybody here for you and I'm not interested, so sling your hook." he brushed her off and strode down the corridor intent on finding Shahero before she worked herself into a snit.

* * *

She tapped her foot as she stood in the empty student lounge. All the parents and students had headed for the arena and were now being entertained by the school band and whatever else was going on as the teams got ready for the showdown. Her adrenaline was pumping and her pulse was beating thickly against the skin of her throat so that it was almost painful but she wasn't sure if these were a reaction to the impending game or if it was more to do with Hitoshi.

She couldn't believe he'd just ordered her away so coolly. He was with another woman and he'd treated her like a goddamn messenger! Who the hell did he think he was? She frowned and folded her arms, her stick leaning casually against a couch with her skates resting on it. She wanted to be mad, she should be mad but there was a tendril of fear worming its way through the haze red. The woman had been tall and perfectly proportioned with breasts, much bigger breasts than Shahero's. And she was taller with longer hair and she wore a skirt and… She was everything that Shahero wasn't and never would be! And it didn't boost Shahero confidence to find her boyfriend, her older, sexy and slick as spit boyfriend with an older, beautiful woman.

She snarled and kicked a seat. He was making her self conscious about her looks and that was fucking pissing her off! Who the hell did he think he was anyway?

Footsteps down the hall caught her attention and she turned around, ready to tear strips off him. He sauntered into the lounge area, no shuffling sheepishly with an apologetic expression, no he sauntered. His gaze swept over her and annoyance flared in his brown eyes before they narrowed on her.

"I thought I told you to tell Miguel I'd be late."

Any accusations she might have made died on her tongue. "Do I look like your secretary?" she demanded, her hands fisting on her hips.

Hitoshi might have found the stance ridiculously appealing but there were alarm bells ringing in his head warning him to watch his step with her. "You said that Miguel was looking for me," he said slowly.

"I lied." she retorted. "So who was that woman?" she bit back the comment on how she was clinging to him like a silk bur.

"No one."

"Wow, I never believed someone would call their child No-one. But I suppose if they'd call a child Nimrod, then No-one isn't that far down the ladder."

Her tone was flippant and annoyingly so, he decided, since he could see the temper simmering away beneath the surface, ready to boil over onto the nearest person.

"She's no one important Hero."

Her brow knitted. There was something just at the corner of her mind begging her to notice it, fluttering like a butterfly. "I know her from some…" The lush Doctor K, she remembered suddenly, Enrique's words echoing in her mind. Followed by the image of Hitoshi's face as he told Enrique she was out of his league and the twin looks on Miyami and Amber's faces. "Who is she Hitoshi? How do you know her?"

"Look, I said she's no one important so leave it," he growled. "You have a game to prepare for. I'm not being blamed for you turning up late."

"If she's no one important why won't you tell me who she is? Then again, I could just ask Ams, I'm betting she'd be quick to tell me," she spun on her heel and headed off to find her sister. Amber knew the bitch and Amber would tell her, she'd make sure of it. After all who was Amber more loyal to? Hitoshi, who was an annoying pain in her ass, or her wonderful sister?

She got two steps before his hand caught her elbow and jerked her around to face him. Temper had leaped into his eyes and she could feel the tremble of violence in his stance. He was struggling not to lash out and had twin coils of fear and excitement curling down her spine as her stomach hopped.

"Fuck off Shahero. Just stay out of it."

"Stay out of what?" she demanded irately. "Why is it some big secret?"

"Because I want to forget about it, that's why." he snapped, releasing her to rake a hand through his hair, tugging strands loose from the band.

"What did you do? Why does everyone else know about it but I don't?"

"Because it's your entire fault and I told them not to tell you, there are you happy now?"

She gaped at him then shut her mouth firmly before taking a deep breath. "My fault? How the hell is it my fault? What did I do?"

"God you haven't even got a clue." with disgust ripe in his tone, he turned away from her.

"Did you fuck her? Is that what this is all about?" she asked, still confused as to how the hell this had become her fault. "Big deal, you can't blame me for that."

"Believe me I can." He ground out, rubbing a hand over his face. She didn't know, he had to keep reminding himself that she didn't know, she couldn't know. Dammit, he didn't even want her to know, which was why he'd bought Amber and Miyami's silence, well more Miyami's than Amber's because Miyami had a fair clue what had happened, Amber just knew the basics and had left it well alone once she realized just how pissed off he was.

"For Christ sake." she muttered turning away from him. She had a game to play and she wasn't going to sit around and wait for him to spill his guts. If he wanted to be a bastard about this, fine. "I'm going, as you said, I have a game to play."

Once again she got a few steps before he yanked her back around to face him. "Do you intentionally try to drive me crazy or is it just a natural talent?"

"I don't have the time for this." she growled, trying to wrench her arm from his grip. "Let go of me Kinomiya!"

He ignored the quick slash that hearing her spit his surname in that tone gave him and holding her firmly, forced her to look at him. "You're not the first girl I've been with, you better accept that."

She scowled at him, temper sparking in her electric blue eyes. "I do accept that. I just don't like the fact that you have to throw older, curvier exes in my face!"

"I didn't-"

"You're the one who came onto me. I didn't want anything to do with you but you just wouldn't let up, constantly pursuing me even though I didn't show the slightest interest."

A challenge lit up his eyes at her words. "Not the slightest interest, eh?" he smirked. "Babe, you wanted me just as much as I wanted you, probably more."

"Bastard."

"Oh really? Then how did we get into this situation?"

She tossed up her chin. "It's only because you came around looking the way you do and wouldn't leave me alone! I should've known better. Why didn't you just leave me alone!"

"Because you'd hide yourself under those baggy clothes constantly making me wonder what was going on under there."

"They're clothes Hitoshi. I don't wear them to turn you on!"

"You don't have to wear clothes to turn me on!" he shouted back.

The words stunned her into silence. "W-What! That's stupid!"

"So now I'm stupid?"

"You're male!" she snapped angrily. All guys were stupid, especially blue haired, Japanese guys.

"You know what? I don't need this right now. I'll talk to you later when you're not in a snit." he pushed her away and strode off down the corridor, his footsteps fading away and leaving Shahero feeling as though she were the only person in the school.

Down the hall, Ian shuffled his feet awkwardly and glanced at Amber. "Do you think she's ok?"

The petite Irish girl frowned and glanced towards her sister. "Um, go tell Kai we'll be a little late, ok?"

He nodded but flicked his gaze back to Shahero. "He had no right treating her like that."

"Yeah. Look, g'on Ian, I'll sort her out. She won't take that shit from him so more than likely, there'll be a big prank to take out on him. We may even call on you to help out."

The midget Russian thought on that for a moment. Since calling the truce with Benson and Kaeto, well life had been slightly dull and he'd been feeling mighty itchy and restless. One big prank to end the pranks might lessen the ailments he'd been suffering. "Sure, see you later."

She nodded, patting his shoulder and taking a deep breath, she made her presence known by stepping out into the corridor. "Hey Hero." she said softly, noticing the jerk of Shahero's body and the quick struggle to rein in her emotions. "Don't, I kind of overheard and he was a complete bastard, but Shahero…" she ducked her head wondering just how to put it. "I think… I don't think he meant anything that he said. He does care for you, I can see that and I'm pretty blind when it comes to people's emotions."

Shahero turned her head away but tried to muster up a wavering smile for Amber's weak joke. She sniffed and exhaled slowly. "He hurt me." she spoke the words with a hint of surprise.

"He said you were in a snit." Amber couldn't get over that. Shahero did not get in snits, snits were Amber's forte. Shahero was too mature to get into a snit. "If you want my opinion, he was trying to fuck you up for the game. After all, for today he's the enemy."

The Japanese girl shot her sister a level gaze that had her shuffling her feet and sighing. "Ok maybe he isn't."

"You know what happened between him and Kaye, don't you?"

"Kaye?" Amber yelped and flinched visibly. "Is that what it was about? That plastic bitch?"

The comment and the surprise in her sisters voice would have made Shahero snicker if the conversation hadn't been so serious. "Were they involved?"

"Ah Shahero… I shouldn't… It's not my place to say or tell you, I'm sorry. But Hitoshi… He didn't mean anything he said that hurt you. He wouldn't hurt you on purpose; it's not in his nature. He was probably just high strung and stressed about the game, just give him some time. He'll come crawling back."

"Whatever." The shorter girl flipped her hair over her shoulder. "C'mon we have a game to win."

"Right." '_Hitoshi, you better fix this quick._'

* * *

"Preston Academy presents: DUMBO ON ICE!"

Kirby scowled at her cousin with blazing ruby eyes as he bellowed down a rolled up text book. "Are you calling me fat?"

"Well you have to admit you're kind of out of shape."

"I hate to admit it, but it's true." Tyson added with a shake of his head, tossing navy strands around his face before he gathered them up and expertly tied it back.

Max chuckled, before strapping on his shin pads. They were all grouped in the visitors small changing rooms while the seniors were in the more commonly used Preston changing rooms. The air vent between the two rooms carried the noise from both areas which was why Kevin and Joseph were standing in front of it, hurling insults down the vent to Arista and Johnny. "Kirby, we're not saying your fat, you're just a little dumpy."

"Dumpy!"

"Well I always liked a girl with meat on her bones." Miguel said in a serious tone as he surveyed his vice captain but mirth lit up those lake blue eyes.

Kirby snarled at every single male in the room. "Oh you're all comedians, you just wait; I'll kick your asses up and down the ice. In fact, I wager I get the first goal for our team."

Joseph leapt off the bench. "I'll take that bet."

"How much is being wagered?" Kenny asked.

"Yeah, all money laid down is to be given to Kenny. He's the most trustworthy."

"Yeah and if he runs, he's the slowest out of all of us." Kevin added, while Joseph muffled a snicker beside him.

"Are you decent?" a voice called out before the door opened slowly and Emily shuffled in with her hands covering her eyes quickly followed by Hillary who strode in with no care if there were naked guys or not in there.

"Is it my imagination or does she look disappointed?" Jim murmured to Goki. The taller bulkier boy smirked and Dunga grinned. "Sorry Hillary, Tyson's fully clothed."

"Teh, as if I'd want to see him without clothes. Beer bellies don't do a thing for me."

"I'll have you know that there is a six pack under this shirt."

"Well at least a two pack." Kirby mumbled.

"Tyson ate Tupac? Oh now that's just sick!" Kevin grimaced and mimed throwing up.

Emily shook her head barely concealing her smirk at the jibes against the loud mouthed Japanese boy. "Never mind them Hills, they tend to get hyper when excited."

"Hmph. Um, is Hitoshi not around?"

"Hitoshi wouldn't be naked, fully or half, any way. He's the coach Hillary, they tend to keep their clothes on so you're SOL." Jim answered.

"I don't want to see Hitoshi naked!" the brunette girl shrieked.

"I should hope not." Hitoshi strode into the room, sweeping it with his gaze not even caring about the blushing girl or the smothered snickers. "Everyone who's not part of my team, get out."

Kirby's brow winged up as she sidled closer to Tyson. "What's up with him?"

"He's in evil coach mode." Joseph whispered but Tyson shook his head. He rarely saw the glint in Hitoshi's eyes or the stony expression even when Hitoshi was in his evil coach mode. No this was his brother's defensive mode. Something had crawled up his brother's butt and was now rotting away on the inside.

Emily, Kenny and Hillary made their way out of the changing rooms, carefully keeping out of Hitoshi's way. The rest of the team sensing the lack of tolerance for anything that wasn't serious sat down on the bench and waited for whatever Hitoshi had to say, all hyperness currently lost.

* * *

The music from the stereo was giving the band a break while the teams changed and had their pep talks. On the bleachers, the crowds had gathered, seating themselves down and waiting for the show to begin, the JV supporters on one side, the seniors on the other. The Showdown was never as serious as a league match; instead it was more of a performance. Daichi's comment of Preston presenting a show on ice wasn't far wrong. Strobe lights in various colors danced over the gleaming ice, freshly buffed and ready for the game to start. Mr. Shallow in a black and white striped T-shirt was down at the sidelines talking to Mr. Dickinson about when the match was to get underway. Ms. Maye and various VIP's were seated behind the team boxes in area corded off by red rope.

Treasa took all this in and enjoyed the environment, wondering if she'd be going through the same thing in another decade or so when the little one bouncing around in her stomach came along. Would he or she be a hockey player or a sporty person? Or would he or she be a book worm, more interested in hiding away in a library than coming out to watch a group of people chasing after a small black disk. Or would he or she be better rounded, appreciating sports but thirsting for knowledge? How much of her would come out in this baby? It would be interesting to see how this one turned out compared to the child created by her and James. Naturally they'd be different, every child was, but people with children from the same parents had similarities, how much of a bond would Amber feel to this baby? Things like this plagued her when she was on her own and able to think, but now that the due date was coming closer, she found herself thinking more even when surrounded by friends and loved ones as she was now.

Idly her gaze came to rest on James and Pricilla. She'd long stopped feeling that punch of heat on seeing his striking face, all she could feel was just a glow of warmth for the man who'd given her Amber. She couldn't regret their marriage, sure there were days when she felt that it had been a waste of time, but James had been her first love. And if they hadn't met Amber wouldn't have been born, she wouldn't have gone to school and met Shahero, Treasa wouldn't have met Hiroshi and the baby she was carrying wouldn't have been conceived. No she didn't regret her relationship with James. But she did regret how it ended and how it had affected Amber, but there were some things you couldn't change.

"I'm going to miss this."

Treasa looked at her long time friend Grace Valkov and smiled, patting her hand. "Same here."

Jean shifted in her seat and leaned closer to them. "Well I can't share the sentiments. This is my first time at an open day of this caliber. Clonmel is filled with a bunch of suits and stiffs."

"Where do they keep the stiffs?" Grace asked with a bemused smile, pushing her coils of soft white blond hair out of her face. "Oh I know what you mean Jean. I hated going to Clonmel for open day. I used to try to wheedle out of it but Tala always played the 'self pity' card." There was nothing but affection in her tone as she spoke about her only son. Tala had gotten his pretty looks from her, she was proud to admit and his striking hair from his father. He'd gotten his eyes from her too and her intelligence coupled with her husbands. His talent on the ice, well she wasn't sure where that came from. Possibly Erich's grandfather, it certainly didn't come from her family. They were more creative than athletic. "I think it was that Boris Balkof, he just made my skin crawl."

Jean felt a shudder shoot down her spine at the thought of the creepy old man with the pointed nose and the leering eyes. "Oh god, don't mention him to me."

"He had the nerve to hit on me while Erich was standing just across the room." Disgust ripened Grace's mild voice.

She was pretty as a picture and just as fragile looking as a porcelain doll; the inner steel coating her spine was often over looked. She'd grown up in a family of boys who'd constantly treated her as though she would break at the slightest scent of work, but she'd proved to them that she was just as strong as they were when she took over the family business and brought it from near bankruptcy and made it flourish. She had a good head for figures and knew how to charm business delegates with ease and tact. And she'd married a man almost ten years her senior against her family's wishes but she'd kept the marriage going and had raised two beautiful children and she wanted grandchildren, though not at that moment in time. Casey was far too busy with her college course to be having babies and Tala was far too young to be thinking about making them or so she'd have liked to think. But she knew her son far too well, he was good looking and he knew it, she just hoped that Ruin Mulryan would be able to whip her son into shape.

"Boris Balkof is a smarmy git." Jean said firmly. "I never could stand him and I didn't like the way he lorded his position over Nicolai. Nicolai was good for those boys but every time he made progress, Boris would step in and set them back to square one. I was glad when he got the position here in Preston, I'll tell you that much."

"I never realized it was that bad until Tala phoned me begging me to let him come back to Preston. Tala doesn't beg but he was bordering on depression when he was there."

Treasa gasped sharply. "Oh god, poor boy. You'd never think to look at him now, though. Although, I do remember Amber saying she was worried about him and she didn't like the way he'd changed at the start of the year."

Grace nodded. "In all honesty, if he didn't have Kai at Clonmel and if Ruin hadn't been there for him at the start I don't know if he'd have improved so quickly but Amber's always been his saving grace, if he has her, he's happy."

"Hmm." Treasa agreed, remembering the moody streak Amber had gone through when Tala wasn't around.

"They're a good bunch. They look after each other." Jean murmured; then inclined her head to a group across the ice. "See that group of boys over there, the red head beside the blond."

Both Treasa and grace looked in the direction she motioned then catching sight of them, turned to Jean.

"Sharks." Grace said softly. "I recognize Brooklyn Adams but I don't recognize the others and I don't see that Carlos Sonchez or that Jose boy."

"The others are the new members; the boy beside Brooklyn is Garland Thornton, their new captain. As soon as Nicolai left, Boris brought them all in. But that's not the point, look at how they are with each other. They hold themselves away from each other."

Treasa studied them. "The blond seems friendly enough. I saw him in the corridor earlier and he said hello, which was quite surprising. The others though were very aloof boys."

"Speaking of inferior teams, there's the rejects." Grace muttered watching Foxy lead his group of misfits to a spot near his mother.

She ground her teeth when she spotted the striking golden haired woman. She looked like a ball of sunshine, all golden and tanned. Sandra Fox was the biggest mistake her brother had ever made. They'd met and had a whirlwind romance, neither thought it would go very far and Viktor hadn't wanted it to anywhere, but then Sandra had become pregnant. She said it was an accident, but Grace knew of women who tried to trap men into relationships and that was exactly what Sandra had done. It had happened roughly when Viktor had met Sophia Alonzo, there'd been a visible connection between them and so Viktor had been planning to ditch Sandra when she'd announced her news. Viktor being the man he was had every intention of marrying her because of the child but then he couldn't turn his back on Sophia. He had offered to help Sandra out financially but she'd threatened to abort the child. There was nothing Viktor could do for the child then.

He and Sophia had moved to Bakuten to be close to Grace and her family, and they'd had an adorable son who had most of his fathers Russian looks, darkened slightly by Sophia's Mediterranean heritage. Miguel and Tala had been close, surprisingly so for boys with a two year gap but they'd been like brothers. Where Tala went, Miguel was sure to follow and when Tala went somewhere, he always wanted Miguel to come with him. It was nice for Grace to witness.

That was until Sandra moved in to Bakuten with her son, James Fox. When Viktor tried to see him, Sandra had disallowed him and in the years she'd slowly turned Foxy against his father and his family. In the end, Viktor didn't want anything to do with Sandra or her son, he had his own family and he didn't want to upset Sophia. But Sandra constantly tried to interfere in their lives and Grace hated it. She hated someone trying to hurt her baby brother, she'd always been there to stand up for Viktor when he'd been a boy and in turn he'd supported her when the rest of her family wouldn't. She knew the helplessness he felt when it came to the son he hadn't been able to raise and she knew it hurt him but that was life and he tried to move on. Sandra just wouldn't let that happen.

"Grace?" Treasa placed a hand over her friend's icy cold one and exchanged an anxious look with Jean. "Grace, honey, are you ok?"

"I'll go get Viktor for her." Jean said softly, meeting Treasa's gaze over her friends head.

"No, I'm fine." Grace blurted out. "I just got lost in my thoughts. Please, leave Viktor with Sophia. Don't worry about me. It's not good for the baby." she smiled but it didn't quite reach her vibrant blue eyes.

"If that's what you want." Jean sighed, tucking a hair behind her ear. "Oh here they come." she spoke as the music picked up suddenly. They got to their feet to watch the teams come out led by their captains.

* * *

Amber stepped out onto the ice and shook her head. It never ceased to amaze her what a performance the showdown became. Each and every year it became more boisterous and less of a game and more of a circus. As the teams made their way out onto the ice, the song 'Orpheus' by Ash played and she realized that the idea came from the NHL 2005 game she had. She flicked a gaze around the ice and picked out Daichi.

"This your idea?" she demanded as she skated up.

"Clear off!" he shouted over the music.

"Yeah, you senior loser!"

She arched a brow at Jim. "Senior Loser, now that's pathetic. Ok, babies, go warm up and practice. You're gonna need it." with a wave of dismissal and a cheerful grin, she skated back to her teammates who were warming up by doing a lap of the rink and enjoying the applause. She glanced over at Shahero as she noticed Hitoshi walk out onto the ice with his clipboard then take his place in the team box, exchanging a few words with Nicolai.

Shahero caught her sister's gaze and followed it to Hitoshi. He looked good and full of authority in his khaki pants, white shirt and dark navy team jacket. His hair was tied back from his face with the unruly bangs framing it. His eyes were sober and his expression was grim only changing to annoyance when Tyson skated up and said something to him. She wrenched her gaze away from him and glided up to Johnny, needing some comfort from her male friend.

"Hey." she murmured.

"You ready for this?" he asked with a grin.

"Yup. I _need_ this."

"Kick some ass, Sen."

She grinned back at him; then saw her father in the crowd. He was making his way towards Treasa with a bottle of water and some refreshments that were being sold by students to get more money. Behind the transparent barriers, Mariah had organized the cheerleaders for both the senior and the junior team and it was amusing to watch them running up and down the ice trying to rally the crowd. Hockey really didn't need cheerleaders, she decided. There was enough to the crowd going, the music, the lights, the team itself and most importantly the action but it was all fun.

She chuckled as Joseph skated past her and deliberately knocked her shoulder. Amber and Daichi were sizing each other up which was down right hilarious since Daichi was a bean pole that was taller than Ozuma, so Amber barely reached his shoulder and since she could only reach that, she settled for hitting her head against it.

Mr. Shallow blew his whistle with a sharp '_peeeeeeep_' and the teams moved towards the box.

"**Hello and welcome to the Preston JV vs. Varsity Show down. I hope you're all comfortable because this is going to be one heck of a good match. I'm your unbiased commentator, Oliver Dupont and with me, we have a very special guest. Former member of the Varsity Tigers, Aspin Grant. Aspin how are you today?"**

Down on the ice, the Tigers glanced up at the commentators booth bewildered. Kane frowned as Aspin's laughter echoed through out the arena and went out on the schools internet site. "She didn't tell me she'd be commentating."

"Aw man, when they stop telling you things, you know the relationships going down the hole."

"Shut up, Ian! Give me advice when you have a girlfriend!"

"In other words, never!"

"Piss off Enrique!"

"**It's nice to be here Oliver. We have a great game for you today folks. The Varsity team has suffered some changes this season which really does give the solid and tight as ever JV team a good chance of winning this. What with a new Captain and a return from the legendary Tala Valkov, the team has been shaken up but with their new coach Nicolai Hiwatari, they may be even better than ever. I'm really looking forward to seeing how this new and improved team does against the ever reliable JV team who've been playing together for a good number of years. Top of their league, they've proven that they have the strength and the stamina and the skills to win games but this is the David vs. Goliath game."**

"Shit, that's freaky." Miyami murmured.

Ruin nodded. "Yeah, I'm creeped out."

"Oh jeezus, if Ruin's creeped out there's no hope for me." Amber whispered loudly to Tala who snorted and patted her shoulder.

"Don't worry, I'll protect you."

"Come on, get in here!" Nicolai shouted while Hitoshi motioned for his team to join him.

"**Tell us about the set backs the Varsity team have suffered, Aspin?"**

"**Well Oliver, it all started when Tala Valkov rejoined the Tigers, just before their match against the Sharks. Coach Dan Maguire who brought the team together…"**

Kai tuned out the life story of the Tigers and focused on what his father was saying or tried. His eyes moved up into the bleachers, picking out Mr. Dickinson sitting with Ms. Maye and the committee, a group of people who financed the school with their funds. His eyes fell on his mother and his lips twitched when she waved to him and nudged Treasa who did the same. God, mothers were the strangest. He knew fine well his mother was trying to embarrass him, but oddly enough it didn't, it just made him love the woman more. She was strange but she was his.

"AMBER!"

"What?"

Nicolai shook his head. "Listen to me and not the music."

"Oh, sorry."

Miyami choked back a snicker. Her friend had been humming through the whole speech Nicolai had been making about play your best and by the rules and that he was proud of them, the usual dribble coaches were paid to do. She frowned as lyrics began to penetrate her thoughts. Dammit Amber!

"You guys want to prove to the Sharks that you're the best team, don't you?"

"I would prefer to show them a show, not a game. Don't want all our enemies knowing our plays. I say we make a mockery of this." Enrique said, rubbing his jaw.

"Yeah, lure the teams into a false sense of security. If we don't play well here, well big deal. They'll think we're crap, they won't worry about us and then we'll storm in and whoop their butts."

Nicolai stared at Arista and Enrique. Then tried to process the main point they were trying to bring across. He'd always looked at his opposition, studied them to get a good clue on how they played.

"I mean, it's not like this game's a big deal, is it?"

"No it won't get you any points in the league but your families are watching and many benefactors of the school are here."

"Men in suits. Pfft." Was Amber's derisive comment.

"So you wouldn't mind losing here?" Nicolai wondered, warming slightly to the idea. Let the Sharks see a team that aren't that great, they wouldn't be worried and they'd let their guard down. Their own worse enemy had always been that they were too full of pride, always putting themselves up on a pedestal. The Tigers were the opposite. They didn't take themselves too seriously, they had fun and they would lose just to make a team underestimate them. He shook his head. "Well?"

"We wouldn't lose." Miyami said, though her instincts were more inclined to force the team to play well and good, she could see the advantages for the future. Everyone had come to see the Tigers; they should give them a show.

"We'd just win badly." Ian replied.

"Anyone have any problems with this?"

Bryan shuffled but said nothing. Spencer shrugged. Tala and Kai exchanged glances. "We don't mind."

Rei looked around at the rest of the team huddled around Nicolai. "We can't be too obvious. We're not throwing the game, that would be an insult to the JV team but we could have some fun instead of taking it too seriously."

Ozuma thought about it. "It would be nice to not have to worry about winning and just have fun. Like street hockey, we never cared who won or lost, we just played."

"Well then, it's settled then. Street hockey style, it is."

"**I had heard that Kirby Preston-Lee had left the JV Team but she's down there now in uniform."**

"**That's right Oliver, for this one time only deal, Kirby has rejoined the JV team. Obviously the lure of the game was too much."**

"Bull shit, I was goaded into coming back." Kirby mumbled then promptly shut up when Hitoshi glared at her. He really should take a chill pill.

"Look, you know the play. Just do your best, show the Varsity that while you're younger, you're just as good as them. Don't let them intimidate you."

"Oh yeah, every time I see Amby-pamby, I quake in my boots." Daichi muttered dryly to Tyson who snorted back a chuckle.

"You will if she hears you mocking her." Kirby shot back.

"You wouldn't tell her."

"Would so."

"You two! I don't have time for childish antics. If you want to fight, go to kindergarten. I'm here to coach you, if you don't want to listen to what I have to say, then I'll go and you can forfeit the match, got it!"

"Got it." they replied dully.

Hitoshi was acting like some kind of dictator, sucking the fun out of the game. He had once been one for joking about with them, they could have a laugh but they still respected him enough to listen to what he said because he had something worth listening too. Now he was annoying them.

"**Ok the referee is ready to start the game. Our referee this year is Mr. Shallow, our favorite history teacher."**

* * *

"**We're well into our second period now."**

"**Yeah the first ones always the hardest, such a shock getting it, the pain, the blood…"**

"**Uh… I meant the second part of the game."**

"**Ri-ight."**

"**Aspin, ya should leave da poor guy alone, yar a swee'hear' ain't ya Olli?"**

Oliver blushed and tried to concentrate on the game as both Aspin and Russia did a running commentary on everything that was happening. He didn't consider himself a connoisseur on ice hockey but when Hitoshi had asked him to commentate on it; he'd hardly been able to refuse. After all, he had those really dark brown eyes, you couldn't say no to them. Kai Hiwatari had those eyes too, he mused, and the broodiness that came with it. He'd asked Aspin to help out because she had been on the team and she could keep the listeners interested during boring parts with information about the inner workings of the team from her extensive knowledge. Then Russia had joined them when she'd heard that Aspin was up there.

He winced as he watched both Kirby and Amber hit the ice, Kirby falling gracefully onto her cousin.

"**Oh, down girl! That's Amber Benson and Kirby Preston-Lee on the ice. Nice one Kirb's, did you break Amber?"**

Aspin laughed as Kirby stuck her tongue out and Amber showed her the finger. Both girls scrambled to their feet and Kirby careered down the ice as though her life depended on it, or her team did since there was a scuffle happening down at her nets while Amber headed for the team box. She went in and Enrique clambered out.

"**Looks lik' a possible injury f'r Amber."**

"**Possibly. Oh! Nice save by Max Tate. Originally Max wasn't in goal, in fact he played for the senior team but when Hitoshi Kinomiya took over the team and Max rejoined; he discovered the kid's uncanny skill for catching the puck. He's nearly on par with Arista Belyaev, the senior team's goalie. The top ranking goalie in the league, I believe." **

"**Max has frozen da puck. Dat'll be a face off folks."**

Down on the ice, Kai slid up slowly to take the face off, aware of his teammates positions as he stared down Miguel. He'd rarely paid much attention to the JV team. They were just there and they played their games and won them. His attention had been mainly centered on the Varsity team, so when he'd taken on the JV team he'd been pleasantly surprised. Miguel commanded his team with a confident air. He didn't expect them not to listen to him. They respected him and it worked both ways. Kirby Preston-Lee was another surprise. Unlike Amber, she was a leader. Amber was content to sit back and influence things if she felt like it, Kirby told the boys what to do and they listened.

"Hey, what happened to you?" Kevin asked as Kirby glided up into position flanking Miguel opposite him.

"Oh, I fell on top of Amber." she cast a glance over her shoulder. "I hope she's ok. She's away into the box."

"How did that happen?" Miguel inquired.

The petite green haired girl shrugged. "Quite honestly, I have no idea. One minute we were coming down the ice, the next I was falling and I landed on her. Hey Enrique, is she ok?"

"Ams? Yeah, she's up there making faces at Daichi through the glass."

"You probably squashed her." Kevin laughed.

"Stop calling me fat! If you call me fat one more time, I swear, I'll swing for you." she threatened her team mates aiming a dark glare at each of them.

"Who's calling you fat?" Tala demanded.

"Oh they think because I haven't been practicing recently that I'm out of shape and that I've put on weight."

"Like hell. You're perfect Kirbaby, don't you think Mig?"

Miguel sent a searing look at his cousin silently telling him to mind his own business. "We wouldn't be having this conversation if she hadn't quit the team."

"My choice, besides I came back because you begged me to."

"Aw that was nice of you Kirby. And if he begged you to do other things would you do them too?"

"Valkov shut up!" Ruin said from behind them as she guarded their flank. She cast a look at Ian and rolled her eyes. He snickered.

"Where's Shallow?" Kai asked, looking around for the black and white striped top.

"Talking to your dad." Tala answered. "Here he comes."

Shallow glided up, a little wobbly on the thin blades. "Right you guys, ready?"

Kai nodded and met Miguel's gaze, reading the determination in his lake blue eyes. He waited alertly for Shallow to drop the puck, as soon as he did, he'd take his shot at the nets. His eyes focused on the spot where the puck would drop, his body loosely ready as he tuned out the bright lights, the shouts and cheers of the spectators, the prickle along his body that told him where his team were without having to look and the commentating. He was immersed in white noise and then the puck dropped, lifting his stick to strike it he felt a body collide with his and he dug in his skates to press up against it but Miguel had forced him away from the puck.

Kirby circled around and collected the puck with a wink at Miguel. She skated up the ice, using her speed to her advantage to out skate Ruin because Ruin was hell on a girl's ass. Years of playing street hockey against the woman and she still wasn't used to Ruin's hits.

"**That's Kirby on a break away. She's tearing up the ice and- OH! That was one serious hit!"**

Kirby hit the ground hard and glared up at Ian who grinned down at her. "Sorry Kirbaby!"

He cast the puck to Tala who glided down the side of the rink, keeping an eye out for Dunga Rong. A flash of dark blue told him that someone from the JV team was coming for him, with a twirl; he rolled right out of Kevin's way and moved over the blue line. He took a shot at the nets.

"**Oh and Max Tate comes up fast. Too bad Tala."**

Shallow glided up to Max and took the puck while the teams moved lazily to the left face off circle. The face off was taken without any problems.

"**Hiwatari wins the puck and passes it to Enrique. He shoots it at the net but Max manages to catch it, saucer pass to Miguel and the seniors change it up. Bryan Malkovich and Spencer Kaminov out on the ice and skating fast- OUCH! That was one serious hit! Davidoff goes down!"**

"'**avin' b'n on da receivin' end o' one o' dere dekes I can 'onestly say, dat had'ta 'urt. Miguel's gonna be feelin' dat one in da mornin'. Maybe Kirby'll kiss it bett'r"**

"**Now that's showing authority. The Varsity team has brought out the big guns ladies and gentlemen!"**

Rei chuckled as the crowd got to their feet and more JV players got knocked to the ice. Now this was what hockey was all about. The thrill of the score was always good but the way the enforcers protected their own, nothing had this kind of camaraderie. A quick glance over his shoulder told him that Dunga was hot on his heels and that Spencer was coming from the side. With a sweep of his blades he circled and brought Dunga into range of Spencer.

"**Oh and there goes Dunga Rong-"**

"**Oh check that out! Kevin and Kirby just hooked Bryan! Kirby I wouldn't have done that if I were you."**

"**Ya know wha' dey say, da bigg'r dey are, da hard'r dey fall!"**

Kai sat back on his place in the bench and chuckled as Bryan scrambled to his feet and issued Kirby a death threat while she saluted him. His attention though was caught when Amber whooped. He turned to the opponent's side of the ice just in time to see Rei circle the net and shoot the puck into the net. The alarm wailed triumphantly and the crowd shot to their feet as strobe lights danced over the lights casting the players into shadows and a blast of music streamed out of the speakers.

"**What a sweet wrist shot! He just snapped it in!"**

"**No one beats Rei Kon on speed wit' precision."**

Mariah jumped to her feet. "Woot! That's my boyfriend!"

Mariam chuckled. "We know!"

Bethan Davies grinned. Her smoky gray eyes moved over the celebrating team mates and latched onto her own boyfriend Michael Parker. She shook her pompoms with the rest of the cheerleaders and danced to the music. "Let's go Tigers! Woot!"

Brooklyn sneered. "This is a circus."

"This is fun!" Mystel retorted, really getting into the mood of the arena. Beside him Moses nodded. He happened to like this, yes it wasn't as structured nor as serious as the games he played in or watched but it wasn't supposed to be serious it was all about the players playing for the love of the game and not because they wanted glory.

"Reminds me of playing with my sister." Moses said.

"Yeah reminds me of playing street hockey out in basketball court with the kids from my neighbor hood. What about you Garland?"

Garland shook his head, his forget-me-not blue eyes somber. "I didn't play street hockey."

"You didn't? How can you not have played street hockey?"

"I don't play pale imitations of the real thing."

Mystel exchanged a look with Moses. Well that was no fun. "Ok then, I'll just have to organize a street hockey game on the next day we have off."

"Why bother?" Brooklyn wondered as the lights subsided and the Varsity coach rotated his team again, this time sending out Miyami Kinomiya, Shahero Kaeto, Kane Suzoru, Ozuma Benson and Michael Parker. None of these interested him, he was only interested in watching how Valkov and Hiwatari played and he didn't see that they'd improved much though it was hard to tell. They weren't playing with the ruthless determination and single mindedness that they had as a Shark. The Tigers had softened them, he thought with a sneer of contempt.

"Because it's fun. You guys need to lighten up. You act like the world would end if you didn't win."

"Probably would." Garland grunted.

"Look you need to learn to lose; you learn more with losses than with wins and winning isn't everything. You need to learn humility."

"You need to learn to shut up, besides we don't lose so why should we learn to?"

They were pathetic, Mystel decided. His team was completely hopeless but with Balkov as a coach what did they expect. Oh well, he liked winning as much as the next person, he just liked having fun. There had been a time when hockey had been fun, now it was more like a job than a fun recreational activity to keep him active.

"**Hip check; and Michael Parker takes the puck over the blue line and Oh! He goes down by Dunga Rong."**

"**The JV team seems to be lagging behind."**

Nicolai watched the game and shook his head. What was Hitoshi playing at? He wasn't rotating his players and now they were getting tired out. With a growl, he knocked on the clear plastic sheet between the two boxes.

"What?" Hitoshi demanded striding over.

"Rotate your players!"

"Stay out of this Nicolai. This is my team!"

"Wrong, they're my team too! Now rotate them! If you don't you're going to injure someone! Think about someone else other than yourself Hitoshi! Whatever problems you have keep them off the ice and don't take them out on your players."

"They're fine!" Was the petulant retort.

With a snarl, Nicolai turned to the ice. "JV TEAM, CHANGE IT UP!"

Miguel looked over then looked to Kirby. "What?"

"He's taking over; Hitoshi's acting like a barbarian. Running us ragged like this, he has no right."

"Ok, guys, we're rotating!"

"Shallow, Time out!" Ozuma shouted over to the History teacher who nodded and blew his whistle with a sharp '_peep!_'.

"**It seems as though a time out is being called. Any reason for this Aspin?"**

"**I honestly don't know Oliver."**

"**I noticed Nikolai an' 'itoshi talkin' so maybe somethin' te do wit dat."**

Up on the stands, Treasa frowned. "What's going on?"

Jean shook her head. "I don't know."

On the ice, Shahero folded her arms and frowned, narrowing her eyes at Hitoshi. How dare he take out his anger with her and Kaye on the JV team? They'd done nothing wrong but they'd been made to play without any breaks. They had to be exhausted. Ice hockey always allowed the teams to rotate to relieve the players and let them get their breath back because contrary to soccer and other sports, Ice hockey was a high speed game and everyone was always on the move.

"What's Hitoshi's problem?" Michael asked as he glided up. "Miguel and Kirby look exhausted."

"He's a jerk." Shahero replied simply.

"He's usually not this bad." Miyami said with a worried crease on her brow.

Ozuma yanked his face guard up and leaned on his stick, his fierce gaze on the assistant captain. "This isn't what we need today. Already we have the Sharks scrutinizing us and now this."

"Kaye's up in the crowds." Shahero said carelessly, glancing at Miyami to gauge her friend's reaction.

"Oh really."

Michael looked to Ozuma for a reason as to why Shahero had just said that but Ozuma simply shrugged and continued to watch Nikolai and Hitoshi exchange quiet but heated words.

In the box the team murmured and voiced their own opinions of what was going on, not many were favorable towards Hitoshi since they felt quite fraternal to the younger team. In the midst of them Amber sat not saying anything just simply watching her sister and then Hitoshi, knowing what was going on in the older teens head.

Then without anymore words, Hitoshi shoved his clipboard at Nicolai and stormed out of the box. The team watched with surprise.

"Does that mean we forfeit?" Kirby asked Miguel.

"We can't forfeit, we're holding our own out there." Daichi scowled. "I want to play!"

"Dude, we don't need Hitoshi!"

"We do, we need to have a coach other wise we have to forfeit!"

"I'll be acting as your coach." Nicolai said as he stepped into the box. He turned a shot a meaningful look at Kai who nodded. He turned back to the JV team and began to converse with them on what they were going to do.

Kai sighed. "Right, I'm in charge from now on. I'm not playing anymore, which means on the ice if anything happens, Ozuma takes care of it."

Ozuma nodded. "Right. You four, come on, we can't postpone this any longer."

"This is ridiculous." Amber finally spoke.

Kai turned to her and raised a brow while Ian poked her. "Hey you wanted to make this a farce."

"I didn't want my friend's problems to be aired out on the ice in front of strangers though."

"What's wrong with Hitoshi anyway?"

"It's none of your business Enrique." Ruin scolded.

Amber sighed and rested her chin on her palm, flicking away Enrique's hand as it tickled the back of her neck. "He has his reasons so just don't be too hard on him."

"Hmph." was the only reply Johnny would offer as he watched the game on the ice. "How much longer in this half? Maybe the next half will pass without any drama's."

"We're Tigers; people expect a drama from us." Spencer said gravely.

"We should be called the Monkey's or something, match us better." Ian added sourly.

"If that's the case -yeowch! Poor Hero, she really hit the ice hard."

"**Shahero Kaeto gets leveled!"**

"**Wait a minute, she ain't gettin' up. She mus' be 'urt."**

"**Yes. Shahero Kaeto is not getting up, looks like she's sustained an injury."**

Amber shot to her feet and was yanked back by Kai. "You go out there and you risk ending up in the box for having too many men on the ice."

"Kai this isn't a normal game and that's _Shahero_ out there!"

He gripped her shoulders and turned her to face him, his dark eyes boring into hers with a fierce intensity. "Stay here. She'll be fine. I'll go check on her."

"But-"

"Benz, Shahero's fine. She wouldn't want you ending up in the box on her account."

"Yeah besides, look, Hito's rushing to her aide."

"Oh look it's Mr. Hypocrite." Ian muttered to her left under his breath. She shot him a pointed look, before turning to the ice to see Hitoshi kneel beside Shahero. Oh great, she thought sadly. How very complex her team was.

Shahero knew he was there, she'd felt him approaching a weird tingle had shot down her spine and now she could smell the scent that was completely Hitoshi. With dark eyes she looked up at him while Kai questioned Judy who was prodding her injured foot with cool fingers.

"Go away Hitoshi!" she growled as he crouched beside him.

"Is her leg ok, Judy?"

"She took a nasty spill, but she seems fine enough." Judy pushed her bright golden blond hair out her face and smiled up at Shahero. "You might want to sit out the rest of the game and go get an ice pack for it."

"But there's no permanent damage right? She's going to be fine?" Kai prompted.

"I don't see why not. She just fell."

"I'm fine!" Shahero snapped, trying to scramble to her feet, pushing away Hitoshi's helpful hand. She didn't need his help and she didn't need everyone fussing over her as though she were a baby. She could take care of herself; she'd done so most of her life hadn't she? She winced and hissed as her leg buckled. Hitoshi's hand closed over her elbow balancing her. With a jerk, she tugged her elbow out of his grip ignoring the flicker in his eyes. "Leave me alone!"

"Shahero he's only trying to help." Kai said somberly.

"I don't need his help."

"Hero-" Hitoshi started, moving forward to offer her a hand. He wanted to pull her into his arms, brush his hand over her hair and tell her everything would be ok. He wanted to hold her and comfort her, to take the pain out of her eyes and smooth out the creases in her brow but he couldn't do anything here in front of the crowd. It was beginning to piss him off how they had to keep their whole relationship quiet.

"Hitoshi leave her alone." Miyami said approaching her friend who looked like a cornered animal. She hated to see the vulnerability in her friend's eyes and the helplessness in her cousins.

"Don't!" Shahero shouted moving out of his reach. "Just leave me alone!" she whispered, her voice cracking from the pain and the embarrassment. She could feel each and every pair of eyes in the room on her and it was just too much. Tears blurred her vision and her head spun from the glaring lights.

Suddenly two warm arms wrapped around her and she snuggled into them relishing the comfort they brought her. She could always count on him to be there for her.

"Johnny!" Kai raised his eyes to the ceiling and shook his head exasperatedly.

"Fuck the rules Kai, she needs help."

"Jonathan, language." Judy muttered as she closed up her first aid kit. "Please take Shahero to the infirmary, I'll see to her leg there."

Johnny nodded and with an arm placed around her shoulder, he helped his friend to hobble off the ice, leaving Hitoshi on the ice as Judy followed. With a shake of his head, he moved slowly off onto the side shaking his head

"**Poor Hero, seems like the Varsity team will have to play with two players short."**

Miyami glided round to the circle closest to where Shahero had taken her fall. She couldn't even understand how it had happened. She sighed, this match was just becoming more and more chaotic but it was ok, it didn't count for anything. She looked up into Tyson's eyes as he stood opposite her. "How's it goin' cuz?"

Tyson grinned and brushed his thumb under his nose. "Don't think I'll go easy on you."

The puck was dropped and Miyami and Tyson battled for it, Tyson winning it and booting it to Daichi who tore down the ice. With a curse, Miyami chased off after him. "Never thought I'd ever be chasing Daichi Benson."

The crowd winced as Goki slammed Michael into the checking boards with an audible crunch. The American crumpled to the ground and moaned pitifully. Why was it always him that took the bad hits? He opened his bluish eyes blearily and watched as the world spun. Groggily he tried to get to his feet, failed and decided that he could do so much better by just sitting on the ice.

"**That's Goki taking down Michael Parker."**

From the box, Enrique muffled a chuckle as Tala and Kai shook their heads in disbelief. Amber popped her head over the barrier and glanced down at Michael's shiny helmet. "Hey how's it going down there?"

Michael lazily stretched out his stick in an effort to hook Goki as the dark haired boy whizzed past. Missing, he pulled back his stick and angled his head to regard the petite Irish girl. "Yeah, not so bad. I can't feel my legs; my head is spinning and my arms tingling. Other than that, I couldn't be better."

"Good to know."

"Michael! Get up and help us out!" Miyami shouted to him as she skated past him.

"Yeah I'll be up in a minute."

Ozuma paused and bent over him, jerking when someone slapped his ass. "Daichi! Little freak!" he muttered, feeling his cheeks heat in embarrassment. "Look Michael you have to get up."

"I will in a while."

"This is embarrassing." Tala muttered.

"Yes, it is. But it's kind of amusing."

"Yeah in the same way monkeys in a zoo are amusing." Ian grumbled, placing his head in his hands.

Suddenly and blessedly for some of the team members, the buzzer sounded the end of the second period. Getting to their feet, they trooped down into the changing rooms.

"**And this very one sided second half has come to an end."**

* * *

"That was embarrassing." Kirby mumbled as she shuffled into the changing room after the end of the match. "If I ever play a match that turns into anything resembling that farce, I'll shoot myself."

Miguel nodded sluggishly. "Me too."

"Dude, this was the weirdest match ever, not to mention one sided and they weren't even trying." Tyson grumbled dumping himself onto the bench half landing on Kirby who threw him off.

Daichi slumped onto the bench and leaned his head against the wall. "I wonder how Hero's doing. She looked to be in real pain."

"Did you see Hitoshi's face?" Kirby questioned softly. "Looked like all the blood had drained from it." she rested her head against her cousin's shoulder.

"Well he couldn't do a thing," Tyson mumbled. He knew Kirby, Daichi and Miguel knew about Shahero and Hitoshi but he didn't want the others to over hear. They were his team, but Hitoshi was their coach and that was his personal business that they had no need to know. Besides, the more people that knew, the easier it could be for a member of the staff to find out about the forbidden relationship.

"It must suck to be so helpless." Daichi murmured. "But god that was embarrassing."

Miguel watched his crestfallen team and growled. He got to his feet, needing to bring up their spirits again. "Hey we held up our end well. We played strongly and we held them off. A draw is good result, we should be proud of ourselves."

"Miguel's right." Kirby said, getting to her feet so that she could leave the boys to change while she went into the girls changing rooms. "We rocked out there." Even though the seniors weren't even trying too hard, they were playing good, there was no doubt about that but there was a difference between playing well and playing with heart and it showed if you paid attention. She knew when the seniors played with heart, she knew it when any team played with heart, there was just something different in the atmosphere, an electricity of sorts that hadn't been out in the arena today.

"You were great out there too."

She snapped out of her thoughts and stared with surprise at Miguel. "Me?"

"Yes you. You were great."

"Yeah Kirbs, you owned the ice."

She gaped at her team and mentally thought they'd lost it. "Jesus guys, I played, same as all you did."

"Yeah but we were practicing, you weren't." Max said with a grin as he walked out of the shower with a towel draped around him.

"Well…" she shrugged helplessly unsure what to say.

"Look I'm just saying that you were great out there, you kept your cool and kept the team together."

"Are you buttering me up to get me to rejoin the team?" she demanded, hands on her hips and a dark brow rising in a sculpted arc. Her garnet eyes pinned Miguel and when he just gazed back at her, her stomach did a little leap which then pitched violently when he stepped up to her and took her hand, all the time keeping his eyes on hers. She felt the heat of the blush over her cheeks and hoped the boys didn't see it otherwise they'd razz on her for it for the rest of her life.

"I need you." he spoke frankly. "I can't be captain on my own. You were never simply the vice, you were my co-captain and I need you back."

Her heart which had soared at his claim fell disappointed but she managed to keep her expression slightly amused with him.

Unbeknown to her Daichi caught the shift in his cousin's eyes and he felt for his two friends; both were too idiotic to see what was right in front of them. What was with people close to him, he wondered. Maybe he was a bad luck charm, a curse on those who became too close to Daichi Benson. After all, Ozuma suffered the same problem.

"It's true Kirbs; he's a tyrant when you're not around." Max said and then grinned sunnily. "Sorry Mig, but gotta speak the truth."

"Yeah Dude, no offence but she likes me." Tyson added. "You like to punch me."

"I never punched you."

"Oh but he came close. So many times." Kevin pointed out. "I even have the bets on…" he trailed off at Miguel's cool look. "Um… hehehe, you know what, I'm ready to go, I should go."

Kirby laughed at the green haired boy who was edging away from the platinum "Kevin stay there. Miguel…" she shook her head softly. "Fine, I'll come back. I missed seeing your ugly faces every morning anyway, I was actually becoming cheerful, heaven forbid it." she grinned and then her eyes widened. "Tyson!" she broke off as the navy haired teen followed by a bright blond landed on her, rubbing their knuckles through her hair. How many times, she wondered with a sigh, would she have to remind them that she was a GIRL, not a boy! But still she smiled as Daichi and Joseph yanked both boys off her and reaching down, he offered his hand to pull her to her feet. "Thanks DC."

She smoothed down her hair and was about to look to Miguel so she could see his expression but there was a sound outside.

The thick red door swung open on its hinges and Nicolai walked into the changing room his feet making a solid sound on the tiled floor. He swept the team with his gaze, his hair mussed from the many passes his fingers had made through it. "You guys did well out there."

"Would've done better if the seniors took it a little more seriously." Miguel commented under his breath, dropping onto the bench, leaning back and cushioning his head with his arm. The mood changed drastically from cheerful to somber. "They treated this like a joke, it was almost insulting."

The older man nodded. "I can understand your sentiments Miguel, but they're not trying to insult you but did you look up into the stands? All around they were surrounded by the enemy here to scrounge some information on the seniors. They had a chance to win the cup this year; would you deny them that because of hurt feelings?"

The blond sighed. "But you understand how we feel? It's as though they don't honestly see us as real competition."

"It's like: 'Oh look someone gave the babies a hockey stick, isn't that cute?' " Kirby said with a curl of her lip that had Dunga and Goki nodding because that's exactly how it had felt, patronizing. "We're just as good as them and we wanted to show that but they didn't let us show that."

"I can give you a rematch but it won't-" he broke off as _Welcome to Paradise_ by Greenday burst out of the speakers into the arena outside. He frowned, making a mental note to go out and have a word with Russia and then he had to make his peace with Kai too. He pitched his voice over the punk song. "It won't be a public match and no one will witness it like that one, but I assure you the seniors will take it seriously. I understand that this would be excellent practice for both of you before your final game but I can-"

"I'd accept that." Kirby spoke out.

Miguel nodded and was promptly followed by the rest of the team. Nicolai sighed. "Thanks guys." he was honestly grateful. They had had to put up with a lot; Hitoshi hadn't been exactly the role model coach Nicolai knew he could be. He wasn't quite sure what was bothering the young man but he'd have to talk to him soon. "You had it tough out there but you held your own, you should be proud of that."

"We'd feel more pride if we held our own against a team that were actually trying, even if we lost to them." Kirby said with a quite finality to her tone.

"At least we'd have known that we tried our bests and so did they, it would show us where we are on the scale of things."

Nicolai nodded at Tyson and took their words into consideration. "I'll give you a rematch. You showed out there what a force you can be and you deserve your chance. Maybe with a better coach, Hitoshi wasn't acting in your best interests."

Kirby and Miguel both groaned, knowing that the next day they'd be in serious pain. Nicolai caught the looks and chuckled. "Get dressed, see your parents off and be ready for practice tomorrow morning at ten." At their shocked looks, he raised a brow. "You want to be at your best for the rematch, don't you?"

"Sir!" they chorused and Nicolai left them to get changed and to mull over what he'd just said and offered.

* * *

"Aspin's angry with me."

Shahero glanced up when the quiet comment penetrated the easy silence between her and Johnny as they sat in her dorm munching on their winnings from the vending machine. She was stretched out on her bed since she hadn't wanted to stay in the infirmary. She despised hospitals, she hated the smell of them, the white clinical look of them that the infirmary tried to imitate, it always reminded her of death and that reminded her of her mother. Her mother who had died when she was eleven, fatally injured in a plane crash and it had been at a hospital that they'd last seen her. She'd never really recovered from that incident in her life which had deprived her of a female role model in her life when she most needed one. Maybe that was why she'd never been all that feminine but that had never bothered her. She didn't mope around, she figured there was no point to sighing and weeping over a life she couldn't change, so she just muddled through. That was how she dealt with her life, she moved through it and that's what she would do with Hitoshi.

She fingered the hem of her t-shirt thoughtfully and gazed out the window where the sun was beginning to peek through the thick dark clouds like streams of glittering light. Idly she wondered how her team was doing. Then she turned back to Johnny. His lean form was lounged out on Miyami's bed chewing on a cigarette since he wasn't allowed to smoke indoors. She watched fascinated as he rolled the white cylindrical object around with his tongue. His eyes were closed, his riot of red hair styled in its usual flame shape, sweeping up around his strikingly rebellious face. They rarely got to spend time together, always there was something popping up in their school life that they just seemed to take for granted that the other would be there. But it had warmed her when he'd come to her aid even against Kai's orders.

So she sighed and decided to meddle in his life. "Why?"

He opened his eyes to peer at her through the slits of purple. "Why is she angry?" at her nod, he shrugged. "I messed up her and Kane."

"And why did you do that?"

"Thought something was going on between him and Miyami."

She grimaced and looked back out the window, picking up the remote for the CD player in the corner and turning up the volume slightly. "You should have known better."

He jerked a shoulder and ran his long fingers over the teeth marks in the cigarette. "So how's Russia settling in? I haven't had much of a chance to talk to her since she came back."

"She's ok, settled in quick enough." she pulled her knee up to her chest and looped her arms around it, the injured knee alleviated on a pillow. "I think she got involved with drugs in Ireland again but I don't know for sure. She's keeping things pretty quiet but…"

"She's been called out of class a lot. Yeah I noticed."

Brushing wisps of hair from her face, she glanced at him over her shoulder. "Are you going to make things up with Miyami?"

"I don't know." Was his honest reply.

"Don't you miss her?"

He began to sneer then just sighed with resignation. "Yes, I miss her but I can't…" he trailed off and flicked away the cigarette missing the bin by meters.

"You can't apologize?"

"Aye."

"Why not?"

With a world weary sound, he lifted a hand and rubbed his face. "I dunno Sen. I just don't know."

"Pride." came the tart response. "You have too much and she's stubborn so you're both screwed unless one of you makes the first move."

Stirred by the depth of her words, he gazed at her levelly, as though seeing her for the first time. She'd tied her hair back and it was limp from the moist humidity in the arena. Her startling blue eyes were somber and thoughtful gazing into the distance and the expression on her heart shaped face was so lost and intense that it scared him. Shahero was always up to some sort of mischief, completely dynamic and wickedly fun to be around and now this expression of loneliness on her cute Asian features was hard to look at.

"What did Hitoshi do to you Shahero?"

She snapped her gaze to him, eyes wide for a moment before they became carefully blank. "I- nothing. It doesn't matter."

"It does if you're upset."

"I'm not upset." she stated petulantly. "I'm perfectly content, if my leg was better then I'd be jumping for joy." she glanced up as the track on the mixed CD switched to one of Ruin's selection. Its haunting melody wound through the room contrasting with the words she'd just spoken and complimenting the rain that was beginning to fall onto the quad beneath them. People under brightly colored umbrellas made their way over the soggy grass, the mud squelching beneath their feet. The scene would have worked better if the umbrellas were all black, it would have been more morbid and somber.

"Did you two fall out?"

"No." was the sharp retort Johnny received for his tentative question. "It's nothing." she frowned and turned to look out the window again, catching sight of a royal bluenette, she bit her lip. "What do you make of Mariam's reaction to Amber and Kai?"

Johnny shrugged. "She didn't have much of one."

"Yeah, but weren't you expecting one?"

"I guess, maybe. But she's not really as high strung as you guys, she always seems like she's trying to be more mature than she is."

"True. I just don't want her hurting Amber in anyway. If I were in her shoes, I would have been furious with Amber. I probably would have hit her."

"You, hit Amber?"

She thought about it, she couldn't ever see herself hitting any of her friends out of anger. Instead she said nothing as she thought about it.

"She's not talking to Amber." after a moment, he cleared his throat. "Look I know I was wrong about accusing Miyami."

"Then apologize."

"I can't."

She blew out a breath. "What is it with guys and being unable to apologize!" She demanded frustrated. If her leg wasn't injured she would have paced up and down the room. "Ok simple question, do you or do you not love Mimi?"

"Of course I love her…" he trailed off and squirmed. "I think she's it."

"It?" Oh god that just brought memories of cousin It with Mimi's hair, a fun image.

"It, the one!"

"Oh!" she gasped. "Wow, really? I mean you're young and… shit you're serious." she said softly seeing his expression which wasn't too pleased. "Then if she's it for you, why did you think she was… Ok I'm understanding your reaction a little but still, she's been with you since the dawn of time and-"

"She's probably bored of me." he grumbled.

"Oh! Johnny you're being stupid. What made you think that and don't say it was the pictures, something else happened beforehand."

He frowned then cursed silently under his breath. "Yes, something happened. I over heard something that I was probably supposed to… dammit! Pair of Bitches!"

"You better apologize to Mimi."

He sighed heavily. He hated apologizing. "Yea she deserves it."

The door opened and Miyami walked in, her eyes glued to the ends of her hair as she hummed under her breath. Feeling that she wasn't alone, she looked up, her easy smile fading when she caught sight of Johnny standing there. Her heart gave one hard pull at the sight of him sitting there looking as gorgeous and damning as usual, the rebel with a heart. His face was achingly handsome, looking pensive a striking change to his usual arrogant expression. His lilac eyes were soft and distant but then they met hers and widened slightly before hardening just enough to put a dent into her heart. But still there was something underneath the hard veneer, a longing, she realized, so intense that made her catch her breath.

"Uh…What are you… Shahero." she comprehended, cursing herself a fool for believing just for a second that he might have been there for her. The girl who's name she'd just spoken shifted on the bed, the sun spilling over her making her look vulnerable and small. There were dusty shadows under her eyes, visible like sooty fingerprints on her pale youthful skin. "Hey, how's your leg?" she asked softly, putting Johnny to the back of her mind.

"Sore." Shahero muttered crankily; then she shrugged. "It'll be fine and I'll be back to normal before long but I have to take it easy for the next fortnight."

"Thank god we don't have any matches coming up." Miyami said with a grin. Dumping her bag on Aspin's bed since Johnny was on hers. She sat on the edge of it because she had no idea how much longer her knees would hold her.

"My thoughts exactly." the black haired girl chimed. An uncomfortable silence fell on the trio and Shahero scowled. This uneasiness was making her queasy. "Ok, enough!" she snapped, glaring at them. "Fix this now."

"Fix what?" Miyami asked.

"Johnny, tell Mimi what you told me."

Miyami rounded on Johnny and glared. "You discussed our problems with Shahero?"

Johnny stared at her but maintained his stony silence. She had probably discussed them with someone anyway so who was she to cast stones.

"Johnny." Shahero warned in a low growl.

"Fine." came the snappish reply.

Both girls looked at him expectantly when he said nothing.

"Right. I'm sorry."

"You're sorry? That's it?" Miyami asked scathingly, jumping to her feet. "You humiliate me in front of my friends, insinuate that I've been unfaithful and with my friends boyfriend to boot! You didn't trust me and… You hurt me!"

"I-" he broke off unsure how he could make her understand. "You broke up with me easily enough at the start of the year!" he retorted hotly.

Shahero blinked. Um… that was a pathetic comeback and had no relevance to the argument at all but Mimi was seeing red, literally, so she didn't notice his holey argument.

"For good reasons." came the tart response as she strode further into the room until she stood before him.

"Bull Mimi." he shot to his feet, eyes blazing with temper. "You broke up with me. I would have quit the team for you before losing you!"

Shahero simply sat on the bed and watched them rage at each other only a breath apart. They didn't even seem to realize she was there and it made her wonder if she and Hitoshi looked like that when they were fighting. No, they didn't fight; she thought with a sad smile, she ranted and he seduced, or that had been the way. She shook her head and turned her attention back to how the air sparked around the two teens.

"And blame me for it. Admit it; you'd have ended up hating me for making you give up something you loved!"

"I- I couldn't hate you Mimi." he said softly, his eyes showing his surprise.

The temper leaked out of her. "You would have." she whispered.

"I'm sorry, completely and truly sorry."

She lifted her solemn eyes and gazed into his. "You should be."

"I've been miserable without you."

"Yeah, it shows." she informed him with a hint of smugness.

"I love you." he lowered his lips to hers but she turned her face for a moment.

"You should have more faith in me." she said with a low growl. "I guess it's both our faults. We started off too serious, we didn't build any trust."

"Mimi I do trust you."

"Yeah, it showed." she growled, but curbed her temper because part of her really just wanted to punch something. She loved Johnny, or she believed she did and every time he looked at her it made her toes curl, that sort of thing didn't happen with every guy and not very often with red heads. She didn't want to be without him and she couldn't stand to see him with any one other than her, but he still didn't trust her. That wasn't a basis for a relationship. They needed to build trust. "I think… I missed you. I did and I want what we had again, but I think we should take things slow this time, get to know each other again. I think we took each other for granted so maybe we should start over again."

He swallowed and looked down at her. Apart of him didn't understand what she was proposing. Were they going to start all over again, from the very beginning? No more kissing, no casual touches, no intimate touches! He wanted her, wanted to be with her and if that meant doing what she wanted, then he'd do it, he conceded. "Ok Mims, we'll do it your way." For the time being anyway.

She nodded. "We'll need to set up some ground rules."

"Yeah well sort them out somewhere else. Recovering injured lady here!"

Shahero's voice broke through; muffled from behind a pillow she was using to suffocate herself. Johnny looked at her and grinned. "We should probably go."

"We'll go to the library." Miyami said simply and walked out of the door, Johnny following. "Did you hear her call herself a lady?"

"Yeah, I think the drugs Judy gave her made her delusional." he mumbled closing the door behind them.

Shahero gaped at her friends parting comment. The nerve. Lifting the closest thing to hand, she winced. "Sorry Joe." without a second thought, she hurled the poor bear at the door. It hit off the door with a loud thud.

* * *

Down in the bathrooms outside the changing room, Amber gasped as pain shot down her spine. She frowned and blinked rapidly. "Ok, that was weird." she commented to her reflection as she washed her hands with the stinky pink soap and awkward press down taps that were slippery with suds. "I'm so dirty Babe, the kind of dirty where the water never cleans off the clothes." she sang with a wry chuckle.

The door opened to her left and Kirby wandered in, making a face to her cousin. "Tammy is all over Miguel."

Tammy was at school? Huh. "Ugh, I thought he had taste."

"Me too." Kirby sighed and walked into a cubicle. She came out again and walked into the next one, taking a peek down the toilet. "I hate open day. The visitors always clog up the toilets with something. Don't they know how to flush it?"

Amber smothered a grin. "I dunno. Hey, good game out there." she bit the inside of her cheek at her cousin's dark look which was reflected in the mirror. "Um, something wrong?"

"You guys weren't playing your best, you weren't even trying. Do you have any idea how insulting that was?" her irate cousin snapped, eyes flashing with irritation and disbelief. "We're good enough to play you, don't think we're beneath your high standards."

"Oh fuck off Kirby!" Amber snapped rounding on her. "I love you like a sister, but you're acting spoilt. You know we were having fun out there. I wanted to have fun, so did everyone else without the pressure of playing for a goddamn league that doesn't mean anything in the end up. I wanted to have some fun with my team. You and I and the boys always just played around at home, but Kai has never done that, did you know that? He's never played for fun. In fact none of the Sharks get a chance to play for fun, isn't that pathetic? So forgive me, just this once, for thinking that the JV team wouldn't mind having some of the pressure taken off them so they could just have some fun." She suddenly winced and covered her face, raking her hand up over her face and through her hair, messing up her bangs. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have bit your head off like that, I'm sorry."

Before Kirby could say anything, another voice interrupted. "I didn't ever believe I'd see a Benson fighting with another. I thought you were the epitome of all things perfect about a family."

Amber's teeth went on edge, her eyes flickering from her cousin to the bitch from hell. "And you're everything a family shouldn't be, little miss poison. Go away Pissface, my Daddy isn't hiding down the toilet and even if he was, I wouldn't tell you. This toilet is reserved for school goers, not school blowers." she snapped.

Kirby wrinkled her nose wondering if anything that Amber said made any sense. Then she shrugged it off, who cared, Piss face obviously wouldn't know anyway. She was in a world of her own half the time anyway.

"I wouldn't really comment about my family Amber, when you're dating my nephew." Pricilla said smugly. Her eyes caught between green and hazel flashed with menace and her lips twisted in a smirk.

"Gasp! Shock, horror, Kirby whatever shall I do?" the younger girl drawled mockingly. "Oh no, wait. I just remembered, I used that newfangled contraption called a _brain_ and figured that out ages ago." her tone changed from patronizing to dryly sarcastic. "You think that bothers me? Here's a hint Pisszilla, I don't give a damn about who Kai's family is. I just feel pity for him being related to you."

"Well save the pity for yourself. The way things are going between your father and me, we'll soon be family, I mean he can't keep his hands off me."

Kirby winced. Oh she did not need to hear this and this was not fair on Amber, but Amber's lips only curved with what looked like amused pity. _Ooh, she got that look from Ruin._

"Didn't you know that marriage kills sex? It just goes right out the window as soon as you mutter the words, I do. After all, Daddy couldn't keep his hands off my mom, I'm pretty good confirmation of that."

"You keep on thinking that. It'll be some comfort when you're growing up old and lonely with a couple of cats."

"I'm more of dog person." Amber chimed in.

"Men don't like women like you." she said pointedly looking the girl up and down.

"Ah my brain, yeah that will cause some problems for me but not for you, right Piss, you exchanged it for your new nose, right?"

"Kai seems to like Amber as she is, he can't keep his hands off her either and it's not just lust, he cares."

Something flickered over Pricilla's face and Kirby feared she'd said something wrong. "You'll never be good enough for Kai. He's above you. He probably feels sorry for you. If you were so smart, you'd get out of the relationship before he hurts you when he finds a prettier and smarter girl."

Amber felt a twinge in her heart and her stomach churned nauseatingly with the nerves that were jumping around her stomach. They hadn't stopped since Pricilla entered the bathroom. "Gee, I never knew you cared. Hear that Kirbs, Pissy is worried about my fragile little heart." her expression shifted and darkened. "Well don't be. I don't need yours or anyone else's pity; I'm fine as I am. I don't need a man to make me feel good about myself because I'm not like you Piss and each and every day, I thank God for it. Now, if you don't mind, I have friends to meet."

With a flick of her hair, she strode out of the bathroom and flashing a smirk at Pricilla as she left.

Kirby watched the older woman with crimson eyes. "You're attitude stinks Pricilla. I think someone should remind you that though you have James wrapped around your finger, Amber has his absolute love. If she wanted to, she could make him drop you in a heartbeat. She has complete control on how your relationship turns out, so if you do love James the way you claim to, I'd be nicer to Amber because your relationship hangs on her." she said the words softly. She had over heard her Nana Molly saying the exact words to her mother a couple of weeks ago and they'd struck her vividly. She knew the words were true, Amber could make her father give up Pricilla if she made him choose between the two but despite her complaints about the two, she'd never issued the ultimatum and why not? Why hadn't Amber taken the matter into her own hands?

Without saying another thing, she walked out the door and hoped that Pricilla would mull over the words, if not, she'd set Nana Molly on her. Everyone feared Molly, she'd skin Pretty Prissy with one look and then how pretty would Prissy be?

* * *

"Does someone have a drink? I'm dying of thirst."

"You're not dying."

"Yeah we're not that lucky."

Nicolai stood against the wall and smirked at the four teens squabbling as they exited the male changing rooms. His son walked in the center of the group with two flanking him and the shortest lagging slightly behind as he was trying to stuff something into his open duffle bag. He watched them from his spot, just observing them while they weren't conscious of him. His son looked so at ease with them. At Clonmel it had always been him and Tala or him on his own. He'd never ever ventured out with some of the other boys on the team because they didn't appeal to his sense of humor or he lacked things in common with them that forged a barrier between them but here he was with three others and none of them were Tala.

"Spencer, got some change on you? I need to get a drink." Ian whined.

Spencer grunted and rooted in his pocket. "No, just a few pieces of lint."

"Is Arista still collecting that lint pile?"

Kai stopped and arced a brow. "She's collecting lint?" he reached into his pocket and handed Ian a few coins which had the midget Russian moseying over to the vending machine. "Get me one too."

Enrique nodded. "I think so or maybe she was going to but never did. Arista collects the strangest things, she's just weird." he told the two toned bluenette as he searched for some music on his Discman.

"Dammit, it ate my money!"

"My money." Kai corrected as he strode over to the large can of coke shaped machine.

Spencer glanced around and when he was sure no one was watching, he hit the side of the box hard. There was a rattle and a thud. Ian reached inside and pulled out a bottle from the drawer which Kai immediately snatched out of his hands, twisted open the cap and took one long slug from it.

Ian growled then looked imploringly to Spencer who cringed. "That look only works on the girls. On you, well you look constipated."

Kai snorted and looked at the midget. "He does, doesn't he?"

"Hey! This isn't my CD!" Enrique exclaimed outraged. He'd taken Miyami's Discman again by accident. They were identical because they'd bought the same brand when they'd been in a sale.

"You take Mimi's again?" Spencer asked after hitting the machine again for Ian.

"Here let me listen." Ian demanded and brought the ear phone to his ear. Immediately he yanked it away from his offended organ and sneered. "That's not Mimi music, her's is more hardcore."

Kai lifted the dangling earphone and placed it to his, making sure to casually wipe it off first. After a few seconds, he looked at Enrique. "Ember's mixed CD." he confirmed. He was intimate with Mimi's sort of music and even more so with Amber since she liked to listen to hers up loud when they went for a drive. It was a good thing he liked the same type of stuff or they'd really have a problem.

"Dude, you know too much about your girlfriend. You need to a have a man night." Ian said with age old wisdom. Anyone who spent too much time with any one of the Octopussy's was liable to be deemed insane and, so far, Kai was an ok sort of guy, he'd hate to see him twisted by Benson.

"A man night?" Kai asked, taking another swig from his drink.

"Yeah, action films with lots of explosions, naked women, car chases, the whole thing."

"And those worlds worst sports injuries videos." Spencer added.

"Yeah but don't tell your girlfriend we're having a man night." Ian quickly added.

Enrique put his Discman away and scratched his neck. "Yeah Amber tends to get annoying when there are explosions in the action films, she either gets morbidly excited over the thought of people being hurt or she starts pointing out how that wouldn't work."

"Comes from hanging out with Ruin and Kaeto." Ian pointed out, motioning with his bottle neck.

Kai rolled his eyes. "I thought you'd called a truce with her."

"Yeah so?"

"Do you know what a truce means?"

Ian glared at the blond Italian. "Do you know what subtle means?"

"What the hell does that mean?" when the boys snorted, he growled. "I meant, what do you mean 'do I know what subtle means'? Why wouldn't I know what subtle means?"

"Nothing."

"He's referring to your attention to the female population."

"Yeah if you wanna shag Benson you shouldn't be so obvious in front of Hiwatari."

"What?" Enrique's yelp pitched through the empty corridor loud enough to make all five males in the area wince and it was soon echoed by Ian's shout of pain when Kai dug his fingers into the midgets shoulder.

"Don't speak about her like that." Kai said mildly. "Otherwise I'll have to castrate both of you."

"Why me?" The blond and midget demanded while Spencer guffawed.

He looked at Enrique. "You because you're hitting on my girlfriend and you," he turned on Ian. "Because you annoy me." he smirked at both expressions of mild insult then his smirk froze in place when he caught sight of his father approaching. The other three looked from Kai to their coach then made their excuses to leave while babbling about who annoyed Kai first.

Both Hiwatari men sized each other up. One curious about what the other wanted; and the other needing to clear the air. The silence fell heavily around them, in the distance shouts and exclamations came from the students and visitors.

"Was there something you wanted?" Kai finally asked.

"You did well out there, coaching the team. I was proud of you." he said, then nodded to himself. "I am proud of you, for sticking to your guns." at Kai's curious look, he almost chuckled. "I wanted to apologize for what I said back at Christmas. I had no right interfering in your life like that, and I shouldn't have been so presumptuous. I thought I was doing it for the best." he gave a half shrug. "I guess I was wrong but you can't blame a father for trying. I wasn't completely thinking like a coach but I can't say I was being selfish either."

Kai listened without a word but all the while he was thinking it was a strange conversation to be having out in an empty corridor. Part of him was still angry with his father but after hearing Amber talk about her own father, he couldn't remain as angry as he had been. He could see from a player's point of view that him and Amber were a potentially hazardous pairing but as a son, he wanted his father to be happy for him. He'd always been supported by his father and then suddenly for him to be against something that meant so much for him, it was a hard pill to swallow.

"I've been watching you two together and I'll admit I was wrong. You two are good for each other. You've been smiling more than you ever did before and you have more friends than before. I won't say that Amber is necessarily responsible for the change but she's a key factor." Nicolai said. "All I'm trying to say is that, you made the right choice and I'm proud of you for it. I was wrong and I'm sorry for it."

"Yeah you were wrong. But I can understand where you were coming from."

Nicolai chuckled at the sight of his son, now just a inch or two taller than him, standing with his hands shoved deep in his pockets, jeans that were faded at the stress points to white and scuffed hi-tops. The black t-shirt he wore made him look taller than he was, it was the simple attire he'd come to associate with his son.

"Did you see your mother? She was asking about you."

Kai sighed and leaned back against the wall, relaxing and feeling the minor headache he'd been dealing with the past couple of weeks drain away. "I saw her in passing when she was with Treasa but other than that, I haven't had time. Been busy with school stuff."

"Well phone her later, she worries about you."

"I'll phone. Did you talk to Hitoshi yet?"

"I haven't found him yet. Do you know what's wrong with him?"

Kai shook his head. "No, but Amber does and I think Ian might have a clue. There was just something about what they said during the game."

The sound of footsteps interrupted their talk and they glanced around to see Kirby hurrying towards them, eyes fixed on Kai. "Good, I've found you."

"Something wrong Kirbs?"

She shrugged helplessly, unsure if anything was really wrong or not. "We ran into your aunt, me and Amber."

"Did Pricilla say something?" Nicolai's tone darkened in his temper. Since Pricilla was the youngest, she had the knack for being spoilt and bitchy when facing someone who was a threat to her.

"Oh she said lots of things."

"Where's Amber?" Kai demanded.

"I think she went out side for a walk."

"Is she upset?" he wondered. The thought of his girlfriend crying made him uneasy.

"No I don't think so; I just wanted you to check on her. I'd have sent Shahero but she's injured, Mimi's missing and Bryan's having a shower."

He smirked. "I'll go find her."

"Thanks Kai." the petite girl gushed gratefully. She watched as he left then turned to Nicolai. "I lied about the others, never went looking for them. He has a habit of finding her no matter where she's hiding, besides I couldn't be bothered going after her myself."

Nicolai chuckled and slipping his arm around the younger girl and led her up the corridor towards the exit feeling suddenly at ease.

* * *

Sonia stood by the window of her dorm listening to Shahero's peaceful breathing and the faint strum of music. Outside she watched Amber sit under a large oak tree, its stark branches reaching to the harsh gray sky. Her friend looked so alone and forlorn and looked exactly how she was feeling. With a soft breath, she tilted her head and placed her palm against the cool window pane.

She'd made an idiot of herself by singing that song. She knew that and even if she didn't know it, she would have realized it by the look on her brother's face. It had been nice of her parents to put aside their own busy lives to come and see her, but as much as she loved them, she could have done without them coming. It was so easy to forget the pressures they put on her to do well in everything and they didn't even see it as pressuring her yet they were. They expected her to get good grades, an A- was barely acceptable and they never showed they were disappointed nor did they ever yell at her but they'd just be extremely pleasant and say things like: "Oh well, you'll do better next time.". They always made excuses for her on why she wasn't doing her best yet they never took time to find out why and worse than all of that, they wouldn't let her be a normal teenager. She wanted to just hang out with her friends and have a boyfriend but all that would interfere in her carefully laid out schedule. She went to school, took notes, did her homework, studied and then took an hour to run, clear her head then went to bed and slept to wake up and repeat the schedule.

She glanced at the clock by the bedside table and checked the sky. She could fit in an hour now, she supposed. It would give her time to just mull over everything. If she and Ozuma were to get together, how would she fit in time to see him? She had prefect duties, exams, college entrance papers, and the soccer season would be starting up soon back home so she would have to start practicing for that as well. She made a mental note to talk to Salima about working out some time to practice.

She smiled wryly, she couldn't even think about being with Ozuma without other activities interfering. But now she had to wonder what to do about him. He knew she liked him which was more than he'd known before, maybe he'd had his suspicions but now it was very obvious but she'd run from him…

A small whimper forced its way from her lips as her very blue eyes turned soft and sad as she sat down on the bed. She'd messed up again. It was amazing how someone as smart as her could screw her life up so much over one boy, even Amber had her act together. But it was so hard, she thought. She could see the good points when she looked at Aspin and Kane; they were so devoted to each other. Whenever Aspin just needed someone to hold her, she could go to Kane and know that he didn't feel the same way about anyone else. That was a bond she, Sonia, envied. But on the other side were Miyami and Johnny. One moment they were hot for each other and the next everything they'd had was down the drain. They made each other miserable in a way no one else could and Sonia didn't think she could cope with that. She wasn't as strong as Miyami, she didn't have the same independent streak or the sense of self that Miyami had. If Ozuma ever hurt her in the slightest way, she didn't think she could recover.

And that led her to another point. Ozuma was, at the moment, one of her closest friends, or he had been before the kiss and if she'd only just cleared the air with him after that, they wouldn't be in this situation but if's weren't going to help her now. But he had been a friend, a close one who she depended on. She'd come to count on seeing him every day, watching that rare smile of his curl slowly and almost arrogantly over his face even if it wasn't directed at her, it still caused a flutter in her chest. To see the fierce intensity in his jade eyes, as though he was charged with something far more important than a usual student had to deal with. To watch the way his long legs would carry him through the swarm of students to his next class and to observe the easy way he interacted with his friends and to listen to how his voice spoke with efficiency and intellect when he answered questions in class.

So maybe she couldn't exactly be friends with him anymore because she wasn't having friendly feelings about him anymore. It was hard to maintain a decent friendship when you were intensely attracted to your "friend". But it was alright for Amber and Shahero, they'd never been friends with Kai or Hitoshi so if everything went down the pan, well they'd be hurt but after a while they could go back to hating them but her and Ozuma; that was different. They'd been friends and that led to another level. If they broke up not only would she miss him physically but she'd miss him, the friendship they had that had been the best part of going to Preston.

She picked up her brush and began to run it through her hair, listening to the crackle of static as the strands like liquid rubies began to lift to the brushes movement. A movement outside caught her attention and she sat up to watch Kai stride over the quad, his hands shoved in his pockets and the wind teasing his hair. Putting her brush down, she stood up to get a better look. Kai didn't say anything or it didn't look like he did and for a few moments Amber seemed like she was just ignoring him, her mind just wasn't with her. Then she looked up at him and managed a watery smile before clambering to her feet and dusting off her jeans. Neither of them said anything, but a silent message seemed to pass between them before Amber stepped into his arms and he held her.

Sonia looked away from the private moment feeling a tug of longing in her chest. She wanted that. More than anything, she just wanted someone to care for her. With a determined nod, she grabbed her sports bag and headed for the door. She'd think about Ozuma while she ran and she'd make her decision, hell it was too late for them to go back to being friends anyway, too much had happened. So she'd see what happened next.

* * *

The wind blew through the trees, tossing them gently with a soft rush of sound while rain spat down from the pale gray sky. Night was beginning to set in from the horizon as the clouds became darker and the shadows lengthened. The air was becoming chillier but safe in the cocoon of Kai's arms; Amber didn't notice any of the subtle changes. Instead she snuggled closer to him, breathing in the scent of his skin.

"So do you want to tell me what Pricilla said to you?"

Pulling away slightly, so she could see his face, she shrugged her shoulders. "Oh she was just her usual charming self." then she took note of the fact that she was cold and she had more layers on than he did. "Kai you'll get sick again." she growled, rubbing her hands up his arms to warm them.

Amused by the situation, Kai simply looked down on her. Her expression was one of intense concentration, something he rarely saw on her face. "Why are you out here on your own?"

"No real reason, just wanted to have some time to think. I used to come out here with my Discman a lot last year to just sit and watch the world pass by. So why are you out here?"

"I wanted to see you." he replied simply, his dark eyes taking in every nuance of a face he was coming to know as well as his own. Her emotions were right out there for everyone to see if they just took the time to look for them; it was something no one could say about him. She didn't care if people saw she was frightened because it didn't shame her if people knew she was scared and he admired that.

"Oh really?" she asked, pleasure lighting up her luminous eyes.

"Yeah I was thinking we could go for a drive somewhere, get away from the school for a while."

She made a show of thinking about his suggestion. "Well I don't know, I have loads of stuff to do…" she trailed off scratching her cheek. "Hmm, I guess I could spare some time for you, fair enough though, I have seen you quite a lot today."

"Probably because we didn't have any classes or minor drama's interfering."

She grimaced. "I wouldn't say there were no minor dramas. The JV team is pissed with us, meaning my baby brats want to skin me. We tried to set the school on fire. Put on an amazing show for the opposition so they all think we're absolute idiots and just had grand old fun not to mention got my brain scarred forever. I mean Sex education via A.I." she mumbled to herself with a shake of her head.

"What?"

"Huh? Oh nothing, just your Dad, my Dad and Seth, really not a good combination. People think _I'm_ weird, I now know where I get it from. Those three cannot be a good influence in a young girls life coupled with all the other grownup men I know, god I was screwed from the beginning, I never had a chance." she exclaimed forlornly.

Kai chuckled at her. She really was just the oddest creature he'd ever set eyes on. Running his hands up her side, he noted the lean line of muscle under the butter soft skin. He felt the slight involuntary shudders wrack her body, a telltale sign that she was aroused. A smugness filled him that just the simplest touch could affect her so much.

She jerked her head up on hearing his laugh that made her feel warm and fuzzy inside, but she schooled her expression into an annoyed frown. "It's no laughing matter, I might have been normal you know, if I didn't have them in my life." then she sighed. "I have no idea how you turned out so normal, though."

Laughter danced in his eyes at her comment. "You said I was unemotional and that it wasn't normal, now you're saying I'm normal? You're contradicting yourself."

She shrugged. "Walking contradiction, need I say more?" Before he could come up with a comeback, she leaned up onto her toes and pressed against him, brushing his lips with her own. His fingers gripped her hips as he groaned in approval, his mouth solidly fusing with hers sending a coil of heat spiraling down her spine. With a delighted shiver, her arms banded around him and her mouth opened under his.

"Well now isn't this sweet? The little Tiger's found himself a mate."

Amber and Kai parted reluctantly and Amber rolled her eyes as she caught sight of the intruders. "Oh god, its Dicklyn and Silent Bob." she mumbled under her breath but inside she was seething. What was with people and interrupting her moments with Kai? Did the other girls have this much trouble having a private moment with their boyfriends? Her tirade broke off when she felt the tension in Kai's body.

He pushed her away gently, turning so he could stand slightly in front of her hoping she wouldn't take offence but he wanted to deal with Brooklyn his way. He took in the two boys, both tall and both had the potential to be intimidating but he knew Brooklyn's style, so he wasn't too worried. What bothered him was the girl just behind him watching the whole scene with large ochre eyes, eyes that took in absolutely everything. Brooklyn would see Amber as his weakness and attack his relationship with her, he was sure of it. And he knew Amber was still insecure about their relationship, which was what bothered him. Would Brooklyn succeed in doing what neither Bryan nor Mariam could?

Brooklyn took them in and smirked inwardly. Here, he had an irate Hiwatari and a Benson who could be riled up with just a look. This would be too easy. "Kai, Miss Benson." he greeted pleasantly and was secretly amused by the way Kai's eyes flashed and Benson's eyes rolled sardonically. "How are you both?"

"What do you want, Adams?" Kai drawled; his expression suddenly composed into a bored tolerance, his arms folding over his chest.

"I just came over to say hello to an old friend and introduce you to your replacement. I figure you haven't been formally introduced. This is Garland Thornton." he motioned to the silvery blue haired boy with forget-me-not blue eyes and broad shoulders. His expression was one of silent reservation and his eyes drank in everything including how the girl continued to steadily watch him with a glint of mirth in her eyes.

Kai's lips twisted into a smirk. "Passed over for captaincy again?"

"Well I didn't bow down before Boris, unlike a certain person."

Amber bit her lip and clenched her fists. She was desperate to go a round with Brooklyn to put the smarmy git in his place but she stood back and let Kai handle himself. His devil may care attitude and the air of absolute cool was getting on Brooklyn's nerves since he wasn't rising to the bait but she just wanted to rip the guy to pieces, verbally of course.

Instead of saying a thing even though his teeth clenched, he simply became amused and began to pity the ginger haired prick in front of him. "Go home Brooklyn."

"Now don't be rude Kai, I just wanted to congratulate you on winning over the Tigers, though I'm sure this pretty little thing beside you had something to do with that." he acknowledged Amber with a small smile and she had to admit, he would be stunning if he wasn't such a goddamn asshole.

Kai's eyes narrowed and flicked to Amber to catch her reaction, he was slightly surprised to catch the sheer amusement in her eyes as she snorted.

"Something to say, Benson?"

She shook her head. "Not really."

Brooklyn peered at her; this wasn't the girl Arista had told him about. She'd told him about a sarcastic girl who had something to say about everything to attract attention. "That's not like you Benson. Usually you have a word or two to add to the conversation or has Kai turned you into the perfect submissive girlfriend?"

Amber sighed softly and looked at him, frankly. "I don't know you Brooklyn, you're not my enemy but you're certainly not my friend, and I don't like you that much. So I don't know what you want me to say besides your fight seems to be with Kai," she told him honestly and then her eyes brightened and a malicious smirk played on her lips. "But traditionally, it's the boy that defends the girl, not the girl defending the boy. Though I can understand, in your relationship that may be confusing. I mean, what role do you play? The female role?" she queried, looking at him intently before motioning to Garland. "Granted your boyfriend there, does have bigger man breasts than you do, but you do have the more feminine face."

The Shark Vice captain smothered a smirk. Now this was what he'd been expecting, quick on her feet coupled with a sharp tongue, she was a potentially lethal combination. He looked to Kai. "I like her." he said genuinely. "Good choice. I probably would have gone for one of the silver haired girls, they are more striking but then one of them is dating the red head so I suppose she was out and the goalie isn't really your type."

"What are you talking about?" Kai asked, his eyes sharpening, awaiting the trap that Brooklyn was about to spring.

"Well dating one of the girls to soften up the team. It's a good plan and Benson's a good choice. She's cute and she's shown she's smart. Not to mention being related to half the team."

"Don't exaggerate, she's only related to a quarter." Kai retorted mildly, hoping Amber wouldn't take Brooklyn's bait but if he reacted, that would only fall into the Sharks trap.

"Hiwatari's your first boyfriend, right?" Brooklyn suddenly directed the question to Amber.

She looked to Kai and then back to Brooklyn wondering what the hell was he on? "Uhhh… yeah, ok." she'd bite.

"So…" he turned to Kai with a frown on his lips but a glint in his mysterious eyes. "What are you going to do when she realizes she can do better than a moody, dishonorable dick like you? There are better guys out there Amber, you could do so much better than him, guys with more personality and they'd treat you better too."

Kai bit back a snarl. Who the hell did he think he was, interfering in his relationship with Amber? Still his eyes flicked to Amber who seemed to be considering Brooklyn's words. She wasn't thinking of breaking up with him, was she? Sure he wasn't the nicest guy and he was slightly standoffish but she wouldn't… What had he done for her? Opened her eyes to the fact that she was desirable and that relationships weren't as scary as she believed. Now that her eyes were open, what did she need him for? His heart stuttered and he hated himself for his reaction. Why should he care if she dumped him? There were plenty of other girls out there… yet-

"You offering your services Dick? Too bad I like my guys, first of all, straight and second of all, to have brains bigger than the size of a pea. Kai fits both categories including the sub categories too. Not to mention that he's not a sleazy slime ball who tries to fuck with others lives because he's too scared to admit he's lonely and jealous. Go home Brooklyn, someone there might care."

Kai's shoulders relaxed and a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding slipped through his lips, a quiet sound that soothed him. His eyes moved to Amber. Her eyes were cool and direct, her expression coldly disdainful, the expression he'd seen on Tala's face too many times to count when dealing with Brooklyn. He had to admit, seeing it and its affect on Brooklyn amused him.

Brooklyn's lips twisted into something between a smirk and a grimace, his eyes shifting to a dark teal color. "I guess we're no longer wanted here. Come on Garland."

"He definitely seems to think he is the male in the relationship." Amber said coming to stand beside Kai as Brooklyn walked off with Garland following behind.

Kai glanced at her with a slight quiver of the lips which turned into a full smile slightly tinged with relief since she didn't seem to be taking Brooklyn's words to heart. "I know some women like him."

She caught his expression and grinned, a quick flash of joy. "True, I bet Clover's like him when she grows up. Ordering her husband around, he'll be rich of course, and completely pussy whipped and she'll be absolutely miserable." she stated and as soon as Brooklyn disappeared from her vision, she sobered up. "He had no right to say the things he said."

"Not to you, no."

She leaned against the tree and glared at the school. "Not to either of us."

"Me and Brooklyn have a history. I've said things to him that were uncalled for. But what he said to you… I'm not using you to make the team like me."

She glanced at him but found he wasn't looking at her, but instead gazing into space, his hands shoved in the pockets of his jeans. "I know." she told him simply, smiling softly when he looked at her. "Look, I've made you jump through so many hoops -not intentionally- but still I seem to have done it. If you were trying to make the team like you by using me, well you would have given up. Miyami already liked you, Tala's your best friend and besides, I caused you more trouble than I'm worth." she shrugged. "More importantly, you're not like that. However," she continued in a slightly glum tone. "I am disturbed because that guy Garland's breasts are bigger than mine."

Kai's deep brown eyes brightened with laughter. "Man breasts, Amber where do you get this?"

"Guys have them, they just call them pecs but that's just a macho name for man breasts, but they usually aren't visible unless the guy has gained weight or, like Garland, has shoulders the size of the base of Mount Everest and wears tight fitting tops that are bound to cut off circulation to his lower body."

Kai smirked reaching out to tug her silk black hair. "So you wouldn't like me if I wore a top like his?"

"Kai the day you wear something like that in that color, though I'd daresay you'd look good in it, is the day you think pink is a macho color."

"Pink is becoming acceptable for guys to wear. Mr. Mulryan was wearing a pink shirt."

"Yeah and he's in a marriage where his wife is dominant. He has no say in what he wears, she tells him to wear it and he does despite the fact that he looks gay in it. I don't care if guys call it salmon, it's still pink!" she grumbled. "If I ever see my dad wearing "salmon" I'm going to disown him."

Kai chortled unable to resist the bubble of amusement that built up inside him. "Come on Ember, I'm taking you out and you're paying."

That caught her attention and had her head snapping to him. "Huh?" Her eyes caught the flash of silver and widened. "My money!"

He got to his feet gracefully and began to walk away as she scrambled to her feet yelling at him. His long strides carried him towards the car park at the back of the school. He listened to the thud of her quick footfalls then braced himself as she jumped onto his back and firmly pressed her knees into his side. His hands looped their way around her knees to keep her from falling. Without much difficulty, he carried her away from the school and away from anymore interruptions.

* * *

**Well, I hope you enjoyed that. It's really long, I know but there's so much to pack in in a limited period of time, so... Ok I'm bullshitting. I'm sure I could cut this done, but I don't want to. Lol. But please review and thank you to everyone for putting up with my lack of updates and my shitty internet.Your loyaltyreally means a lot to me. Thank you. **


	22. Shark Infested Waters

**Disclaimer**: I don't own the canon's of Beyblade but I do own Amber Benson and Ruin Mulryan. Miyami belongs to **Tari**, Aspin to **Nakiato**, Shahero to **Coors**, Sonia to **SpitfireSae,** Kirby to **KindredInsanity**, Arista to **ArcadaAvalon**, Russia to **Zimo**.

* * *

Uh, this is the correct version. I didn't post the correct version (it was unedited first time) because I was distracted as I waswriting in the forum so sorry. But there's notmuch different, just the odd sentence here and there, nothing vital to the plot.

* * *

Smells Like Team Spirit

By: Zadien

* * *

Shark Infested Waters

A soft breeze rustled through the trees causing them to whisper mercilessly about the secrets of the world. Sunlight streamed through the leaves, a soft light that filtered down onto the couple wrapped up in each other lending them a golden glow. They were so engrossed in each other that they probably didn't even notice anything around them. Not the slow bobbing of the droopy heads of the snow drops, nor the scent of moss or the way their clothes soaked up the dampness from the soft earth. The fact that they were sitting on their damp asses didn't seem to bother them, and it really should have considering that, wasn't that how babies got nappy rashes?

Amber tapped her foot irritated as she watched Johnny and Miyami continue to kiss fiercely, neither looking to come up for air any time soon. Ever since they'd decided to start over as though from the beginning, they'd been closer than ever and though it was nice to see, it was really annoying her right at this moment!

Johnny's hand moved along Miyami's side, her own fingers moving through his thick hair and they still didn't seem to notice her. She cleared her throat which didn't cause any reaction. Johnny's hand was moving predictably towards Miyami's chest… and oh boy, did she _not_ want to see her friends groping each other. They didn't seem to notice that they were sitting in the middle of a clearing in the woods and they weren't alone. Hello, she was standing right there!

Miyami's moan pierced her mental ranting and her face darkened in a scowl. "Hey!" she snapped. "You two are supposed to stake out, not make out!" She stomped her foot and ignored the quiet chuckle behind her.

Johnny slowly parted from Miyami, wrenching his gaze away from Miyami's bruised lips. He lifted a brow as he slowly looked up into Amber's angry expression. What did she expect? She left him alone with Miyami and considering that Miyami looked particularly delicious today, was he supposed to keep his hands off her? He wasn't a goddamn saint! He was a teenage boy with rampant hormones that never seemed to steady around his unbelievably beautiful girlfriend who'd shot their relationship down a few levels. Since he couldn't take their relationship to its natural conclusion, he had to just satisfy himself with a few… well actually a lot of groping and desperate kisses and it was killing him.

"Hey Amber." he greeted lazily, feeling quite pleased with the way Miyami's eyes were dazed. He acknowledged Kai who was standing incredibly close to Amber's back with a nod, then his eyes lightened with amusement as he caught sight of the fact that Amber was holding a rope that was tied around the rope binding Kai's hands together. He wiggled his brows at Kai. "Bondage Amber?"

"Yeah well Kai's into it, so ya know, I had no choice really. Every time I try to break up with him, he cries and he looks so pathetic, I just kind of can't say no." she gave a dispassionate shrug while Kai just rolled his eyes.

"Aw poor Kai, what will you do with her and her sharp tongue?"

"I could think of a few things." he muttered to his vibrant silver haired friend.

Amber shot him a look. "Hmph." she grunted sounding ominously like Kai.

"Man you two are scary." Miyami muttered, leaning into Johnny's warmth as his arm reached around her shoulders.

"Yeah so are you when you answer 'Aye'."

Both Johnny and Kai shot Miyami a bemused look that had her flushing. "I've only said it the odd time."

"Right." Amber mumbled; then remembering why she was ticked off in the first place, she planted a fist on her hip and braced her legs apart as she glowered down at the couples. "Oi, how am I supposed to know what the enemy is doing when you two are too busy being obsessed with each other instead of watching the enemy camp?"

"Aw you're just jealous Amber because you and Kai are on two separate sides." Miyami teased lightly, brushing the thin strands of silver out of her face. She'd tied in back in some complicated knot and had scored a comb just inches in from her hair line diagonally so that sleek strands fell down around her decorated ears. It was a look Amber would never pull off and something Miyami could because she was just so exotic anyway. She really was stunning.

Amber stuck out her tongue. "So you two know nothing about what _they're _doing?" She jerked a thumb at the teen behind her who just looked unimpressed.

Miyami simply shrugged. "Sorry… Last time I saw them they were running around like headless chickens."

"Hmph. Probably aren't too happy now that I have their almighty pain in the ass either." Amber mumbled to herself, eyes narrowed and focused on the stems of trees that stretched towards the sky like desperate limbs. Her mouth was in a firm line as she assessed the situation. She was pretty sure her team was in the lead. They had gathered more of the opposition than Kai's team had and they had their prize captive safely guarded by Tala who knew how to organize teams into whatever situation they were needed for. He was her strategy guy and with Ozuma also on her team, Kai's never had a chance.

Miyami frowned and tossed a bewildered glance at Kai, were he and Amber fighting? At his mild shake of the head, she simply surmised that when Amber was in this mood, everyone was a 'pain in the ass'.

"Well, keep a look out for Kai's other buddies. I'm taking him to the dungeon, oh and while I remember, don't get captured." she drawled sardonically, before muttering. "Not that it would be much of a loss to us."

With a grumble under her breath, she stalked off towards where they'd set up their base camp. Kai simply offered them a nod and stumbled along behind her.

When they were out of hearing range, Miyami turned to Johnny. "Well that was interesting. I didn't know we had a dungeon."

"We don't." he replied slightly befuddled as to Amber's attitude.

"I don't suppose we should tell her that this is a game either, huh?"

He snorted. "Maybe it's her time of the month or something."

"Or something." Miyami agreed, turning her silver eyes on him and studying him intently. "Anyway, why are we discussing her?"

"Good point." he acknowledged as he reached up and cupped her jaw, skimming his thumb over the silk smooth skin. Soft liquid eyes watched him with awareness as her perfect mouth trembled open. Leaning over, he gently rubbed his lips against hers, watching for a reaction. Over the past year he'd almost lost this girl and he was damned if he'd let that happen again which was why he was taking every opportunity to prove how much he needed her. Being without Miyami wasn't something he cared to experience again. It had taken him a while to realize it, but he'd learned his lesson.

They were so absorbed in each other, they didn't notice the two sets of footsteps sneaking past or the sniggers,

* * *

Kai stumbled boredly after his girlfriend who wasn't too appealing when she was just yanking him around like a dog on a chain. Actually forget that, she'd never yank a dog around on a chain, she liked them too much. He on the other hand was just fodder for her to take out her frustration on and since finding Miyami and Johnny making out instead of staking out, as she put it, she had plenty, he surmised, to be frustrated about. Not least that she had no idea where he'd hidden her precious Kane… and that sounded so strange.

"Hurry up." she snapped, leading him down a winding path that reminded him vaguely off the team work weekend they'd gone to before Christmas where he'd had to carry her down the path. Only this one wasn't as steep and Michael wasn't around to hold her hand or relieve her fear.

"Benson, aren't you taking this whole exercise a little too far?"

"Nope."

Boy, for a girl who liked to blab a lot, she sure was keeping tight lipped. "Where are we going?"

"None of your beeswax."

"Hmph." he grunted and was rewarded by a searing look from his petite girlfriend. He figured out a while ago that Amber must have been a big person trapped in a small person's body because she had these deluded ideas that she was remotely threatening. It was almost laughable.

All the same, he mused, she was looking startlingly pretty today. He wasn't quite sure what it was but some days he was just more affected by her looks than others, though he was always affected by her, whether it was her looks, her voice or the thought of her. It was just part and parcel of being infatuated with her, he supposed. He knew she suffered pretty much the same.

Today, though, she just looked prettier, fresher and more mature. Maybe it was the top she was wearing underneath her long beige hip length cardigan. It was a simple sky blue and beige striped v-neck top with the white trim along the v, that accentuated the flawless golden skin and the curve of her breasts; and which constantly gave him the urge to just dip his fingers into the point of the v. He wasn't sure why he constantly envisioned himself doing that but that top was driving him insane. As was her hairstyle. She'd pulled into a ponytail at the side but the loose strands kept slipping out to cascade over the skin on her neck, tempting him. She was completely unaware naturally.

He hissed as she gave him another yank.

"Keep up." she ordered, eyes roving around the woods as she idly scratched the slope of her shoulder beneath her hair causing more strands to break away.

"Are you sure you know where you're going? Don't want to get lost out here, now do we?"

"I know where I'm going just fine, mister. Now stop dawdling."

Being quite sure that there was no one else around, she turned and wandered back along the path they'd come, then halted half way, turned and led him up again before turning off to the right. Kai raised a brow… Was Amber actually covering her tracks?

A few more minutes of wandering in circles, backtracking and thoroughly confusing Kai as to where he was, Amber halted dead in her tracks so that Kai almost stumbled into her.

"Mind warning me before you do that again, or do you want a mud face pack?"

A hand snapped up in a silent order for him to shut the hell up! God even in silence she was too damn polite, he sneered mockingly. A snapped twig to his left caught his attention and he smirked. Now it was time for him to call the shots. Sidling up behind her, he positioned himself firmly against her back.

"You know, you yanking me around like this is a real turn on." he murmured silkily into her hair.

She stiffened immediately but before she could reply to his odd comment, his lips cruised along the base of her neck and then she felt the sudden loss of sensation as he bit lightly on that spot that turned her limbs to liquid. Struggling to remain standing, her limp fingers lost their grip on the rope and she turned slowly to face him. Looking up into those deep dark eyes, she felt something soften perceptibly in her chest. He was just too gorgeous with those dark eyes, pale skin, that soft mouth… When that soft mouth pressed against hers, she was a goner. With great will power, she forced her heavy arms to wrap around his waist as she pushed up against him.

She pulled back and looked up at him through hooded eyes. Maybe if her eyes had been clearer, not covered in a sudden cloud of lust, she might have seen the mischievous glint in his eyes but no, she was too happy to toy with his hair, tracing light circles on the taut skin of his neck to feel him shiver. His hands, still locked together by her rope, managed to find themselves banded around her but she didn't mind. He was going to kiss her again and right then, that was all she cared about.

When his mouth came down on hers, she gave a small murmur of approval but was yanked out of her euphoria by an almost high pitched cackle followed by Kai's arms tightening around her painfully.

"Kaeto lay off; you're going to make me squash her."

"Heh, heh, fitting end to her, I think." Ian declared as he strolled up to them, a lecherous smirk on his face.

It was amazing that she could make it out under the shadow of his nose; Amber thought snidely figuring out what was going on here. She'd been ambushed and by her own boyfriend for crying out loud. She snarled and squirmed violently when she realized that Kai's arms were so tight because Shahero was cutting his bonds which meant in a few seconds Kai was going to be free and that was NOT good! No that was bad, very, very bad!

"Quit wriggling, Ember." Kai ground out between his clenched teeth. Not only did he have to worry about Shahero cutting an artery or something as she hacked through the rope perilously close to his wrists but now his girlfriend was writhing against him. Was she trying to cripple him or something? "Ember!"

She jerked her head up, a potent snarl curling that full mouth. Jesus, she was the only girl who could arouse him with a snarl. "I'm revoking all kissing privileges and when I get out of this mess, and I will, then I'm going to _kick_ your _ass._" She put an emphasis on the last couple of words as she tried to stand on his feet.

"Kaeto hurry up." Kai grunted, shuffling his feet to avoid his irate girlfriend while Ian laughed like a loon.

Honestly the midget couldn't help but find this funny, though in his euphoric mood, looking at his finger would be funny. Benson had just been ambushed by her sister and her boyfriend and they'd enlisted _him_, her worst enemy, to help. She was so not going to be happy about that. Then when Shahero cut the rope, he was going to get to tackle her and beat the shit out of her and Kai and Shahero were going to stand by and let him do it. They were also going to do nothing while he tied her up and that would humiliate her. Which meant that any time she tried to annoy him, he could threaten to tie her up and she couldn't say that Kai or Shahero would protect her because they hadn't. Today was going to be a blast and nothing would ruin it. Not to mention that Amber and Kai looked to be doing an odd version of the two step while Shahero had to trot along after them while she tried to saw through the thick rope with a pen knife, it looked like some oddly deformed conga line.

He snorted in an attempt to smother the asinine giggles welling up but he failed as Amber forgot about Kai to gaze levelly at the Russian ass prick. "Are you on something?"

"No." he gasped out. "Just high on life."

When he dissolved into another bout of giggles, Amber looked to Kai for some kind of valid reason for her adversary turning insane before her. Kai simply shrugged and brushed his lips over hers. She yanked her head back to glare at him.

"Hey watch it!" Shahero snapped, almost getting whacked in the nose by Amber's skull. "Kai leave that till later."

"There is no later, he's never kissing me again, the bastard. I swear to god, you'll regret doing this Kai."

"Now come on, Ember, play fair. I came along quietly, didn't I?"

Amber thought about that for a moment. Yeah he did, too quietly, she should have suspected something. Her boyfriend, contrary to popular belief wasn't a dolt even though she wished, right now, that he was. "Muppet head." she growled.

Kai pressed closer to her, to peek over her head to see how Shahero was progressing. "How's it coming?"

Shahero surveyed the frayed strands and gave a nod. "Not bad considering this blade is as blunt as Ian."

"Ian's not blunt." Amber countered. "He's thick!"

Shahero smothered a snicker at Ian's expression simply because he was her team mate on this exercise and she'd already criticized him enough back at base camp. "Ok fine, let's just say cutting this is like cutting stale bread with a butter knife. Doable but slow going."

Kai nodded and scanned the woodland. It just wouldn't do for anyone to come across them just yet when the plan wasn't quite in action.

Catching his gaze, Amber realized something. Why wasn't she screaming for back up? She was such an idiot. She should stop calling Ian thick but since he couldn't mind read, he didn't know how bleedin' stupid she was… so she'd continue calling him thick. All the same, that was not important right now. Calling for help was. "TALA!" She shouted loud and desperately.

Ian winced. "God she could split an eardrum with that screech!"

"Fuck off, I was not screeching."

"Like a bat."

"You look like a bat… and are as thick as a wooden one. RUIN! HELP!" God she felt so stupid calling for help. After all, she was standing in her boyfriends arms in the middle of the woods. If she was being accosted or something, then sure, yeah screaming would be good but she was just standing there like a plonker! Egad.

"Kai, isn't there a way you can shut her up? Her voice is going right through my head."

Amber shot Shahero a dark look. "I'd say sorry… but I wouldn't mean it!"

At Shahero's pleading look, Kai sighed. "I can but you told me not to."

Shahero rose a brow and recognizing the expression on Kai's face as something similar to what Hitoshi had on his whenever he'd looked at her before… well before, she knew what he was going on about, unfortunately. She sighed and tried to ignore the pang around her heart, which had become like a physical ache. It felt like a fist was wrapped around her heart squeezing it mercilessly. It hurt. With a grimace, Shahero nodded. "Do it before she makes my ears burst."

The Irish girl jerked her head from Shahero, to Kai, to Shahero, to Kai, to Shahero, to Kai, to… "Oh shit, no! Kai NO! Ta-mmmph…"

"Well that shut her up. Can't say I'd ever use that method myself." Ian muttered as he rolled his eyes at the couples' form. Kai was bent over Amber, his mouth covering hers in a way that made Ian's stomach churn. He shouldn't have had that candy bar, he decided.

"OK, that's enough, let her up for air."

Kai shot Shahero a look before he glanced down at his girlfriend. Eyes glazed, lips parted and a flush spread across her golden cheeks, left him with an oddly satisfied feeling.

As the fog cleared from Amber's mind, she processed what had happened and opened her mouth to give Kai a piece of her mind about taking advantage of her when she was trapped and completely immobile when she felt his arms relax… "Uh-oh."

Hearing her uttering, Kai smirked before stepping back, arms spread high. As soon as he did, Amber looked around. Shahero had moved away from her. Yes, she had her chance to- Ian came flying out of nowhere and sent her to the ground, hard.

"Ease off Ian." Kai grumbled as he rubbed his wrists.

"Oof. Geroff, you plonk head!"

Before Amber could even ready herself to fight Ian off, he'd rolled her onto her front and sat on her back. Suddenly she was hit with how defenseless she'd been. She was beneath him without a way to get him off and if this weren't just a game, if this was serious… she shuddered. She was just forcibly reminded of just how weaker, she as a girl, was.

"Ams, you ok?"

"Yeah." she mumbled, wincing as Ian yanked her arms behind her back. "Hey, I'm not a doll; the arms don't pop out of my body, ok? And I'm not double jointed, you jerk!"

"Hmph, I thought for a moment that she'd suffocated by eating dirt." Ian muttered, cuffing her arms in his grip. "Hey Kai, is your rope any good?"

"Use the tie on her jacket."

Ian nodded, and keeping Amber pinned with his knees pressed into her sides, and holding her delicate wrists with one hand, he wrenched the tie out of the hoops on her jacket before he wrapped it **tightly** around her wrists. Boy was that going to make a mark, he noted as he sat back.

"Ian you're never going to get a girlfriend this way… unless she's into S&M."

Kai raised his eyes to the sky. Where did his girlfriend come up with this stuff?

"And she'd probably have to be into the whole Dungeons and Dragons thing, then she'd really be into the whole gnome thing you've got going for you- OW! That's my hair!"

Ian twisted his handful of hair once more and heard another satisfied shout before Shahero hit his wrist with a karate chop that had him releasing immediately on a shout of surprised pain.

"Dammit Hero!"

"Couldn't you have done that before he pulled my hair out another two inches? And I can't even feel to see if there's any blood."

"There's no blood." Kai growled, glaring at a disgruntled Ian as he clambered off his girlfriends back. He walked forward and helped Amber to her feet, checking her over as she snarled and grumbled at Ian.

"Kai would you please mind your hands!" Amber snapped, stepping away from his offending hands.

Kai looked up and grinned, causing her heart to do a little flip as she tried to keep that glower on her face. "Sorry."

Shahero frowned as her eyes tried to make out something beyond the dense woodland. "Feel her up later, I think I hear something."

Sure enough as soon as she spoke, a figure came crashing out of the shrubbery. Enrique skid to a halt when he caught sight of his teammates and he gave his ass a quick look before sighing and doubling over, breathing harshly. "Michael's right behind me. The others aren't far after that." he looked up and grinned. "They think I'm going to lead them to our base."

Kai smirked. "Good."

Amber's reaction was different though. "MICHAEL! STOP! KAI, SHAHERO AND IAN ARE HERE TOO!" she shouted in the direction Enrique had come from before wheeling round and racing towards her team mates.

She got three steps before an exhausted Enrique attempted to lunge at her but he only succeeded in falling onto his knees. As she danced out of his reach, Kai scooped her up from behind.

"Nice try Ember, but we can't have you ruining our plans."

"AMBER, ARE YOU CAPTURED?"

"NOT CAPTURED BUT SURROUNDED." She shouted back to Michael's echoing voice, squirming as Kai nuzzled her neck. God that was distract- "Christ." she yelped, wrenching out of Kai's grip and whirling, her hands twisting to feel her ass. "You cheat!" she accused, stuffing her team ribbon back into the pocket of her jeans.

Kai raised a brow. "Actually you were the one who was cheating, Ember. The ribbon is supposed to hang out so the opposition can catch you."

"And that makes sense, how? I don't want to be captured!" she growled; then her eyes lit up as she trailed a blue ribbon out of her pocket and dangled it in front of her boyfriend when she turned around. "Recognize this?"

"Is it Spencer's?" Kai asked, eyes narrowing on the ribbon. Spencer had been the only one that he knew of, who'd been successfully captured.

"Nope." she declared jovially. She grinned slowly as his hand felt for his back pocket and he groaned. "Yes, Kai, it's yours. That means you're out of the game."

"Not quite." Shahero pointed out, coming up behind her sister and snatching at the red ribbon in Amber's pocket, but the girl whipped round and clamped her hands on her ass, successfully pinning the ribbon out of Shahero and Kai's reach. "You have to take Kai back to the jail before you can take away his ribbon."

"Yeah well, vice versa." Amber retorted. "And this ain't your jail."

"How do you know?" Ian demanded.

"Because it's on our territory. Check your map, midget."

Enrique looked warily over his shoulder. "Uh, Kai, hate to break this up but, I see red people."

Amber snorted and then chuckled. "Red people, nice one Enri… hey wait, they're my people! TAL-mmph!"

Shahero spared the couple a quick look before she began to move towards the centre of the clearing, prepared to defend herself and her ass from the enemy. She just hoped Kai's plan worked, then she rolled her eyes, when hadn't his plans worked? She reached down and picked up a branch, levering it before snapping her foot down onto it to break it. Yanking the piece she wanted from the piece she didn't, she twirled it experimentally, before scowling at the jagged pieces of wood that would poke out someone's eye. Taking her knife she began to saw quickly and nimbly, breaking off the thicker bits until it looked presentable.

Enrique and Ian exchanged wary glances. "Shahero what are you doing?"

She gave Enrique a look that told him, nonverbally, that he was an airhead! "I'm going to hit anyone who's comes near me with their pinching fingers."

"As opposed to their normal fingers." Ian muttered rolling his crimson eyes and sneering at Amber who shot him a glare.

"But Shahero, this is a non-violent game."

"Yeah and it's also hockey practice." A hockey practice that involved no hockey…

"Point." Amber announced wielding her index finger authoritatively.

"Thank you."

"Wait, I'm not on your team, why am I siding with you?"

"Because I speak sense."

"Scarily enough, yeah." Amber murmured; a little confused as to whether 'speak sense' was grammatically correct because it sounded just plain weird, then again, who was she to correct anyone on grammar when it didn't exist to her.

"HEY BENZ, you ok?"

Tala's voice came closer as he stepped into the clearing, eyes roaming over the group of blue's standing there with his best friend tied up in front of their leader. He had a hand on her shoulder, a casual stance that belied the fact that Kai would grab her if she made a move to leave.

"Aye, I'm grand."

"So it's ok for you to say 'aye'?" Miyami demanded as she stalked out into the clearing a little away from Tala.

"Ach, Aye, sure it is. Sure, aren't I from the wee emerald isle… and shit I hate that accent." she muttered, referring to the typical Irish drawl that everyone seemed to think every Irish person had. Then again, it was the same everywhere. Everyone believed that all the Scottish spoke like Sean Conroy, big lie! Every English person likes the Queen and speaks like they've got a plank up their ass like the butler in Batman. And every Welsh person has a thing for sheep, all lies, lies, lies. Then again, all Americans insert 'like' into every sentence and the Canadians all say 'eh'. Sometimes people's stereotypes bugged her.

And funnily enough, that wasn't important right now because people were appearing out of the trees, a red haired Russian boy, a silver haired Japanese girl, a dark haired Ruin, (she didn't exactly have an allegiance to any country) a Scottish red head boy, an American boy who actually was quite American. He did like baseball, he was gorgeous and as of recently had become blonde and kind of blue eyed, and had a big ego. That's how all the American teenage boys were portrayed in the films.

With a clap of glee, Amber stepped towards her team only to end up hissing in pain as Kai's fingers dug into her shoulder. "Don't move, how can you be a hostage if you're beside them?" he murmured into her ear, his lips quirking when she stiffened.

She risked a glance over her shoulder and grinned nervously. "Uh, you wouldn't hurt me…" her smile melted off her face. "Yes, you would. Tala, you have any bright ideas?"

Tala shrugged. As far as he could see, this was just going to turn into a face off. Amber would just have to evade everyone as best she could until he could untie her. Dear god, how did his deputy get herself into these messes?

"Ian, Hero, Enrique, can you handle these guys?"

"You weren't planning on having a face off without me, now were you?" Rei asked as he sauntered into the clearing behind Kai. He sized up the red team and came to stand beside Kai. "Every thing's going to plan."

"Has Ozuma been taken out?"

"Yeah. I did a quick scan of our base, no one around."

Kai nodded. The game was won. He smirked slowly, eyes meeting Tala's over his girlfriends head. "Nice try T, maybe next time."

Tala frowned, scanning the group. All of Kai's team was here, was he that certain that his team could win against Tala's? No, Kai wasn't deluded, so that meant he had another plan. But what?

"HEY! I suffer vertigo, y'know! Tala!"

He was jerked out of his thoughts by Amber's call. As children, she'd always called for his help; it was nice to see that she still did it now, even if she was just being carted away over her boyfriends shoulder.

"Put me down! What are you Kong? Tarzan? I'm not Jane! Ugh." she sighed and blew her bangs out of her eyes. This was embarrassing and her friends weren't even trying to take out the other team, no, they were laughing at her. She was going to KILL Kai!

With a sigh, Kai dropped her down. He had to admit, he didn't mind carting her around and it secretly allowed him to check her weight. She still worried him when she just blew off breakfast because she'd slept in or when she got in a mood where she'd only eat if someone went up to the counter for her. He couldn't understand her mindset towards food. She knew when she was hungry and yet, she just didn't seem to want to eat anything. All the same, she was eating regularly, or as regular as it was for her.

Amber huffed out a breath and glowered up at him. "That wasn't funny."

He simply quirked a brow at her however, before he could reply, she bit her lip and her eyes narrowed.

"Uh, where's Bryan?"

Tala froze from where he was trying to take the stick off Shahero while Johnny tried to de-ribbon her. Bryan! That's who he forgot, shit. Without saying a word, he raced off towards the direction of base camp.

* * *

Nicolai stretched out against the mini bus he'd borrowed from the school to drive his team out to this wooded area he'd discovered on a trip out with Jean the weekend before. It was a beautiful place, filled with an eeriness that trees seemed to bring to any place. It had something to do with their age and worldliness coupled with the silence in the air, the darkening sky and the caw of crows in the distance as they nestled down for the night in the old ruins of a house. The air was fresh and cleansing and the breeze that ruffled his hair soothed his soul. Sometimes it was nice to get away from the hectic life of the school. It could become suffocating after a while and there were days he just needed to run to get away from it, other days only seeing Jean would calm him. He knew Kai suffered from the same ailments which was why his son tended to go off on his own or with Amber.

In fact the whole team suffered from it. Too many big personalities in an enclosed space such as the school dorms, and classrooms had only negative effects on them. It was good to get them away from the ice to just bond and have fun together. It was these sorts of things they could talk about and laugh about at later times when things were getting too strenuous. There was also the fact that the Sharks were having their match against the Warriors tonight and he wanted to take their minds of it. The Tigers hadn't taken on the Warriors yet but they would be taking on the Rejects soon enough. He wondered about how Amber would handle that. Kane, Rei and Tala would be nothing but professional but Amber tended to be more sentimental and she did have friends on the team, luckily though, her surprisingly fierce loyalty to Tala guarded her from Foxy's usual charm assault.

He glanced over as Hitoshi wandered out of the woods from the direction they'd sent the teens. The young man hadn't wanted to go, in fact he seemed quite happy to lock himself away in his small office to work on team plays but his relationship with his team was fraying away. They just needed to know he was ok, he was like an older brother to them yet every time they got close to him, he slapped them back and built up a wall between them.

Looking haggard, from lack of sleep and too much coffee -possibly laced with whiskey- Hitoshi leaned his head against the cool side of the bus and sighed. He needed sleep, Nicolai surmised. He knew what was bothering Hitoshi though he was sure Hitoshi didn't want him to. There were only a few things that made a man forget himself and his values and they were work, drink and most importantly, a woman. The woman.

He could remember when Jean broke up with him; she'd pretty much cut his heart out and taken it with her. He'd been in such a state; he'd gotten into a fight with James and then ended up fighting with Seth as well when he tried to separate them both. He'd ended up being handcuffed to his bed and had a bucket of water thrown by Molly over him while Anne had watched him with wide eyes. He could laugh at that memory now, but he'd been in a state and without a family behind him, he hadn't been able to function which was why James had taken him to Ireland for the weekend -on Nicolai's money of course. When he'd gotten back home, he'd made his decision that he couldn't go on the way he was and that he was getting Jean back whether she liked it or not. Turned out that she didn't have any qualms with getting back together, well after she'd beaned him with the vase of flowers he'd brought her.

He chortled and earned a suspicious look from his assistant. Being his assistant was something Hitoshi had forgotten or was something he didn't want to be anymore. Something to do with Kaeto, Nicolai assumed. Those two always seemed to be on hot coals around each other, or on cold floors in bare feet as Amber once commented to him. It was hard not to notice when it was right in front of him. He supposed it was one of those things that if you're not looking for it, you wouldn't notice their behavior but once you do, then it's blatantly obvious. He just hoped that the rest of the faculty remained oblivious.

Hitoshi flicked a glance at his watch. "They'll be back soon."

"Who won?"

"By the noise, I'd say the Blue team."

"Probably should have told them that Kai is extraordinary at this game." Nicolai said with genuine affection, something his own father had never felt for him. It was another thing he loved Jean for; she'd given him his chance to have a family for himself. He poured all the love he had stored up from his own unloving family lavishly onto his wife and son. Sometimes he wished for more children, it would have been nice for Kai to have some more brothers and sisters, but it had been impossible with Jean's condition and so they accepted that Kai was more than enough considering he was a very demanding child. He'd leveled out during his teenagers and some of the change had come from being separated from his antagonist. He and Amber had been chaos as children, either they were at each other's throats or they were the best friends in the world. He had seen some footage that Treasa had kept and had to admit some of it was ridiculously funny. He'd have to show it to Kai sometime. It would add some more humiliation to his son's life.

"It might have helped." Hitoshi stated blandly. Honestly, he didn't care who won. The sooner they were here, the sooner he could get back and work in his office. _Get away from Kaeto, you mean_, a sly voice whispered.

"You might think about taking your team out to the cinema tonight."

Hitoshi thought about that. A few hours in a dark cinema watching a mindless film with his brothers' friends. Oh how fun! "I might."

"It would be a good moral booster."

"They don't need a moral boost."

"No they need a coach, when are you planning to be one?"

Hitoshi fisted his hands before unclenching them slowly and deliberately, breathing deeply to compose himself.

"How did you miss Bryan! He's the size of the mini bus! No offence Bryanny."

"None taken.

Tala winced at his friends chiding as he stalked towards the bus where Nicolai and Hitoshi were awaiting them. "I just…" he trailed off and looked to Ruin for help.

"Bryan's always so quiet; it's easy to overlook him. No offence Bryan."

"None taken."

"And Kai knew that." Rei announced jovially hooking an arm around the irate Irish girl. "And used him to his advantage. No offence Bryan."

"None taken."

Amber turned a slight shade of green. "Ok that sounds so wrong."

"Really wrong." Miyami agreed from her other side.

"Ah suck it up you babies." Arista called out from his position sitting on Bryan's shoulders.

Kai looked over his shoulder at his girlfriend and smirked. She was still tied though she'd threatened vengeance of jumping on him when he least expects it and hog tying him. Funnily, he had a vague feeling that, that had happened before. For some reason he remembered something to do with being tied to a gate with an ochre eyed princess standing over him. He'd have to ask his mother about that, but for the moment, he was giving her a wide berth. Which was why he was walking beside Ozuma and Kane who was grumbling under his breath about not being rescued by his team.

"Who won?" Nicolai asked as he approached.

"Who do you think?"

Nicolai chuckled as his son held up a handful of red ribbons. His gaze flicked to his goddaughter who was scowling and had her hands tied behind her back.

"That was a nice strategy Kai." Ozuma complimented as he joined them. "Using our loudest member as bait, nice."

"It was a long shot that paid off. I might not have succeeded if Johnny and Miyami hadn't been so involved with each other." he pitched his voice as he looked directly at Miyami who stuck out her newly pierced tongue, the silver ball gleaming in the waning sunlight.

"It was a cheap tactic."

"Yes and you're a sore loser Ember."

"Hogtied." Was her snide quip.

Nicolai looked between the pair and raised a brow. "Hogtied?"

"She's threatening to tie me up someday."

"Ams, you're really getting into that bondage thing." Johnny called out to her.

"I told you, it's Kai's thing and if I don't go with it, he cries. It's really annoying." she muttered as she climbed into the bus, followed by Enrique and Hitoshi who gave Shahero one lingering look before ducking inside missing the expression of longing that appeared for half a beat.

Kai looked at his father and shook his head at the man's expression. "She's kidding."

"I don't want to know." Nicolai muttered, covering his eyes with his hand. "Just get in the bus."

The team nodded quickly and clambered into the bus with a lot of noise and shouting, poking and shoving and one plead of "Can someone _please_ untie me?"

* * *

Sonia sighed heavily and traced a circle on her page with her finger. The study was abnormally quiet, all the team were tuckered out from their trip and none of them really felt like talking but at the same time, they didn't feel like doing any homework. The JV team was going to the cinema with Hitoshi, so they were getting ready instead of doing homework. The light was dim and one of the fluorescent beams was blinking sporadically.

Across from her Johnny scribbled on the small worn notepad she recognized to be his lyric book. Every so often he'd pause, think and then scribble some more or sometimes he'd use the eraser on the top of his pencil to rub things out. Ruin was lost in her music at the next table, lips moving soundlessly to the words as she scanned the English novel she had to study. Tala was furiously transcribing her physics notes into his lab book. She had to admire his diligence when it came to school work. Some boys were happy to pretend they weren't smart so that other boys would like them but that wasn't the case with Tala, he was smart and he took full advantage of that brain in his head. Even using it to tutor Ruin one on one, though she was sure, she thought with a flush, that they didn't do much studying.

"Ruin?"

Sonia glanced up at Mr. Shallow and bit back a yelp as once again Johnny's foot brushed hers instead of Miyami's. Those two had been engaging in a very vigorous game of footsie that had ended up with Miyami's knee hitting the table; Johnny's stubbing his toe and a few awkward moments when they misjudged where the other's foot was.

"Ruin?"

Ian nudged Ruin none too gently. She looked up and unhooked her earphones and music came out, completely intangible noise. "Yeah?" she asked in that sultry voice that Sonia envied. Ruin always looked cool and calm, and always sounded mature and intelligent. She never had any embarrassing moments when she squeaked in front of large crowds. Of course, as Arista pointed out, she also didn't have any other tones other than boredly annoyed.

"Could you please turn your music down a little?"

"Sure." Ruin conceded and seconds later, the music was almost inaudible.

Sonia pulled open the romance novel she'd hidden in her lap. It would completely ruin her reputation if she were found to be reading trashy romances instead of philosophy books, though she acknowledged that this stuff rotted your mind. They gave you false hopes that guys were as perfect as they were in the books, if they were realistically written that is. If it was set in a third Dimension where he was a prince, well that was a little hard to imagine happening to her. For a second, she indulged in a daydream of Ozuma on horseback with a brown hood that shadowed his face and put his vibrant jade eyes in startling relief…

"OW!"

She closed her eyes and sighed heavily, looking over to the table she'd forbade herself to look at, to see Amber nursing her hand.

"Amber?"

"Ah nothing sir, it was just a bee." she brushed his question off carelessly not noticing the horrified look Arista was shooting her.

"A bee, in February?"

"Uh… maybe it wasn't then. It was a black flying bug thingy and ick!"

Would I ever get away with that kind of answer? Sonia wondered as she watched Shallow nod, his beard twitching in amusement. Probably not. The other girls did, because they were just quirky and teachers liked them. She turned her attention to the odd couple. Amber and Kai suited each other, she decided; they meshed in a really good way. She wanted what they had. And what Johnny and Miyami had. And Aspin and Kane, she most certainly wanted a relationship like theirs. It was solid and despite the fact that they could bicker, they never really had any holes in their relationship. She wanted her man to look at her the way Hitoshi looked at Shahero openly pre-Open day and now when she wasn't looking. That look of smoldering passion, as though he couldn't bear the thought of being separated from her, the look that would make her knees just buckle. She wanted someone to respect her opinion the way Tala respected Ruin's. In fact she wanted Tala's respect, Hitoshi's passion, Johnny's recklessness, Kai's broodiness, Kane's devotion, Enrique's cuteness, Robert's brains, Bryan's protectiveness… or maybe not, that would be stifling but she wanted half of his protectiveness, Rei's reasonability, Tyson's loyalty, Max's feel good vibe, Daichi's humor and Oliver cookery skills… she wasn't asking for much, was she?

Maybe she should write this down. Putting the book away, she pulled out a notebook and began to list down the things she said. Now what was it again? Tala's respect? Yes, Tala's respect and his hair… or the redness of it. Ok maybe not, that was being too specific though she had seen a film where the girl wrote down the kind of man she'd fall in love with and he'd turned up… when she was thirty something! Not good, was there a way to speed up the process? She wondered as she nibbled the top of the pen.

A soft smile adorned her lips as she watched Kai take yet another distraction away from Amber to add to his already growing pile of elastic bands, erasers, and whatever else he'd confiscated to coax her into working on her history project.

So that was Kai's broodiness… and possibly his soft heart. He did have one, but he hid it very well. He did seem to have this quality about him that endeared him to others without actually making them want to physically protect him. He drew them to him without meaning to. His whole team cared about him and they respected his opinions. He helped Ian and others out with their homework, he treated everyone with respect despite trying to keep the barrier up between him and the others. People just had to work a little to gain his respect and they wanted it because he didn't just give it to anyone, they felt good when they earned it. That was a good quality of his.

However, since she didn't know what quality that was, she would just go with his broodiness, of course that clashed with Max's feel good quality but she supposed that her perfect man would cheer her up but at the same time, like his privacy at times. He'd only let her close, while keeping others just a little away because he'd trust and love her unconditionally. He'd be honorable and honest, trust worthy and he'd have his flaws but they wouldn't be anything that would give her any qualms about the person he was. He wouldn't drink a lot of alcohol or smoke anything, or do drugs because she just didn't think she'd be attracted to anyone like that.

She flicked through her mental list, Tyson's loyalty because he was indefinitely loyal and that was good, so were his determination and friendliness but she didn't want Tyson so she just put down his loyalty. Robert's brain but not his personality because he was too stifling and dull as dishwater, well to her he was, maybe someone else would find him stimulating company. Enrique's adorable cuteness which wasn't his looks but his essence. Rei's reasonability, though that wasn't the word, there was just something about Rei that made her feel comfortable and that she could talk to him without him gossiping. However, she liked how sensible he was too, so that went in.

Hitoshi's passion… which looked kind of odd down on paper but she knew what she meant. Oliver's good cooking skills, he could make a mean meal. Bryan's protectiveness towards Amber, or maybe towards the girls, it was almost similar but not as strong as it was for Amber. He was a good person who'd just been hurt a lot and let down, so she wanted that protectiveness but not the reason as to why he had it. She didn't want her man to have a hard childhood. Selfish maybe, but she didn't think she'd cope if he did. She wasn't strong enough. Johnny's rebellious nature, that would make things exciting though that would come with his temper too… oh well, a temper was ok as long as it was just anger and not violence, physical, mental, verbal or otherwise. She wanted Kane's devotion, the way he'd taken care of Aspin after she'd been hurt was really admirable. Oh and Daichi's comedic nature. He was fun to be around and she liked it when he joked with her. Ozuma could be funny like that when he was in one of his playful moods. He had so many moods though it was hard to keep up.

She looked down at her list and scanned it. Oh god, her guy was going to be bi-polar or if not then he was… "Oh god, I just described Ozuma." she whispered horrified. Well, she should have known she was going to do that, the guy was just haunting her now. She knew he was sitting beside Kai but she'd had to ignore him because every time she looked at him, he'd catch her and it was becoming embarrassing how much she'd been blushing these past couple of days. She was still at a lost as to what to do with him. The seduction plan was dead in the water, she just didn't have the guts.

Unfortunately she was going to have to admit that she was either heavily infatuated with him or it was love… But still, what to do about these myriad of feelings?

"Kai!"

The stage whisper caught Sonia's attention and she was grateful for the distraction. Amber was trying to get Kai to look at her. Every so often, she exchanged a glance with Arista and the two would grin while Kai kept his head bowed and tried to, unsuccessfully, ignore his girlfriend. His ears were burning; Sonia noted and suppressed a giggle as Amber used a fluffy pen to tickle the one closest to her.

"What?" he demanded, in a quiet tone, shooting a furtive glance in Shallows direction but the man was lost in History.

"Can we?"

"No."

"Please?"

"Please?" Arista echoed complete with pouty lips and puppy dog eyes.

"I said no. No." he repeated earnestly looking into Amber's eyes trying to communicate with her to just drop the subject. Alas, since Amber wasn't getting what Amber wanted, she was just going to become more annoying.

"Please?"

"No."

"Fine, I'll ask Ruin."

"She has detention." Ozuma replied absently.

"Bollocks. Um, Spence!"

Spencer jerked his head up and glared blearily at the girl who'd disturbed his sleep. Russia who'd been sleeping quietly on his shoulder, peeked one lazy green eye open and then dismissing them as nothing, she closed her eyes again. "What?" he whispered.

"Can you-"

"Never mind!" Kai snapped.

"You three can settle your plans together later; you're supposed to be doing homework."

Ian snorted then began to snigger quietly under his breath. Something that Shallow had said must have sounded odd to the midget because he couldn't seem to stop laughing to breathe despite the fact that Russia had opened her eyes enough to tell him to.

"Why are you telling him to breathe?" Amber asked. "Does he look like he's about to have a baby?"

"WHAT!" the surrounding students gaped at the petite Irish girl.

"You always tell a pregnant woman to breathe before she squirts out a baby. Now every time I hear someone ordering some one to breathe, I keep half expecting a baby to fly out of somewhere."

Shallow rubbed his face tiredly. "Amber, please." he pleaded calmly.

Sonia frowned. "Hey, you told me to breathe that time we were in the bathroom-"

"What time? Oh that time you threw me into the toilets?" Now both girls were paying no attention to the people staring at them trying to make head nor tail of the conversation. "Yeah, well the state you were in, you were about to have kittens!"

"Oh my god." Miyami muttered. "You described O-"

Sonia snapped her baby blues over to her silver haired friend and was horrified to see that Miyami was looking at her list of traits for her perfect man. "Leave that alone!" She blurted out, grabbing the sheet and shoving it into her bag. "You didn't see anything."

Miyami raised a brow but before she could reply, the bell rang and the garnet haired girl sprang to her feet and darted out the door. Miyami wasted no time in chasing after her.

Bewildered, Amber watched her two friends leave, before she realized her own prey was getting away. Scooping her own stuff into her bag, she slung it over her shoulder and hurried to catch up with Kai. She was going to the Sharks game whether he liked it or not!

* * *

Salima ran a brush through her auburn hair as she looked out at the dense darkness outside the window. Soon enough the summer would come and the light would last longer. She didn't like the dark, it was just a fear she'd never conquered. When she'd been younger, it had been monsters under her bed or in the closet, now it was murderers, rapists and juvenile arsonists. They were just some of the things that plagued her mind when she lay in bed at night listening to the quiet breathing of Kirby, Mariah and Mariam. Just the sound of footsteps outside the door -usually someone going to the bathroom- or the murmur of voices or the tap of a branch against the window had her heart accelerating and her breathing going shallow as she lay tense in the bed, senses attuned for anything that seemed out of the ordinary. It was pretty stupid, she supposed, since she was surrounded by people and if anyone attacked her, then her friends would be there to save her. Then again, she'd heard on the news about a girl being raped by a man when her friends were lying in the beds next to hers. They'd just thought she'd been having a nightmare.

Fears and thoughts like that were going to drive her insane. She was constantly going to be looking over her shoulder for the rest of her life, living a half life afraid of anyone and anything. It wasn't how she wanted to live her life and she had no reason to even think any of these things. She had never been attacked, she'd never come remotely close to anything that should put the fear of god into her. Her fears were unsubstantial. She could see through it if she'd had a scare or a traumatic experience, it would make sense for her to be afraid but she hadn't and so she was just a self proclaimed scaredy-cat.

"Salima, are you ok?"

She looked over her shoulder and smiled at Emily who was reading through one of her Science magazines as she toyed with her carrot hair. "Yes, I'm fine."

"You look tired, is something bothering you? Are you doing ok in your classes?"

"Yes, I'm doing fine in my classes. It's just…" She sighed gustily. "I was just thinking."

Emily shifted onto her knees so she could regard her friend's forlorn expression. "What about?"

"Nothing really."

"You know, we should have a girly night to cheer everyone up." Mariah stated from her position, stretched out on her bed. "The JV boys are away at the cinema and the senior boys are having a 'guy night'" She made air quotes with her fingers. "So why don't we have a girl night?"

Emily pondered that. She could do with a girl night. It would be nice to be pampered and she had some face packs and beauty treatments left over from Christmas that wouldn't be used up by her alone. "Yeah, I'm up for it."

"Who else would be up for it?" Mariah asked as she rolled onto her stomach.

"Mariam, Hillary, Kirby's away, um… the senior girls-" Emily paused in the middle of ticking off suitable people as the tension rose a level. "Not the senior girls then?"

Mariah made a face. "Miyami's really fun on girl nights and Aspin actually is really good with makeup, she's amazing at covering up bags under the eyes, but…"

"But Mariam won't be in the same room as Amber." Salima finished quietly.

Emily tsked in disgust. "That's getting really irritating. Mariam won't sit with us if Amber's sitting near us. Kirby feels that she has to go behind Mariam's back to talk to Amber and it's so stupid. Big deal, Kai broke up with her; she should just get over it."

Salima sneered at Emily. "Would you just get over it if Max broke up with you to be with Kirby?"

"That would never happen." the red head pointed out. Logically, the chances of that were 1 billion to 1 because Kirby wasn't Maxy's type and vice versa and Kirby was into Miguel in a big way.

"Hypothetically."

"Hypothetically, yes I'd be angry but Max and I have been together longer than Kai and Mariam were. They were only a couple for a few… months, if even that."

"She still cared about him, Emily." Mariah pointed out. "I just think he handled it wrong but I think, if Kai had just broken up with Amber after a short time, then she could really complain but he's still with her, so he must be serious about her. It's not like he broke up with Mariam just for a casual fling."

"Yeah but they still haven't been together as long as Kai and Mariam." Salima pointed out.

Mariah shrugged and sat up, pushing her rose hair out of her face. "Where's Hillary? I thought you said she'd be here in few moments Emily? That was fifteen minutes ago."

Emily looked at the door as though it was responsible for being here. "She said she had prefect duties to perform or something but she was almost finished them."

"What duties?" Salima asked. She didn't know of any duties… Mariam was a prefect but she'd mentioned none, then again, she wasn't here either.

"Oh well, hey Valentines day's coming up soon. Sending anyone anything Salima?"

Salima tucked her tongue in her cheek and shot Emily a dark look that was repeated by Mariah. Sometimes Emily just opened her mouth and didn't think of what came out. Sighing, Salima flopped down onto her bed, the springs groaning beneath her. "There's no eye candy in the school anymore."

"Yes there is." Mariah countered. She spotted plenty of eye candy but they just weren't her boyfriend, a snide part of her pointed out. She couldn't help but dislike the fact that Salima liked her boyfriend. It made things uncomfortable but if they avoided the topic of Rei, then they were fine. They could just avoid each other, but Mariah was a social creature and all the other girls in the year annoyed her. Most of her cheerleading friends began to bug her after spending time with them so it was nice to hang out with people who weren't into cheerleading. There were also the facts that they shared a dorm and Salima was a really nice person. They shared a lot in common, including liking Rei, she added darkly.

"I wish I was a senior." Emily interjected quickly, sensing the rivalry between Mariah and Salima rise up.

"Why?"

"They get to go away for the Easter Holidays."

"Oh yeah. Where are they going this year?" Mariah wondered; studying her pink sock clad feet.

"Ireland." Salima replied without much interest.

"Ooh, home of the guys with that cute Irish accent. Damn, I wish I could go. When is it? Easter?"

"That's what she said Mari."

"Hmm, I wonder if Rei's going. If he is, I want a present."

Emily chuckled. "Like what? A pot of gold?"

"I was going with a stick of rock or something, those sweets that Amber brought back were gorgeous and that chocolate, heaven. But a pot of gold would do as a substitute."

"You don't half set your sights high."

Salima grinned, tilting her head back to look at the ceiling. "I hope we get to go somewhere a little more exotic than Ireland. Why are they going there anyway? Is it for European History?"

"Yep, something to do with people learning more by going away to a foreign country. Last year it was Italy, this year Ireland. I think the geography class goes too, don't they? They combined it one year to make up the numbers."

The door opened and Mariam walked in greeting them with a brief smile before walking over to Salima's bed and lifting her friend's feet before placing them in her lap. 'What are you guys talking about?"

"Oh just upcoming events. There's the trip to Ireland for the seniors, the Spring Formal and the Prom for the seniors and juniors, um and some other things I can't think of."

"There'll be fund raisers for the Ireland trip."

"Kai will be going on that. He does history." Mariam said softly, her rain of royal blue hair falling down to curtain her face.

"Yeah so will Miyami and Amber and co. I can't wait for the prom, that'll be fun. All of us dressing up. Poor Kirby though, she's not old enough to go yet. Neither are you Ems, poor ickle sophomores."

Emily stuck out her tongue and made a face at their surprised gasps. "So where's Hillary?"

Mariam stood up and crossed to the wall to repin Chad Michael Murray who was beginning to become unglued from the wall. Pressing a kiss to her fingers and pressing it to his lips. "She's giving Arista and _her_ a detention slip thingy for running in the hall."

Mariah and Emily exchanged glances. Obviously she'd caught sight of Amber and Kai together, every time she did she became steadily bitterer towards her one time friend but she was very good at covering things from others. They knew how cut up she was but they doubted any of the others had a clue. She just didn't want Kai to see how much he'd hurt her which was why she'd extended the hand of friendship towards Kai so that he'd think everything between them was fine.

"So we're thinking of having a girl night, pampering, facials, gossip and chick flicks, you up for it?" Mariah changed the subject.

Mariam considered it, though part of her mind was on what Kai would look like in a tux, devilishly handsome, would be a good descriptive term. "Yeah sure. Who's all invited?"

"Us guys mainly."

"What about the senior girls?"

"Uh…" Emily trailed off and looked to Mariah for help.

"We weren't sure how you'd feel about that?"

"Why not?"

"Wouldn't Amber be there? Or are you planning to invite her friends but not her?" Salima asked bluntly since the others girls weren't getting anywhere.

Mariam jerked her shoulder and flicked her hair out from her ear. "Honestly, I don't mind but I think she's got something planned with Kai." her tone turned slightly sour towards the end belying her carefree attitude. "Look guys, I don't have a problem with them dating. It won't last long anyway. They're too different, so I can put up with them until they inevitably break up."

"And if they don't?"

"They'll be going off to college in a few months, anyway."

"I guess." Mariah said quietly. She wouldn't admit it but she had to admire the way Mariam was handling the whole thing. She was being so grown up. Mariah knew that she couldn't be so composed; she'd be catty and bitter to her ex's new girlfriend if she still loved him. If not, then naturally she'd let him move on with another, that would be only fair but if she felt as strongly as Mariam obviously still did with Kai, she wouldn't be able to pretend nothing had happened, especially if the new girlfriend was flaunted in front of her every waking minute. But maybe she'd feel different if the new girlfriend was a friend, that could be different… somehow Mariah just felt that would just be more painful though.

"So we'll invite Miyami, Aspin, Shahero?"

"Yeah, she needs cheering up." Mariah answered Emily with a determined nod. Whether the petite Asian girl wanted to hang out and do girly things didn't matter, she was going to.

"Arista?"

"She's going with Amber and Kai."

Emily raised a brow. "Really? Interesting. Oh Sonia, naturally. Pity we couldn't smuggle in some alcohol, Sonia's always a blast when she's drunk."

"She's been avoiding alcohol ever since the kiss."

"I still can't get over how she's not kissing Ozuma's lights out. The guy's completely gone over her and there she is, hiding around corners when she sees him in the corridor, literally. The other day he was walking down the hall and she sees him and jumps into our French class."

Mariam stared at Mariah. "Seriously?"

Salima nodded. "Yep, it was terribly funny, but I felt so sorry for her. Especially when she looks over her shoulder and sees our whole class watching her. Poor girl was almost as red as her hair."

"That's not possible, not with her skin color." Emily stated. "How about we just invite every one and if they come, they come, if they don't, they don't."

"Sounds good, and she was pretty red. Mrs. King just stared at her with those beady eyes, poor Suns looked as though she wanted the ground to swallow her up. Oh and Salima, I'm going to curl your hair. I've been itching to do it in those corkscrew curls. We'll practice for prom, K?" Mariah gave her friend's hair a friendly tug and then she pranced out of the room in a giddy run to claim her stuff from the bathroom cabinet.

Salima grinned. So maybe she would sleep well tonight, safe in the knowledge that she had good friends and people who cared about her, and should she die, well at least she'd look good.

* * *

"OK listen up you three, if we-"

"Yeah you three listen to Kai, especially you Tala. I know what a troublemaker you are."

Kai sighed and squeezed his forehead twice. What the hell had he let himself in for? Taking his girlfriend, who was sitting in the passenger seat lecturing the three in the back while fiddling with the radio; and Shahero and Arista, to the Sharks game was asking for trouble. Unfortunately he'd been accosted in the hall after he'd gotten Amber out of another detention by using his looks on Hillary. He felt used, but the kiss from Amber had been worth it and that made him a sucker. Just as long as she didn't know that his weakness was her kisses, then he would survive this relationship. Of course, when she did that adorable lost and confused look, he usually ended up bending to her wishes. It was going to get him in so much trouble, he just knew it.

Tala simply shot his childhood friend a bland smile and thought up various revenges on Kai for dragging him along. He was supposed to be hanging out with Ruin tonight and he'd told that to Kai, only for his friend to inform him that Ruin had gotten a late night art room clean up detention and couldn't go. So with no excuse, Tala was dragged along. Why hadn't he said that he was going to the guy night with the others? At least that plan wouldn't back fire.

"I'm being serious girls; don't stray from me and Tala. If you're going somewhere, tell one of us and we'll escort you or something." he really didn't want to take Amber to Clonmel, he really didn't.

"Even if we gotta go pee?"

"Especially if you have to pee. Don't want you to fall down the toilet, now do we Ris?" Tala teased, tugging on a silver strand mingling with gold.

She wrinkled her nose and pulled out a thin plastic straw only to have Shahero snap it from her. "Hey!"

"I'm depressed; I need as much sugar as possible."

"But that was my last pixie stick!"

"Well then you shouldn't have lied last night about having none then, should you?"

Kai shook his head and concentrated on his driving, vaguely aware of the music Amber was skipping through. Another one of her mixed CD's, he guessed as he sped up to over take a dump truck.

"Hey, it's Amber's song." Tala announced as '_Basketcase_' by _Greenday_ came on. At her raised brow, he elaborated. "It describes you to a T, or at least the first verse does."

"Then the second one describes you."

Tala frowned. "Ha, funny."

"What's the second one?" Arista asked.

"The shrink and the whore one. Oh and the lack of sex."

Shahero snickered. "Nice one."

"I'll have you know that I certainly don't have a lack of sex." Tala pointed out.

Amber opened her mouth to shoot something back regarding the mention of a whore in the song, then figuring that that would only call Ruin a whore, she decided to just blow a raspberry. She turned to Kai when he squeezed her knee causing her leg to jerk in reaction. That was his way of telling her to behave when he was driving, her knee was black and blue from the amount of times he had to scold her nonverbally. "Sorry. Oh, so what's this thing like?"

"Like an ice hockey match, Ember. You know what they are like, don't you?"

The humor in his voice cruised over her and she stuck out her tongue at him. It was easy to forget the three amigos in the backseat when they were in the car with the darkness pressing against the window panes and the deserted road ahead of them. It was so intimate within the car, so quiet and confined, the world blocked outside of the metal cage so that it was just the two of them cocooned inside.

The electronic melody came out of the speakers and then the crashing chords of the electric guitar and the roll of drums announced the arrival of the song she wanted from her CD. Unconsciously her foot began to tap as she turned her attention out to the dark landscape beyond the window.

"So where were you Shahero? I went up to the dorm to find you but you weren't there."

Shahero looked at Arista then shrugged. She hadn't gone anywhere special, she'd gone to the car park to exact a little revenge on Hitoshi but her heart really wasn't in it. Besides, part of her didn't want him to know how hurt she was. When they saw each other in the corridor, they just pretended the other didn't exist. He was moving on from her, she realized and it hurt to see it. She was like a bystander, standing on the side lines and watching him walk further and further out of her life. She didn't know how this was going to be settled but she couldn't approach him. It was a matter of pride and she seemed to have as much as both Johnny and Miyami together.

"This is going to be a blast." Arista declared as the car turned off the main road and rolled through two stone brick pillars. Engraved on a brass plate was the school name and under it the Headmasters name and Boris Balkov's name, for god knows what reason. There was none that she could make out as they moved slowly through the gates and down the path to the school. It was a beautiful building and the large quad surrounded by bare trees that would be lush with leaves in the summer, was carefully manicured. The building itself was like an old English castle, with the roof bordered by a wall with little squares sitting up on it. The windows were plentiful but small and narrow and the door into the building was big and probably made of oak or some other heavy duty wood.

"Jaysus." Was Amber's awed whisper as they drove under the canopy of trees, over the gravel that crunched under the wheels and around to the back of the school, to the car park that was lit up in orange lights.

Shahero gaped at the school. "Wow, and the rejects think our school is rich."

"Shit yeah."

"It's nothing much." Kai brushed off the comments dismissively as he parked the car and turned off the engine, cutting off the music abruptly and snapping the girls out of their stupor.

"Now don't go drawing any attention to yourselves." Tala ordered as he climbed out, unfolding his lanky form and staring up at the school over the open door as Arista climbed out after him. He shivered subconsciously and noted Kai didn't seem to be enjoying himself much more.

Amber looked at the buildings that surrounded them, almost flanking the main building and rounded the car to position herself between Kai and Tala. She slipped her hand into Kai's when she noticed the tension in her shoulders and immediately her stomach cramped with guilt. She bit her lip as though to bite back the vicious stabbing pain and took fast, shallow breaths. She shouldn't have begged Kai into letting her do this. Technically she shouldn't have had to beg him since he wasn't the boss of her. However, that wasn't the point, it was the fact that Kai didn't want to be here and he shouldn't have to be. She hadn't taken that into account and now she felt really bad. She squeezed his hand gently and smiled at him when he looked down at her, his own eyes were wary as though expecting some kind of attack.

"You owe me Ember."

"I know."

"Never thought we'd come back here, huh?" Tala muttered in an aside to Kai smiling down at Amber when she slipped her other hand into his. Though it had pained him when she comforted Kai first, then again, she was obligated to think of him first some of the time, he was after all her boyfriend.

Kai's lips twitched, though the amusement didn't light up his eyes. "Not voluntarily, no."

"Hope you're not expecting anything for Valentines Day, Benz."

Amber grinned. "Nah, I'll make do with that rose from Bryan."

Kai shot her a look. "From Bryan?"

"Yeah Bryan gives Amber a rose every year." Arista answered.

"Why does he give you a rose?" He really was beginning to wonder about Bryan's relationship to his cousin.

"Oh Benz didn't get a Valentines card and all her friends did, so she was upset and Bryan took pity on her and decided he'd get her one the next year. What year was it, oh yeah that was last year-" he broke off as Amber elbowed him.

"Shut up! It was not last year. Tala wasn't even there last year." she told Kai. "I was twelve and every one else got one, Tala got several, even Kane got one, so I was rightly upset. And Bryan felt sorry for me, so the next year I got a rose and it was really pretty. I kept it for days until it died and then I pressed it in a book."

"I forgot about that." Tala said as he held open the dark blue swing doors for them. In the distance, murmurs of noise could be heard.

"Well, it took me ages to find out it was him and when I did, I realized that he didn't want me to know. He's happy to do it anonymously, so each year, I make a big deal about my secret admirer and Bryan just threatens to kill… well himself." She finished on a grin.

Kai shook his head. He had to admit, that was a thoughtful gesture. Bryan seemed to be full of them when it came to Amber which was why it had been so hard to win him over, but for the most part, Bryan was civil to him and didn't shoot him any death glares anymore. They were both important to her and they had to accept that. He figured they were moving towards respecting each other. As long as he didn't hurt Amber, then Bryan would have no reason to plot his death in vivid detail.

They walked down the corridor lit up in bright lights, following the well dressed people who were talking loftily about how their son's were doing on the team. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of Brooklyn's parents standing side by side and talking to Balkof. "Shit, let's go." he caught Shahero's wrist and half dragged her along with Amber towards the entrance of the arena. The noise rose into a crescendo as they stepped into the arena and they were immediately hit by how sedate the Sharks side was. A few banners and people in the team Jersey and that was it. They talked quietly amongst each other as they awaited the team and they were so contrary compared to the Warrior fans who seemed to be quite disturbed by their opposition but were still singing the customary Warrior anthem while their cheerleaders pranced and jumped behind the checking boards.

"I feel like I've entered the twilight zone." Shahero muttered inching closer to Kai.

"They're always like this."

Arista scanned the ice for any sign of Brooklyn but she saw none which meant he must have still been in the changing rooms. As her eyes swept over the crowds she spotted a familiar face. "Hey, there's Li."

The other four looked in the direction she was pointing and spotted the brown haired boy staring moodily at the ice with his shoulders hunched.

"C'mon, Shahero, let's go say hello to our friend Li." Amber suggested with a smirk, tugging Kai along behind her.

Shahero watched as her friends left and blew out a breath before following them. It wasn't as though Syaoran Li was a bad person, he was nice, maybe a bit aloof but perfectly companionable however after his girlfriend had accused her of flirting with him, she'd given him a wide berth. Though now he was dating a different girl altogether, it may not be so painful to sit near him.

"Why isn't he playing?" Kai wondered, keeping an eye out for Balkof.

"He's talking to Brooklyn's parents." Tala informed him, leaning closer and looking around for other people they knew from school. He saw a few boys from his classes and some who were brothers of his ex teammates. He also saw some girls he knew from the all girl boarding school on the other side of Rexford. They were casually flirting with some over eager boys. Some noticed him and waved him over with coy smiles while nudging their friends but he declined with a shake of his head. The Tala they knew was dead and buried, slain by his courageous Benz, he thought with a fond smile aimed at the back of her head as she all but pounced on an unwary Syaoran.

His eyes fell on a familiar red head and he jabbed Kai with his elbow. "There's Auto."

"Auto?" Kai followed Tala's finger and a blue brow rose. "What's she doing here? Didn't you email her to let her know we'd left?"

"Yeah, I can't think why she's here. I'm going to say hello, you coming?"

Kai nodded before leaning over and whispering something in Amber's ears that had her nodding and murmuring something back. "They're going to find a place to sit near Geoff and the Warrior supporters. Let's go see her."

Nodding, Tala led the way to the pretty red head who was watching the whole scene without much enthusiasm.

* * *

Kai stretched out his legs and tilted back his head to stare up at the flood lights that illuminated the stadium and reflected off the oval of ice beneath him. The ice gleamed, recently polished and buffed with the shark emblem emblazoned on each side. Money well spent, he thought sardonically. The school donated everything to the hockey team, the people on the team were spoiled, worshipped by the other students, treated like glorified gods, it was almost hard for them not to become arrogant. It was different at Preston. He was known only because of once being a shark, for dating Mariam and Amber -and causing a rift between them too- and naturally he was known for being the captain of the team but the team wasn't a big deal in Preston. They didn't own the school; they were just another group to add to the school social system. They weren't quite jocks, too many eclectic personalities to just be singled as a sporting group and they weren't popular enough to be jocks.

His eyes lifted to the opposite stand where Amber was sitting on the seat with her knees pulled up to her chest as her somber eyes lingering on the ice. Beside her Arista and Shahero babbled contentedly to the captain of the Warriors, Syaoran Li. Why he wasn't playing still baffled Kai. They were similar, he thought. Both of them were keen hockey players, that was what they'd once been all about, but now they had other things to live for, Kai mused as he watched a beautiful brunette slip onto the bench beside Li and lean her head on his shoulder. A soft expression crossed the normally solemn boy's face as he tenderly stroked a tendril of hair out of her visage.

"What is so interesting over there?" Autumn Winters demanded, punching Kai none too gently on the arm to get his attention.

"His girlfriend." Tala answered her from his seat on the other side of her.

Autumn looked at her red haired friend and raised a brow. "You're shitting me? Kai's got a girlfriend?" She turned to Kai and pointed to him. "This Kai? Mr. Stoic? Has a girlfriend? Are you serious? You're shitting me, aren't you?"

Tala smirked. "No, he has a girlfriend."

"What's so surprising about me having a girlfriend?" the blunette teen demanded defensively, folding his arms and frowning almost petulantly… when he realized what he was doing, he almost slapped himself. God, Amber was having such a bad affect on him.

Autumn snorted. "You're joking? C'mon, Kai, you're hot and all that, no doubt but you're not the type to have a 'girlfriend'. You've had the odd girl but you've never let anyone label themselves your girlfriend, they were… what did you call them again?" she frowned, her brow knitting in concentration as she tried to remember. "Uh… um… well, they weren't girlfriends, I can tell you that much." she glanced at Tala. "And now you're telling me he has one? Like a steady girlfriend?"

"One he makes out with in public." Tala confirmed with a nod and a bemused smile at his best friends thunderous expression.

"You do not." she exclaimed. "Who is she? Which one? Come on, red, point her out." she demanded, tugging on the handsome Russian's sleeve.

Kai groaned and buried his head in his hands. "Tala, don't."

"Oh come on. I need to give her my seal of approval. I mean this is a big deal. You never had a girlfriend in all the time I knew you at Clonmel and now suddenly you have one. She must be really special."

"Yeah, she is, better than his previous one anyway."

Autumn eyes widened. "Previous? As in he had one before this one? As in, this brings his girlfriend count up to two?" when Tala nodded, she whistled softly. "Wow. This is big news. They must really make the girls good in that Preston school. I mean, I was beginning to think you were gay-" At Kai's dark look she quickly backpedaled. "Ok maybe not. But, think about it, while Tala was making out with every girl possible at those co-ed dances between our schools, you were pretty anti-girl."

"He was just being picky. You know how Kai is. Always has to have the best."

"And she's the best?"

"Can you please not talk about me like I'm not here?" Kai growled quietly.

"_The_ best." Tala confirmed with a grin, enjoying the pained expression on Kai's face that said 'I'm-never-going-to-live-this-down' which was true enough if Benz should ever hear about the conversation and its contents. Great blackmail.

"Ok, show her to me."

"Don't." Kai growled.

Tala chuckled at his friends comment and then proceeded to point out the one girl that Autumn hadn't been expecting to be linked with Kai.

"When is this game starting?" Kai grumbled as Tala and Autumn began to coo over Amber like little old ladies. He smirked. Amber would have a field day with this sort of conversation; she'd already mentioned her notion that Tala was distantly related to mother goose. He was beginning to think she was right.

"Shouldn't be too long." Autumn replied, snapping out of her teasing state. "Seems the Sharks got some new players to replace you. They're not bad; you'll have some serious competition when they go up against you."

Tala nodded grimly. "And it's not just the fact that they're faster, bigger built, it's also the fact that this has become very personal. Or maybe I just feel that way."

Kai bobbed his head in agreement. "It isn't just you. Last year the Tigers were just another name on the match up list. An obstacle to overcome to get the cup. Now though, it's different. I need to beat the Sharks. I need to prove something to them. To show Brooklyn that I don't need him to carry me, us for that matter."

"That shit's got his head firmly stuck up his ass." Autumn muttered scathingly. "Him and his whole band of cronies. All as egotistical as the next. They probably wouldn't realize if you did beat them. It'd probably take a few months to sink in."

Both boys snorted.

"**Ladies and Gentlemen…**" the commentators voice interrupted any other words they were about to say as a band of figures dressed in green came out onto the ice, circling the polished surface.

* * *

"**Adams with the puck. He shoots and he scores!"**

Mystel scowled at the figures on the ice and cursed Balkof with every name under the sun. Maybe with enough mental power he could give Balkof warts and boils, great big pussy ones that would burst with just a spasm of a muscle. Yeah that would serve the miserable old git right, though it would give him a reason to be miserable. And what was Balkof's problem anyway? Something had crawled up his bony old ass and died there and was slowly rotting away. He even smelled like rotting flesh, made it disgusting to just be near the old fella. It was the kind of sour smell that made you gag and hold your breath in the hopes of keeping your food down.

However Mystel had no hopes of escaping the vile putrid stench that surrounded Balkof like a cloud of noxious gasses since he was stuck riding the pine pony. It was his punishment for organizing a street hockey game that had resulted in Carlos's nose being smashed but not broken and in José being given a wedgie of epic proportions. Though that was almost worth being stranded on the bench for the entire game. Almost.

"**And the goalie covers the puck. Steven Bordeaux is one amazing goalie, you'd be hard pressed to find another as good as him. And that's Conway taken down by Hiragizawa. The Warriors seem at a loss without their captain Li Syaoran though. Hiragizawa, 2 minutes for hooking."**

He propped his foot up on the bench while his eyes scanned the warrior's fans. They were all jeering and waving their green and gold flags, booing and hissing at the ref for the unfair call. It was a stark contrast to the Shark fans, he thought with exasperation. The school frowned on any outbursts or delinquent behavior. Though how cheering on your school team and showing some school spirit was delinquent behavior was beyond him.

He sighed, a sigh laced with exasperation and self pity. He really wanted to be out on the ice playing, showing off his talents… His eyes trailed up to the stands where the girl from last week was sitting beside Belle and talking cheerfully. She really was the most vivid person he'd come across in his life. He could tell that from the open smile on her face and the way her hands moved expressively with every word. She was vehemently cursing the referee and cheering on the Warriors despite being a member of the Tigers. It was a strange thing. He didn't think any of his team-mates would support another team.

Suddenly she smiled brightly and he felt a swooping sensation in his stomach. He wouldn't mind having that smile aimed at him. If only she weren't a Tiger, they might have had a chance to get to know each other. He didn't even know what her voice sounded like but he imagined it to be as animated as her expressive face.

He sighed and turned his attention back to his team mates. Brooklyn was racing down the ice, probably without any clue that his Belle was watching his every move. Moses swept a Warrior forward out of his way with an elegant shove of his shoulder into his chest.

"**Adams has the puck. He passes to Thornton who passes it back to Conway. He shoots. The goalie catches the puck. The puck is frozen…"**

Mystel groaned dramatically at the monotonous drone of the commentator. What was the point of listening if you were going to be bored to tears by the commentators' annoyingly droll voice? This was nothing like the Tigers games, no wonder they were popular. The only thing that brought the Sharks fans was that they constantly won. They didn't have any charisma or any redeeming qualities. In fact he was pretty sure that the only fans they had were supporting them so that they could support the winning team. The Tigers had fans who would stick by them even if they lost so that the victory would be all the sweeter.

Oh god, he was a closet Tiger fan, he thought with a fleeting grin remembering Brooklyn's comment about cheerleading. If the Sharks wanted to succeed on a more rounded level, they were going to have to entice people into coming. The only people who came to the games were members of the alumni and business associates who sponsored the team or parents. Families didn't choose to come here for a family night out. They didn't start of with a pizza before wrapping the chattering children up in their coats so they could be comfortable on the drive to the stadium. They didn't discuss the game plays after or discuss which team they liked better.

"**Thornton to take the face off. The Sharks win- Oh he blasted the puck. And that's another goal to the Sharks."**

The buzz of the alarm told him they'd scored again. God being a member of the Sharks was depressing when you weren't playing. The Warrior's fans were really getting into the mood. Their peach clad cheerleaders were whooping and screaming with joy and excitement while the crowd chanted, waving their foam hands and showing off their handmade posters sporting the team motto: 'Expect the unexpected.' He supposed that was a pretty good motto. After all you never knew what would happen in a game. If you weren't watching an opponent carefully then you might end up flat on your ass or a puck could fly out of nowhere and into your net without you noticing while you were scrabbling around frantically trying to find it. It was part of the reason he liked the game, the absolute insanity on the ice as everyone chased after the illustrious puck, the fact that you had to rely on your team members to do their job and that if one failed, it could cost you the game if the others didn't pick up the slack. It was exhilarating and wasn't bad to watch, but he'd rather be on the ice.

It was different for a player to watch. Being on the ice was a drug, an addiction, being off it made him edgy and he didn't get edgy easily. He'd have to mention this to Brooklyn; he'd get a kick out of knowing a stupid game made his ever cheerful roommate antsy. Withdrawal symptoms, he realized. That and Balkof breathing down his neck. The old man made him feel dirty. There wasn't a distinct reason as to why he felt his stomach churning, his gut aching and his skin crawling every time the man got close to him, but his instincts told him Balkof was evil and he trusted his instincts. Just like they told him that the girl -Amber, wasn't it? - was kind and beautiful.

He risked another glance up, being careful that he wasn't noticed. Hiwatari and Valkov were sitting up in the stands behind him and he wasn't too keen on them knowing he was developing a crush on their team-mate. He didn't develop crushes often though he'd been in love once and that wasn't something he cared to repeat. If he wasn't careful he could probably end up in that emotional state again, and it hurt too much to redo. Casually he looked over his shoulder, felt the simple jolt and sighed. It was hard to get over being in love, but he figured that moving on was a good first step.

He frowned. She was leaving. Why was she leaving? Well the game was pretty much over, the Sharks had as usual bested the Warriors with a little effort -they were third in the league. He supposed he should go too; he didn't really want to hear the team gloat about a game he'd been banned from. With a quick glance around, noting that Balkof was discussing something with the referee while the opposing Coach watched them warily, he stealthily got to his feet before opening the side hatch into the crowd and escaping up the steps.

* * *

Amber rinsed off her hands and hoped to hell that Kai hadn't noticed that she'd sneaked off to the toilet without telling him. She just wasn't used to having to inform people when she needed to pee. Good god. It wasn't as if she couldn't understand where he was coming from, she so could but still, telling someone she had to pee, that was just weird. Not that she didn't do it often enough, it was her excuse of the moment. If someone needed her to do something, she'd tell them she had to pee and that bought her a few minutes. By the time she returned, they'd usually have it done themselves. Yes, Amber Benson was a terrible lazy arsed bitch, but she didn't care.

However, because she could see where Kai was coming from, she was beginning to feel guilty. It wasn't a particularly nice feeling but it was a particularly familiar feeling. Guilt was a pain in the ass; it churned like greasy knots through your stomach and weighed you down. She didn't like it one bit. Nevertheless, if she got back before Kai noticed, then she'd be off scot-free. Besides, it wasn't as if she was going to run into some Shark. All the ones that recognized her were on the ice and the game wouldn't be over until she returned. She'd timed it so that she should just enter back into the Stadium when the chaos of the crowd leaving would create the perfect chance for her to slip into her chair unnoticed. She just hoped that Kai and Tala were too caught up in the game to see her empty chair.

The game had been alright, she supposed as the warm hair circulated over and around her wet hands. It hadn't been anything spectacular though. The great and infamous Sharks were great on the ice, but so dull to watch. Their fans were like the undead, sitting in their plush seats like mindless zombies, only giving a round of applause when the boys scored. Though their fans glorified them, it just wasn't the same. Something about the whole thing seemed creepy to her. She just couldn't put her finger on what bothered her though.

Wiping her hands on her jeans, she pushed open the door and wondered about what was going on back at the school. The boys had been planning on a boys night, something she'd never been invited to. It made her curious to know what happened on a guy's night. Did they sit around and watch porn or leer at topless women in magazines? She actually didn't know. She once tried to spy on them -only because Arista forced her to, the pain of having her arm twisted had been a great bargaining chip- only to be caught by Bryan who'd pretty much tossed her down the corridor and told her to find a more suitable way to spend her time.

She froze as an image was conjured up in her mind. An image of Ian sitting in front of the fire in the mess… painting his nails while talking to Enrique who was… comparing lip glosses? She blanched that was just wrong…

* * *

Bryan was thinking the exact same thing as he stared down at the scene the group of boys made. He'd just opened the door and there they were. Spencer was pored over a car magazine, casually looking up at the television where a Sandra Bullock romance was playing. Ian was sitting Indian style on the threadbare floor patiently painting his nails. Enrique looked up suddenly.

"I don't know? I think the candy pink would really bring out the blue of my eyes…"

Bryan balked and stepped back out of the room, closing the door behind him and frowning into the dark corridor. Oh god, he'd just entered the twilight zone…

* * *

Amber snickered. Yeah that would be funny, she thought with a grin. Then something caught her attention. A familiar voice. A very familiar laugh. Frowning slightly, she walked towards the sound. What she saw, when she peeked down the side hall made her breath catch in the back of her throat? Her heart thudded painfully, and her stomach churned in disgust. There, in one of the doorways that obviously led to the Sharks changing rooms, was Arista. But that wasn't what surprised her. No, what surprised her was not that Arista was simply standing there, but that her lips were firmly latched to the lips of one Brooklyn Adams, vice-captain of the Sharks. The slimy arrogant swine that'd pissed off Kai last week with his stupid and highly improper comments. The slimy arrogant _asshole _who'd attempted to sprain her wrist during their game at the start of the year. The slimy arrogant asshole who'd failed miserably to sprain her wrist so she couldn't get out of her homework.

Her head began to spin and she realized with a jolt that she was holding her breath and she needed to breathe before she passed out from lack of oxygen. Darting back around the corner and plastering herself against the wall, she began to gulp in air.

Oh god, that was so wrong on a whole number of levels. Arista was in a hot and heavy lip lock with… the Shark dude! That was just- Ick, ick, ick! Steeling herself, she peeked round again. Ok, nothing wrong with her eyes. They were still…

"Oh god," she whispered disgustedly.

What was Arista thinking of! Obviously she wasn't thinking with her head. Maybe Arista was being forced into kissing the jerk. He was probably sexually harassing her or something. Yes, that was it. And as her best friend, it was up to Amber to save her.

She peeked around again and bit her lip. For someone being forced, Arista sure didn't look like it. Not with the way she was pulling him closer, or the way she wasn't pushing him away as he nuzzled her throat. What was almost scary was the fact that it wasn't a hormone thing as Amber had first believed -which might have been sort of acceptable, after all hormones and lust were hard to resist and easier to break off once it burned out- but no, there actually seemed to be affection between them. Brooklyn was actually just stroking her face with a tender expression…

"Oh god." she was going to be sick.

"Well, well, well, what have we got here?"

Amber bristled and with a woeful sigh, she looked over her shoulder and up at Carlos Sonchez, the Sharks enforcer. Oh she did _not_ need this! "Go away, Sonchez, I'm in the midst of being repulsed and contrary to your belief, you're not helping."

"Tigers aren't welcome here."

What about the Tiger around the corner, she wanted to ask but restrained herself. "Well consider this payback for when you trespassed on our school." Not a highly original comeback but Carlos was a complete Neanderthal so he probably wouldn't understand good sarcasm. It would be a waste of her fine skills to even bother with him.

He stepped closer and she tried to tell herself that she wasn't intimidated but that was a plain lie because the guy was broader than her and bigger too. Not to mention that she was alone. To call out for Arista's help, well no, that would draw attention to her friend and no matter how pissed off she was with her, it was obvious that Arista wanted things between her and Brooklyn to remain a secret. So that meant, no crying out. But oh god, she vehemently wished that someone would come down the corridor.

"Go away Sonchez, I'm not doing any harm being here. I was just going to the toilet."

Carlos sneered and opened his mouth to say something when a voice called out behind him. "You heard her Sonchez, go lie down somewhere, preferably a not so shallow grave."

Carlos glared down at her before looking over his shoulder. "I wasn't doing anything, now clear off Devine."

"You're blatantly trying to intimidate me, so piss off back to the Jungle ape boy. I'm not in the mood to deal with you and if you don't leave, I'll scream rape. Believe me you don't want me to do that." she threatened, her voice rising slightly towards the end.

Nostrils flaring, Carlos backed off, his eyes darting around for anyone who might have overheard before he leaned down close to her. "You're lucky Devine showed up when he did, but the next time I see you trespassing on Shark territory you'll be sorry."

Amber shrank back but her eyes, blazing ochre, remained steady on his black beady ones before he broke the stare and stormed off. Amber blew out a breath and slumped against the wall. Slowly, she glanced up at the boy who'd come to her rescue of sorts and goggled. God he was cute. Platinum blonde hair spiked around a beautifully tanned face like a golden halo while bright blue eyes, almost as brilliant as Tala's, sparkled merrily.

"You ok?" he asked in a slightly husky tone as he approached slowly.

"Yeah," she breathed, shoving a hand through her hair and blowing out a breath, "I just keeping forgetting that no matter how low that guy's IQ is, he's a bloody great big brute."

Mystel chuckled. Her voice suited her, melodic with a dry undertone and a slight accent. Her eyes were a startling clear honey color that suited her bronzed skin tone and the dark raven of her hair, brightened by the stripes of gold.

"I'm Mystel." he blurted out, suddenly eager to acquaint himself to her.

She quirked a brow bemused. Unlike Kai, who had a decidedly mature air about him, Mystel was definitely young at heart. "Nice to meet you Mystel."

"And your name? I assume you do have one." There was an almost teasing tone to his voice that made her grin.

"Yeah, my mother figured I might do well with one. I'm Amber, so named because of my eyes." she drawled.

"Well it's very nice to meet you Amber."

* * *

Back in Preston, in the brightly lit fast food joint, Hitoshi sat at a white table and surveyed his younger brother. "So I'm supposed to take your advice and by doing that I'll win back Shahero?" he tried to clear things up so that he could understand his brother's babbling.

They were getting something to eat now that the film was over. It hadn't been a bad film but it hadn't stirred his interest either. Instead he simply just spent the hour and half thinking about Shahero and how stupidly he'd screwed up. He had let his surprise and bitterness with Selena's arrival blind him in seeing how her appearance might have affected Shahero. He kept forgetting just how young Shahero was. It was so easy to see her just as Shahero and not as the seventeen year old school girl.

It was a deliberate thing on his part, seeing her as a school girl made him feel guilty and disgusted with himself for taking advantage of her. It was much simpler to just keep telling himself that she was Shahero and Shahero was pretty mature at times, despite her childish mischievousness, emotion wise, she was more advanced than most girls her age. It was that part of her that appealed to him. He had just reacted badly. His fear of losing her had annoyed him, he didn't want to need her so much but he supposed that was just one of those side affects of falling in love with her. He had just handled the whole matter terribly and had ended up pushing her away and instead of swallowing his pride; he'd continued to just wallow in self pity. That realization sickened him.

However, listening to Tyson-he who had no girlfriend-'s advice on how to reconcile with Shahero was almost comedic.

"Sure," Tyson said over a mouthful of cow's meat, "it's not that hard. Lay on the Kinomiya charm and she'll be yours."

"The Kinomiya charm?" Daichi asked with a quirk of his brow, looking over his shoulder for Kirby who'd yet to return from the toilets. "Hate to break it to you man, but you're not exactly that charming."

"Dude, I could have any girl in this place…" his eyes trailed to the slightly overweight girl behind the counter whose skin was so shiny he could probably see his reflection in it. He grimaced. "Well maybe not, but I could have any girl I _want_."

Hitoshi choked back a laugh. "Tyson, you slay me."

With a rub of his thumb under his nose, Tyson sniffed with dignity. "I was just stating the facts."

"Sure. Now you just have to find a girl you _want_."

"What about that Hillary girl, you seem to set off fireworks with her."

Tyson sneered at his brother. "Hillary? Hillary Mizuno? Oh lord, no wonder you're a failure with the girls. There is absolutely no chance in hell that I would want _her_. She's overbearing, bossy and stuck up. We have nothing in common."

The elder Kinomiya swallowed his soda solemnly. "Yes of course, you're right. So you think I should get Hero some flowers?"

"Yeah, you know, the works. Red roses and chocolates. Chicks dig that sort of stuff. You should get them now, what with Valentines Day coming up; everything's going to get more expensive. Actually you could probably get an old box and fill it with pick 'n' mix."

"Pick 'n' mix?"

"It's where you pick and choose which sweets you want, weigh it and then pay for it." Daichi explained munching on a handful of fries he'd just stuffed in his mouth.

"I know what it is. Pick 'n' mix. Tyson, you're such a Casanova. You must be beating off the girls with a stick."

"Candles. Kirb's loves the candles. I think it's a whole chi- I mean, girl thing. They like scented candles." Daichi added.

"What scent?"

"Any, all." the red haired boy replied with a shrug. "I just know they love candles."

Hitoshi thought about their suggestions. Not exactly what he'd had in mind but at least the boys were giving it a shot. It was more than he'd expected after his recent behavior and treatment of his team. And here he was being treated as though he had done nothing wrong. Sighing, he looked around. "And just where is Kirbs, I need her female opinion on this."

* * *

Kirby scowled and furiously rubbed her hands until they were raw. The toilets in this place were disgusting and god knows what was crawling under her skin at this moment in time. She shuddered.

"Ugh."

"Cold?"

Biting back a scream, she whirled round to find Miguel standing by the corner. Her hand flew to her chest and she gaped at him. "What are you doing in here?"

"Unisex washroom." He replied with a smile flirting over his desirable mouth.

"Weird." she muttered, shaking her head in a bewildered fashion. "And not quite sane."

"Hmm." he murmured, not really hearing her. It was hard to concentrate on anything but on how she looked right at that moment. Her hair had come loose from the half pony-tail she'd sported earlier at the cinema. Her eyes were looking slightly fatigued, probably due to the harsh lighting in the bathroom compared to the darkness that had been in the cinema. Her cheeks were flushed prettily, though he had to wonder why seeing her like that still caused his stomach to swoop, after all she was always flushed after practice.

"So…" she trailed off to swallow hard, he was watching her so intensely it was hard to remember what she was going to say, so she tried for something neutral. "What did you think of the film?"

"It was ok, hardly stimulating."

She smiled wryly. "I guess. I liked it but I wanted to see the other one, you know. But majority rules, as per usual."

He froze, his hand half way through raking through his hair before he hesitantly finished the movement and thought about how he would phrase the next question. "Well, why don't we go see it next weekend?"

Kirby looked at him startled. "Well yeah…" she trailed off and shook her head. He wasn't asking her out on a date, so she shouldn't be getting over excited besides, he was dating Tamara. "Actually, I might have something else on. Uh, it's the weekend before Valentines day, right?" when he nodded slowly, she smiled ruefully. "Well won't you have plans with Tamara?"

Tamara? Why would she think that? "No."

"She's your girlfriend, you have-"

"No, Kirby." he pressed a hand to his brow. "Tamara and I aren't together."

"Really?" Oh god, did she just sound relieved? Why wasn't she comforting him? She shouldn't have been pleased, but oh god, she really was. "Uh, too bad."

Now he smiled at her in a way that made her knees feel weak. She grasped the counter so tightly her knuckles turned white, but that was a small price to pay to prevent herself from just collapsing where she stood because Miguel had smiled at her. He really should be more careful with that smile of his; it was a dangerous weapon when used freely. Several blasts of those straight white teeth, the dimple in his cheek deepening charmingly and the way those lake blue eyes suddenly brightened, would send her to an early grave.

"You never liked her Kirbs."

"No I didn't, I think, no I know, you can do better. She was way too clingy and she didn't even like ice hockey. How can you be with someone who considers a sport like ice hockey, too violent? I mean, seriously. That's part of the thrill of it. Jeez, even Alyssa likes Ice Hockey and she's a big pacifist."

He sighed and came to lean on the counter beside her. "I know. It kind of irked when she complained about how hurt I could get. I've played it nearly all my life; I know the risks better than she does. She once asked me not to play."

"What! Why did you stay with her?"

He jerked a shoulder. "She was friendly…" He groaned inwardly. "I don't know why I stayed with her Kirbs. We weren't really ever serious, or I wasn't. I guess, I just wanted someone."

She stared at him stupidly. "You wanted someone?" she took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "I guess I can understand that. But you can do better."

"Not when the girl I do like isn't interested in seeing me as anything but a friend." he mumbled.

Her head snapped up to look at him. Her cheeks began to heat up at the connotations. He wouldn't meet her gaze and her heart began to pound erratically. His hands were clenched and her blood began to simmer. He had to be talking about her. How many other friends did he have who were female? Ok, yes there was Mariah but she was with Rei. And there was Salima and Emily and Mariam but they were all kind of acquaintances. She honestly didn't think Miguel really considered them friends just people he knew and she knew that sounded harsh but they were her friends and he knew them through her.

But did she dare make the assumption that he was talking about her? Did she dare think that he liked her more than a friend? Did she want to take the next step with him? Did she want to risk her friendship with him?

Of course she did!

She spent most of her nights tormenting herself with dreams in which he confessed he liked in the numerous ways that she'd conjured up only for her to wake up and realize that it was a dream and she was still just Miguel's vice captain, Daichi's cousin. And it hurt.

"Are you talking about me?"

He risked a glance at her before quickly looking away. He shouldn't have said that, he shouldn't have. But he did and there had to be a reason he did. He needed to know if Kirby felt the same. He just had to know so that he could get on with his life. He couldn't just wait in limbo. He couldn't just keep living in hope; taking any scraps of emotion she threw his way. He had a life to get on with but if there was a chance that Kirby even felt a fraction of the way he felt about her, he had to know. And he had to know now.

"Yeah, I am."

Her eyes widened. Her heart was hammering so painfully against her chest and her blood began to pump frantically. Oh please, she begged, don't let this be another dream. She really didn't think she could take it. Her head was spinning and suddenly things were beginning to make sense. Miguel had always been there for her, even when she had been sarcastic and mean to him. It wasn't just because she was Daichi's cousin. He treated her with respect; he listened to her ideas and ordered the others to shut up when they jeered her. She'd caught him watching her when he thought she wasn't looking at him. When she'd cried about Tala having a girlfriend, he'd been the one to comfort her. And she thought with a secret smile, it had been that caring side of him that had shifted her own feelings for him.

"Oh." Oh? Oh? What the heck kind of reply was that? She asked herself. Then again, what had he expected her to say? It was such a shock that he felt remotely the same as her. Her eyes lifted to take in Miguel's reaction. His expression had gone carefully blank and then he smiled weakly at her.

"Look, Kirby you don't have to feel the same. I just, I just need to know if there's a chance. If there isn't, then nothing has to change. But I can't wait around for you-"

"Miguel, I wouldn't expect you to. It's just kind of a surprise." And this was the strangest place to have this conversation. "I didn't think you liked me like that and I don't want to wreck or friendship."

"It doesn't matter Kirby. We can still be friends, I won't force my feelings on you." he pushed away from the counter and walked to the door but her quiet voice stopped him.

"I didn't say I didn't want to try." she looked up at him with eyes drenched with so much emotion that his heart stuttered. "But can we take it slow until we get used to the idea. Kind of ease into it."

He grinned so wide he almost split his face. "Shouldn't be hard Kirbs," he stated approaching her again. "So what about the cinema next weekend?"

She bit her lip almost coyly and was about to answer him when the door opened and Joe peeked his head in. He looked between the both of them and his eyes narrowed. "What happened to you two? Fall down the toilet or what?"

"That's right; we fell down the toilet which is why we're standing right here." Kirby said pointedly. "I'll be out in a second; I just have to get my hands washed."

"Well, are you coming Miguel?"

"Yeah in a second, I have to wash my hands too."

Joe raised a brow. "Right." he drawled, feeling his throat close. Miguel had made his move, it seemed and Kirby reciprocated, he never really had a chance with Kirby in the first place. He looked at Miguel and nodded slightly, the best man had won, there was nothing he could do about it except let fate play its hand. He stepped out and the door slid closed.

"We should get out there before they send another search party." Kirby said, watching Miguel's thoughtful expression in the mirror.

"Yeah." he replied, feeling a smite of sympathy for the green haired boy. He could understand how he felt but he couldn't feel bad for making his move on Kirby. He'd rather be with Kirby than watch her with someone else. He looked back at her and his eyes traced over her pretty features. "So is that a yes for the cinema?"

A smile played on her lips. "Sure."

"Good." he muttered, then he leaned down and swiftly kissed her cheek before turning away self consciously to leave the bathroom.

She watched him go and bit her lip. She caught sight of her expression in the mirror, her garnet eyes were lit up in excitement and the corners of her mouth were curved upwards in delight. Miguel had asked her out. Her cheek was tingling from where his lips had brushed it. Biting back an uncharacteristically girlish squeal, she pulled out her cell phone and dialed in Mariah's number. She had to tell one of her female friends. Only they could understand how big of a deal this was.

* * *

Kai was going to kill her. He was going to wrap his hands around her beautiful little neck and wring it. What part of stay where he could keep an eye on her did Amber not understand? It wasn't that complex of an order. She had to know how much it would bother him to stay in this school longer than he had to.

Or maybe she just didn't understand that. How could she? After all she'd grown up in a safe environment. She had nothing to fear from any of the teachers or the students. Neither did he but he came here when he was only twelve and despite his stoic attitude, there had been things that had left a scarring influence. People weren't shown in their best light in Clonmel. It was a survival of the fittest and the weak always picked on the weaker, mainly the younger students. He could remember being feared to go into the toilets on his own. So he would get a pass from the teachers during class to go or time it so that it coincided with some of the other boys in his year. He'd never been pathetic enough to ask someone to come with him but that still didn't make him comfortable going anywhere alone.

Maybe that was why during his second year he'd worked it so that he had lackeys to follow him wherever he went. He made an attitude for himself. People in his year and below revered him, even some of the students in years above did too, though he usually kept well out of the way of the older ones. If he did have to face them, then he would put on a false bravado of a spoiled rich kid. He was after all Voltaire's prodigy, some of the boys parents worked for his grandfather which offered Kai a sort of Legacy. People were careful not to piss him off for fear he'd report them, something he'd never have done but the threat of that helped keep the boys in line.

It hadn't helped him win many friends. He had plenty of acquaintances but no one he could sit down and just talk to about normal problems. If he commented on anything, his classmates would naturally laugh, not because he was funny but because they thought that would please him. It rarely did, but he put up with them. However when Tala had shown up, he'd recognized himself underneath the false confidence. They'd shared a dorm and in turn, got to know each other. In Tala he found a sanctuary, a way to escape the falsehood of the school. Tala had become an invaluable friend and he doubted his friend would ever know how much he'd saved him.

He could still remember the sick fear he'd experienced under the cool disinterest when Tala had explained he was leaving. It had been frightening enough that he'd considered just ending it all, though he was too much of a coward to just give up his life. Though at that moment in time, he'd been desperate enough to give it a lot of thought. When his father had called him up that night to his office to tell him about his deferment to a new school, he was sure his heart plummeted so fast that if he stood up, he would have found it on the seat. The offer to accompany him had been met with much relief though carefully disguised under indifference. He hadn't cared if he was moving to the highly inferior Tigers; it had just been a chance to get away from Clonmel and Balkof.

His lips twitched reluctantly as he caught Shahero's arm to ask her where Amber was before placing her hand in Tala's and ordering her to stay with him while he headed down to the toilets to fetch his girlfriend.

It was amusing how he'd thought of the Tigers back then. Thinking of them as inferior, not worth his time. It was the biggest balls ever. They may have lacked the tenacity of the Sharks but they had bigger hearts. They were the better people. He found in them not only a team but a group of friends. No wonder Amber didn't feel at all nervous about wandering around Clonmel on her own. She had nothing to fear.

"Hiwatari, what are you doing here?"

"Drop dead Sonchez." Kai growled, shoving him out of the way. The bulky enforcer teetered worryingly, stumbled then caught his balance again. With a rude gesture and a grumble, the boy stormed off down the corridor back towards the stadium where the people were congregating, getting ready to leave.

He was just about to walk down the corridor towards the toilets when he heard a familiar laugh. He stepped around the corner and froze.

Amber chuckled at Mystel's comment. It was surprising how well they'd gelled over the past couple of minutes. She'd have to get back to the arena soon before the rest noticed she was missing. But she had some time yet, and Mystel was really fun and easy to talk to. He was friendly and intelligent, knew about hockey and also knew loads about pop culture. It was a pity she actually had to go; she could spend hours talking to him. They'd zipped through most of the topics of conversation because of the limited time but she desperately wanted to hear more of his thoughts on certain things. He had such an optimistic outlook on life; it was fun to be cynical with him.

"Ember."

She looked up to see Kai standing there. The smile that was on her face faltered and slowly slid away, wiped by the dark thunderous temper lurking in his eyes, though his expression was carefully blank. A sure sign he was anything but happy with her. She swallowed thickly, her pulse in her wrists beginning to jump irritatingly. Oh boy was he pissed with her. She really should have told him she was going to the toilet.

Mystel watched the look that passed between the ex Shark and Amber. The air sparked violently between them; making it so thick it almost choked him. He forced his fingers, which had curled into fists, to straighten.

"Is everything ok, Ams?" Mystel whispered but Kai heard the words and his jaw clenched.

Amber shook her head. "No, I just did something I shouldn't have."

"What?"

Again she shook her head and placated him with a smile before scrambling to her feet and approaching Kai. "I take it the game's over?"

"Yes." The word was quiet and disapproving. No one but Kai could make her quail under the force of one word.

"Oh. I lost track of time." she answered sheepishly motioning to her new friend. "This is Mystel. Mystel this is-"

He didn't know what she was going to introduce him as because Mystel cut her off.

"I know who he is."

Amber quirked a brow. "Really?"

"He use to be the captain of the Sharks and now he's a Tiger." Mystel said softly, his tone suddenly frosting over as he sized up the bluenette who thought he was superior to Brooklyn, the one whose departure caused Brooklyn to become Balkof's whipping boy.

"Uh yeah." she mumbled bewildered. She looked from Kai to Mystel and frowned at the hostility she sensed in the air. What was wrong here?

"So you're one of the new ones they brought in." Kai murmured, assessing the blond. He would be fast on the skates, with a lithe enough body to be able to duck and out maneuver most of the opposition. He'd cause some trouble when they played the Sharks again, if they played them again, he thought. They still had to win their next couple of matches but he was confident in his teams abilities. They worked well, even better with him and Tala on the team. Just as long as nothing upset the dynamics, they'd be well on their way to the finals.

Amber's eyes widened. "New ones, as in… Ah shit. You're a Shark?" she demanded whirling on Mystel. Then she simply shook her head in dismay. "Of course you're a Shark, how else would you have known Carlos or he know you?"

Kai picked up on that immediately. "Carlos?" he strode to Amber and swung her around to face him. "What did he do?" he knew of Carlos' animosity to girls, especially girls who didn't treat him with respect, girls like Amber and her friends.

Surprised by the violent temper sparking in his eyes, she stared up at him stupidly. "I-I-"

"He didn't do anything. She held her ground. So why don't you let go of her before you bruise her arms."

Kai dropped his hands as though he'd scalded her. Furious with himself, at the fact he might have hurt her because he couldn't control his temper, he stepped back away from her, barely containing a wince when he saw her rub her tender arms. "Sorry," he muttered before turning to leave. "We're ready to go. I'll see you out in the car."

Without anymore words, he just left her standing there dazed and confused.

"Did he hurt you?"

Amber blinked out of her stupor and glanced over her shoulder at the cute blond standing there lit up in the fluorescent lights. "Huh, no of course not. Kai doesn't hurt girls and he wouldn't hurt me." she dismissed the comment with a wave of her hand before turning to look at him. "How come you never mentioned you were a Shark? I mean, you know I'm a Tiger."

"Because if you knew I was a Shark, would you have talked to me so freely?"

Ashamed because the answer would have been negative, she averted her gaze before looking up at him again, careful to avoid the power of those very blue eyes. "I guess not. How come you don't mind the fact that I'm a Tiger? Most Sharks I've met think we're not even fit to clean their shoes."

Mystel accepted that with a quirk of his lips. "Including Mr. Personality?" At her narrowed look, he continued easily, while wondering about their relationship. "Most of the team is arrogant, but there are a select few."

"You including Adams in that select few?"

"Look, he may seem like an asshole, but he's really not. You just have to get to know him."

Is that what Arista had done? Gotten to know him? And if she had, how long had that taken? How long had their _thing _been going on?

"Well I don't think that'll be happening anytime soon. I better go. I'll, um, see you around sometime."

"Hope so." he answered with a friendly smile which prompted one of her own, before he watched her jog up the hall towards the arena.

* * *

Later that night, or would that be early that morning since it was well after three, Kai wandered down the cool corridor of the boarding area. Along the walls paintings from previous art students decorated the wooden paneled walls. It was much homier in the boarding area. The school area had cool gritted walls that became damp in the winter months, not that the school did anything about it, Mr. Dickinson probably thought it added character to the old school building.

It was amazingly quiet in the school in the early morning of the school, a kind of tranquility that he'd needed to calm his mind. Ever since he'd gone to bed, he'd spent most of the time just thinking over the Sharks game and about Amber. He had been averse to the whole idea of going to the game, though slightly intrigued about how his main opponents would size up to each other. It had been informative of sorts.

The Warriors were good, no denying that. They'd be tough to beat, though the Tigers seemed to just scrape a victory from them every so often. As far back as he could remember it had been as though the two teams alternated their wins. Syaoran Li ran a tough regime with Eriol Hiragizawa providing stupendous amounts of knowledge on other teams as well as coming up with strategic game plays that made Kai ashamed to think he was good at strategy. Adams was becoming closer to certain members of his team, he'd pass to the new enforcer and to the captain; in fact he didn't seem to mind sharing the glory as much with them. However, the Sharks still had a tight defense as well as a strong offensive line that would be hard to pick apart but Kai was willing to do so.

So he had, in effect, gleaned some vital information though he was betting the Warriors would have been a much tougher team to beat if Li had been there. He did stir up a certain team spirit in his boys that Kai had always admired. He had that now though. He had a team that respected him and who he respected and it had nothing to do with money but how they played. He'd earned their respect and vice versa, it was a nice feeling.

He came to the mess hall and opened the door. The first thing he was aware of was that a fire was glowing in the grate, the embers hissing and melting together. The second thing was that he wasn't alone. There on the couch in front of the fire, wrapped up in a throw was Amber. She was curled up, her hand fisted beside her head and her breathing soft and slow. He walked around to the front and knelt beside her. Her brow furrowed as he cast his shadow over her, a small whimper passed her lips and his heart ached. He stroked a finger along the slope of her cheek and noted how her brow smoothed.

He didn't know how long he just stayed there just watching her and stroking her cheek. It had to have been a while though, because his knees were beginning to complain as the clock chimed four.

The chiming broke through Amber's fitful sleep and had her eyes fluttering open. It took her a moment for her brain to process where she was and what the blur in front of her eyes was. When she figured out it was the shape of a man, she bolted into a sitting position; her eyes snapping open as her mind became fully awake.

She blinked stupidly at Kai for a few minutes before her brow furrowed. "Ok," she began slowly, "I get the fact that I'm in the mess hall, I vaguely remember coming here but I don't understand why you're here."

"I couldn't sleep. Came down here to get away from Ian's snoring."

"Didn't you think to plug something up his nose; that usually works until he squirts it out again. But at least you'd have silence for about an hour or so. Unless he stops breathing, that kind of screws things up because the teachers get iffy about it."

He raised a brow and stared at her intently. After a few moments she squirmed.

"What?" she demanded confused. She didn't understand this boys head at all, he'd been giving her the silent treatment in the car and now here he was in the middle of the night… sorry morning with her. It was just plain weird. If he was really angry with her, why didn't he just find another place to get some peace?

"You…" he shook his head in disbelief. Why was he even thinking of asking, of course she would have.

A silence fell over them, not exactly easy. Amber sat up and her gaze fell to her fingers. She didn't know what was going on between them. Kai was angry with her for something and she didn't know what it was. That in turn pissed her off and she didn't want to be angry with him. They'd been great earlier. Was it something to do with her tying him up? God that felt like it happened years ago and besides he got his revenge for that. She could simply be angry with her for forcing him to go to the match but every time she'd looked at him across the ice, he seemed to be fine, even enjoying Tala's mockery of the Sharks. She didn't think it was that, so it must have been her going to the toilet without telling him.

"Look, I'm sorry alright? I shouldn't have gone without telling you and Tala. I just didn't think it would be that big of a deal. I had planned to be back before the game ended but I got curious. I'm sorry."

He glanced at her and then sat down, slipping his arm around her and pulling her closer. Brushing his lips over her hair, he relished the feeling of her pressed close. "It's… I'm sorry too. I wasn't angry about that, but I took it out on you, I shouldn't have. That school just makes me edgy and then you were talking to a Shark-"

"Mystel." she corrected, not noticing the flash that moved through his dark eyes. "Besides, I didn't know he was a Shark at the time, though for a Shark he isn't that bad."

Kai stared at her. When he'd transferred to Preston, she'd given him hell for being an ex-Shark and yet here she was defending a current Shark? Something was definitely wrong with his Imp.

She chuckled sheepishly at his look. "Yeah, I know what you're thinking. I gave you a really hard time, but the situation was different."

"Hn."

"No, the situation was different. I don't…" she moaned in mortification of what she was going to say and pulled her knees up to her chest. "Ok, this, just believe me when I say that the situation is different, k?"

He glared stonily at the molten embers ebbing and flaring in the fire place. It cast its orange glow over them, turning her skin to a gorgeous bronze color.

Feeling the weight of his disapproval pressing against her, she snarled and got to her feet. "Fine then." she snapped, stomping away from the sofa.

Just as Kai was about to call out to her, she threw herself down onto the other sofa and stared into the fire, arms crossed and a sulky pout fixed on her lips. Her brilliant eyes whipped up to him, flaring with temper.

"You want to know the difference, here it is. I don't like Mystel, well not in that way, anyway. I'll admit he's cute and maybe if I wasn't with you then, I'd really like him. However, I am with you and despite your wounded male pride attitude and your whole bossy temperament, I like being with you. I treated you badly because I…" she trailed off on a heavy sigh. This was going to give him all the power in their relationship. "When Tala was with the Sharks, I use to keep an eye on him. I just wanted to make sure he was ok. So I would look up the Clonmel website, didn't pay much attention to it because I always went to the sport section and scanned for Tala's name. It was usually linked with a certain Kai Hiwatari, and I got kind of curious as to who you were. I mean when you play against someone, you know the name and number but you don't really see the face under the helmet. Which was fine with me, I didn't want to be worrying about how I looked while I was deking guys left, right and centre. It would just be plain distracting."

"Your point?" he drawled wearily.

"Sorry, didn't mean to bore you. I was simply saying I saw a couple of pictures of you. It wasn't love at first sight or anything that pathetic, hell; I didn't even start to like you until I got to know you. However, I did acknowledge that you were serious eye candy. That was fine, until you decided to show up in my school. That meant I'd have to see you every day, practice with you and get to know you. Hence why I was so pissed off about you being at Preston."

"Ember, that…makes some sense, I guess."

"It makes a lot of sense. I didn't want to have a crush on you, it would just be embarrassing."

Comprehension dawned. "You didn't think I would like you back."

"Bulls eye, give the boy a banana." she cheered mockingly. "That's why I was nice to Mystel. Oh added to the fact, that he was nice to me first. You weren't."

He snorted. "You were rude first."

She opened her mouth then shut. "Oh yeah. Well I don't like Mystel like that so ya know, I was nice to him. My bad if that pisses you off, but that's me. I'm slightly strange."

A small reluctant smile curved his lips. "Slightly strange aren't the words I'd use."

"Of course not, you could probably come up with a much better sounding phrase for my problems, but I prefer to keep things simple."

He got to his feet and sat down on the seat beside her, pulling her onto his lap so effortlessly she considered just getting fat to stop him from picking her up like a rag doll.

"So are we back to normal? Or are you still angry with me? I kind of have to know so that I can be angry back." She pointed out.

For an answer, he kissed her hard on the mouth. His fingers gripped her hips firmly to twist her to face him. Her fingers curled into his t-shirt before drifting down to slip under his top, her warm fingers trailing a searing path over his stomach. Intrigued by the way he sucked in a breath at her touch, she traced her fingers over his abs and noted the way his muscles quivered and jerked under his pale skin. He was so warm and hard under the soft skin; she couldn't help but be fascinated.

He sucked in a breath, breaking off the kiss with a muffled oath as he took a hold of her hands.

"Quit that." he growled.

She stared unblinkingly at him for half a beat. "What did I do?"

He groaned and his head fell back against the sofa. "Amber…" he sighed and trailed a finger up and down the nape of her neck. She had no idea what she did to him. With her innocent touches and the softness of her body molded against his, he could barely think straight.

She purred softly and closed her eyes leaning against him. Her hands slipped around him and she nuzzled the spot behind his ear, breathing slowly and carefully as her erratic heartbeat began to pound in her chest. Fire began to lick in the wake of his questing fingers. A soft whimper passed her lips as she pressed closer to him, craving his touch and comforting presence.

He bit back a groan as the sensual graze of her lips caused his skin to tingle.

"I'm sorry." she mumbled, turning into him and rubbing her lips sweetly against his. Her sigh tingled against his lips and his hands slipped under her pj top, having to make do with the cotton material of her tank top.

"What for?"

She shook her head. Her lips skimming along his jaw, tasting his skin, feeling the smoothness of his jaw and then she caught the scent of him just behind his ear. She nuzzled him just there, scenting him and something inside her fluttered then settled causing her to sigh. This was what had been bothering her. She had missed him so much it had become a physical ache. He had become a part of her and she couldn't be complete until she was with him. That was one scary thought, she decided.

"I needed this."

"Needed what?" he asked; his voice sounding distant through the haze of lust clouding his mind. How was he supposed to focus on what she was saying when she smelled incredible and her body was soft and warm as it pressed against him.

With his arms wrapped around her possessively, she buried her face in his neck, her whole body heating due to the embarrassment of vocalizing what she'd been thinking.

"Needed what?" he repeated sensing that there was something deeper here. Something he needed to hear.

"You." she whispered; so softly he had to strain to hear it.

And just like that, the flood gates opened and all the emotion that had battling inside him poured out as his mouth sought hers in a hot hungry kiss. He hauled her closer, his mouth slanting over hers as he kissed her with an urgency and desperation that both scared and embarrassed him until she began to kiss him back with equal need. Her mouth pressed hard against his, the kiss deepening while her fingers dug into his shoulders to keep her balance as her world tilted.

His hands slipped under her top, feeling the heated skin, so smooth and soft, he was sure his fingers would sink into her flesh like a hot poker into butter. He felt a strange satisfaction caused by the sounds he drew from her, soft needy whimpers as her own hands explored his back and the contours of his torso. One hand slid into his hair, her finger tips scraping lightly along his scalp. He groaned his approval as he continued to sink into the velvet heat of her mouth. She was perfect; he'd made her this perfect. The thought was wiped away as another took prominence in his mind when as he was lifting off her top, his hands encountered bare skin.

She wasn't wearing a bra!

He tore his mouth from hers, breathing harshly. He stared down at her as her warm liquid like eyes searched his. Her lips were red and soft and his body urged him on even as he struggled to clear his head.

He had to go slow, if he didn't he'd risk scaring her away and that was exactly what he didn't want to do. "You should go back to bed."

"Why?" she asked softly, her mouth coming back to his, her body rocking against him in a provocative manner she couldn't even know she possessed.

"Because." he rasped, his fingers unable to keep still were tracing up and down that spot on her back that made her arch against him in defense.

"Because what?" she demanded between kisses.

How was he supposed to think straight? She was exactly where he wanted her, where he'd dreamed of her. They were alone and no one was likely to come bursting in on them and he wanted her so much he was aching. And he couldn't do this, not now, not like this. He wanted to be sure she was ready before he let their relationship progress further. Part of him complained loudly as he reached up to untangle her hands, the other was commending him for putting her first. He really did not like that part. He was feeling anything but gentlemanly.

He bit back a groan as she rubbed against him enticingly, his breathing sounding ragged to his own ears. He looked into her eyes. This time he groaned out loud. Her eyes were lit up in wicked mischief. She hadn't missed what she was doing to him. Good god, so much for her being innocent. The heat was pumping off her body and he was struggling to wrap his mind around a coherent thought. "No Amber."

"No?"

Deciding that if he was going to survive this torture he had to act, he plucked her up and dumped her onto the couch before he walked unsteadily to the one he'd vacated earlier, the one where she'd lain asleep like one of those fairytale princesses. Some princess, he thought darkly as he watched her chuckle softly to herself as she stretched out on the sofa.

She turned on her side, and propping herself up on her elbow, she watched him with shrewd tawny eyes, her hair cascading down behind her. She looked alluring and exotic. She was driving him mad.

"What's wrong Kai?"

When he simply continued to lean against the back of the sofa, eyes looking anywhere but at her, she got up and walked over to him. God he was cute, his hair was still mussed from her fingers and his eyes were so warm they were like dark melted chocolate.

"Stay back there, Amber."

"Yikes, using my proper name. You've suddenly become all serious."

He could hear the amusement in her tone and it wasn't helping him. "Just sit down over there Amber, or go to bed."

"Three times, that's three times you've used my proper name. If I didn't know any better I'd say you were flustered."

He rolled his head to look at her with a steady gaze that made her heart leap. "Oh you would, would you?"

"Yup." Before he could do anything she thumped down onto the sofa beside him, her mouth was on his before he could even scoot away from her. He didn't reject her advances either; instead his enthusiastic response was anything but disgusted so she didn't have to worry about that.

He pulled away, breathing hard and with her hands trapped in his to ward off any more surprise attacks by her. "God, quit that! Listen to me Ember, if you continue you this we're going to end doing something you'll hate me for later, so back off."

"Doing what?" at his look she nodded her head in comprehension. "Oh sex. You think I don't want to have sex with you? Kai, you're the only guy I'd want to have sex with, so what's the problem?"

He sighed even though her words caused his blood to go straight from simmer to boil in a mere second warring with the flutter of nerves. "You're not ready." when she opened her mouth to protest, he simply held up a hand. "And neither am I. And I don't want our first time to be in the School Common."

"You're right I guess. Where was your first time?"

He nearly choked but managed to prevent himself from embarrassing himself any further. "Ah…" Shit.

Amber's eyes warmed with amusement and a feline smile curved her lips in a way that made him want to kiss her again. Shit she was more dangerous than he thought.

And wasn't he sweet? Amber mused. All embarrassed. The tips of his ears had gone red and his eyes were carefully averted to the increasingly interesting floor.

"Come on Kai, just tell me."

"I can't."

"Why not? I mean I can't tell you because you'll know where my first is. I'm not even asking who you did it with, just where." Besides, she didn't want to know who he did it with. As long as the bitch stayed away from them, Amber was happy enough. It was bad enough that she had to put up with Mariam but at least Mariam hadn't had sex with Kai, your first always had a hold on you, or so Amber had heard though she wasn't quite sure how true that was.

He groaned and buried his face in his hands. "I can't tell you because I haven't…" he trailed off as a flush worked its way up the back of his neck.

Amber blinked. And blinked again. He hadn't what? Had sex? Surely not. Although… "How?" she blurted out.

His head shot up. "Excuse me?"

"How haven't you?"

"What do you mean how haven't I? You do biology Imp, you work it out. And what is that goofy smile for?" he demanded hotly.

"You called me Imp; you haven't called me that in ages. I'm beginning to like it, don't know why. However, I'm straying from the point. How haven't you, a red blooded, good looking guy, not bonked a girl yet?"

Not bonked? Holy shit! He squeezed his forehead with his thumb and middle finger. "Nice phrasing Imp."

"Yeah I have a talent for it. Come on Kai, you… how haven't you?"

"All boys school." he deadpanned.

"That wouldn't stop some boys." she teased cheerfully. There was a reason people called her perverse, she really did get a thrill out of others discomfort, besides it kept the atmosphere light. "But seriously, are you telling me Tala never got any? Oh please, I don't believe that for a second. And what about Autumn, that girl you and he were talking to. He said she went to an all girls school in Rexford and that your school and hers combined for co-ed dances."

"Yes but they were… I just didn't, alright. I was too busy for any real relationships and I wasn't interested in just '_bonking'_ a girl and then moving on." He wasn't cut out for it. He had a tendency to give his all in whatever he was doing, he dedicated himself to it. He was an attentive son. He was committed to playing his best on the ice and being a good captain. He focused on his school work. He didn't do things by halves.

"Oh right." she understood now. Still Kai was so good looking, the thought of him being as inexperienced (probably not as much as her, she'd only gotten to second base with Kai so far and that was usually because he was holding back because of her) as her was kind of unnerving and sweet. "That's so sweet."

He gaped at her in disbelief. "No, Amber's it's not. On girls it's sweet, on guys it's weird."

She bit back a grin. "Well I could always just lie here and let you get it over with. If it's for the good cause of making you feel like a man, I'd grin and bare it."

He closed his eyes and tucked his tongue in his cheek before opening his eyes to look at her. She'd slopped back on the sofa and was just lying their with her eyes close.

"I could even fake an orgasm if you like." she offered as he continued to stare at her.

"You're too kind." Suddenly a smile flickered over his lips. She was making it easy on him, he realized.

"Yes, I'm a generous-" she was cut off as his mouth pressed firmly against hers, his body pinning her to the sofa cushions which seemed to absorbed her body, clinging to her shape as she sank into them. Her arms curled around his neck and a moan of approval sounded in her throat as his tongue leisurely explored her mouth as though he had all the time in the world. One of his hands was stroking her hip, her leg wrapping around his to hold him closer while the other was underneath her top, gliding over the smooth skin of her rib cage and up until it cupped her breast. Liquid heat pooled in her stomach and her head began to spin deliciously as her skin tingled with awareness. She groaned in satisfaction, pulling him closer and she continued to run her hands through his hair.

The lights flashed on and the door reverberated off the wall. "What _is_ going on in here?"

They shot apart as though they'd been shocked by a jolt of lightning. Looking over the back of the sofa they gaped at Ms. Maye. She stared back at them, her eyes wide and angry. Her hair was tousled wildly around her face. Her face was green from the face mask she wore; only the pink skin around her eyes was visible.

"What do you two think you're doing?" she demanded shrilly.

Amber rolled her eyes to heaven. For crying out loud, what was with people and interrupting her and Kai? First her father, then Mariam and now Maye? Did these people have lives? "I don't think, I _know_ what I'm doing." she growled sardonically but so low only Kai could hear her just as only she could hear the soft panting of his breath and feel it against her ear.

Kai closed his eyes and rolled off of her, onto his feet to regard Maye warily as he offered Amber his hand. Thank god, he thought, they hadn't done anything more than make out otherwise Maye really would have gotten an eyeful. Feeling protective towards his girlfriend, he stepped in front of her while she fixed her clothing (though he wasn't too comfortable doing that) and glared balefully at Maye. He could almost hear the vile threats she was probably inventing.

"Get back to your bed-" then catching how her words could be construed, she quickly added. "Mr. Hiwatari, you go to your bed and Miss Benson, you go to yours. And I will see both of you in my office tomorrow morning after breakfast. Now get out of my sight and don't ever let me catch you doing anything like this ever again."

Amber bit the inside of her cheek to stop herself from making a face at the old hag and shoved past her. She had just turned down the corridor when a hand snagged her wrist and she was stopped promptly. Before she could turn around, Kai stepped closer to her and lowered his mouth to her ear.

"When you're ready, I'll have you." he said firmly before stalking off with a simple "Night Imp."

Amber stared after him. What did he mean he'd have her? Oh. Yeah, that was what he meant. A current of electrical excitement coursed through her as her stomach leaped at the image of being with Kai. Carefully tucking her hair behind her ear, she nervously began to play with her fingers as she walked up the corridor towards the girls' wing. Kai wanted her. He wanted her to be his first. That was strange and kind of nice. Biting the pad of her thumb, she smothered a smile. Something warm and sweet moved through her. Yeah, it was really nice. Just too bad that auld witch had to interrupt them! Though he was right, she didn't want her first time to be in the common. However she did want her first time to be with him and no one else but him. And that was the way it was going to be come hell or high water, nothing would change that.

* * *

**The CCS characters belong to CCS funnily enough. Oh and Li was out because of a leg injury. Poor Li-kun!**

**Um, Happy new year. I hope you had a good Christmas. Sorry for the lack of updates, but I'm having some problems with some of my fics. The scenes are hard to write. So I hope you like this chapter. Tell me what you think? What was your favorite scene? And was it too mushy? Mike says it was but he's a boy! (It's a romance, doll, there will be mushy moments:) **

**Read and review!**

**xZadienx**


	23. The Tiger, the Bitch and the Underwear

Chapter Twenty Two- The Tiger, the Bitch and the underwear drawer

"My skin is blue. And the water's bloody hot!" Aspin declared looking down at herself as she stood shivering under the raging hot torrent raining down from the showerhead above her. It spat against the plastic shower curtain covering the opening to her shower cubicle.

"Mine is more purple than blue." Shahero replied grabbing the soap from the little shelf situated at eye level before sweeping it over the sponge she'd brought with her. "And I can't feel my legs."

Arista, huddled in a crouch under the hot beat of the water, thanked god that she was on the ice hockey team and therefore had been able to use the changing room showers instead of the showers up in the girls shower room. Sometime during the night, the electricity to the girls wing had gone down, effectively shutting down the heating elements to warm up the water. All the same, she should have just skipped her morning shower and gone back to bed. This Spring was bloody cold.

"I think I'd describe mine as mauve." Miyami replied, slipping up onto her tiptoes to look across at Ruin. "You still have some suds in your hair. You ok, Amber?"

Amber crossed to the wall and folding her arms on the chin height ledge separating her cubicle from Miyami's, rested her chin on her forearms. "Yeah, just waiting for the water to return. I still don't see why I had to use the haunted Cubicle." she grumbled under her breath. Suddenly the shower head above her spurted, gurgled and whined before spewing out a dollop of muddy brown sludge. She yelped and leapt closer to the wall.

"Oh god," Kirby laughed from her position out by the bench as she awaited a free cubicle. She too had had hockey practice before the senior team but had hung around instead of going back to her dorm Mariam was still acting a bit strange though she'd seemed cheerier this morning when she'd come down to watch her practice. "It sounds like it's shitting."

Amber balked and squirmed as she felt the slimy substance flick against her legs before the steady pattern returned. She darted under the freezing cold water again, running her hands quickly through her hair, trembling violently. Her shower cubicle was the worst. It started off freezing cold, then began to get lukewarm before it stopped, stalled and spewed out half the contents of the septic tank, she was sure of it. Then the cycle would start all over again. It was thoroughly uncomfortable but she couldn't wait for one of the others to become free since she had to go to school sometime today.

"This is just not working." Ruin commented. Her white skin was taking on a blue tint underneath the raw red from where she scalded it with the hot water. The central heating wasn't on yet so that the air in the changing room was so cold you could see your breath fog and coupled with the hot water, she was pretty sure it was unhealthy.

"Shouldn't you be going back to your dorm Kirby? Or you could get us a nice table at the canteen, everyone's going to be snagging all the hot food. "

"No it's more fun to listen to you guys discussing the colour of your ." Kirby replied to Arista's question with a laugh, casually draping an arm around her bent knee. "So how was practice?"

"Practice like." Amber replied. "Kai's got this new play he's making us run through over and over again, which reminds me, got any idea when we're going to have our rematch?"

"Miguel's said nothing to me. Hito neither."

"How's he these days? You seem to be getting along better than you were previously." Miyami commented, shoving her hair, darkened by the water, out of her face.

Kirby's eyes slyly slid to Shahero who she noted had tensed, her hands paused in the process of working up a lather for her hair. "Well, Hito's had an epiphany and now he's just trying to work out how to get what he wants. Which means he's happier than he was and he's now back to being the arrogant, I-know-all Hito that we all know and love."

"Yeah sounds like my darling cousin. It takes him ages to work out when he's been in the wrong. Of course, once he does, he always makes up for it with a grand gesture." Squeezing out the water, Miyami wrapped a towel around her head and then curled one around her body before she ripped away the curtain and made her way to the changing cubicle on her tip toes so she lingered no longer than she had to on the cold tiles. "So what's everyone doing for V-day?"

"The same thing I do every other day." Shahero muttered.

"Try to take over the world?" Arista and Amber queried in unison.

"Jinx!"

"Jinx!"

"You know the sad thing is," Aspin drawled over her friends quarrelling.

"That they actually know the lines of Pinky and the Brain?" Ruin asked with a quirk of her brow as she walked out of her shower and moved to the corner for some privacy. She didn't have a problem with getting changed in front of the other girls. Kirby envied that confidence.

"No, that they, well actually yeah, that, and the fact that they actually said it as though they really believed that Shahero has plans to take over the world. Someone has to explain to them that most of the stuff on the Tv, _isn't real_." she directed the last two words at the girls who were now trying to work out who said the words first by playing rock, paper, scissors. Except since they couldn't see each other, they were calling out what their hands were and changing it so they didn't lose. The term 'cheat' and 'you big liar you didn't have rock a second ago' were clearly heard in the midst of their rambling.

Kirby grinned, watching the scene unfold. And these were the senior girls? She chuckled.

"What? Are you saying you haven't seen the blueprints stashed under Shahero's bed with the words 'Plans to take over the world?' clearly labelled on top?" Amber suddenly demanded from behind her shower curtain. "They're there and they change- WAH!"

"Amber, are you ok?" Arista asked peering over her wall. Unfortunately all she could make out of her friend was the black cap of her hair.

"Yeah, I just… I thought the builders were supposed to be fixing up these showers? The haunted one is still haunted."

"They're builders, they don't exorcise ghosts." Shahero retorted pushing through the double doors of the privacy cubicle. "I'm so cold. I'm like icy the penguin."

"Who wouldn't actually be cold because he's from the Antarctic slash artic place which is way cold-"Kirby broke off as Amber's curtain came charging towards her, only to be thrown away by her towel clad cousin at the last minute as she darted past and into a vacant changing cubicle. "Ok…"

"Pass me a towel for my feet, will ya Kirbs?"

"So plans for V-day?" Miyami prompted.

"Nothing much." Ruin answered, studying a small gash under her ankle bone and wondering where on earth she got it.

Amber's head shot up from where she was rooting through her clothing to find her panties and bra. She grabbed the towel from Kirby with a grateful nod before looking back at Ruin.

"Nothing? Wow, Ruin, you sure are a romantic."

"What about you, Runt?"

"I don't know. I mean, it seems all kind of pointless. One day just to skip and prance through a field of daisy's? I mean, for other girls it might be great. They can have a competition to see who gets the most cards and roses but it seems all so juvenile."

"This from the girl who threw pebbles at the vase of roses that the cheerleaders were selling last year."

"They were selling them for too much." Amber muttered, sticking out her tongue at Aspin who grinned back.

"What about you Arista?" Aspin suddenly commented throwing a look at the silver haired girl as they both exited the shower cubicles covered in their towels.

Arista froze and threw an accusing look in the direction of Amber's cubicle before catching herself. "What do you mean? I don't have a boyfriend, you know that."

"Sure, but aren't you sending anyone anything?" Aspin fished.

The silver haired Russian shook her head. Aspin didn't know about Brooklyn, Amber had kept stumm about it after all. She'd had quite a shock when Amber had steered her away from all the other girls at breakfast and into a nearby closet. Her imaginative mind had conjured up quite a few reasons as to why her friend might have done this, however none of them close to the news that Amber had declared. The words 'I know' couldn't have had a bigger impact on her unless they'd been coupled with a fist. Either way, they'd knocked the wind out of her. Although Arista had tried to bluff her way out of it with a confused expression, Amber hadn't let up. She had claimed to know about Arista and Brooklyn's affair, though she didn't have all the facts clear and Arista could have let Amber continue thinking that Brooklyn had seduced her. But the relief that someone else knew and that she could talk about him to someone else -even if that someone didn't entirely approve- was such a relief. Even though Amber disagreed with the fact that they were dating, she had promised, reluctantly, to not tell Kai or anyone else. It seemed she'd kept her promise.

"Nah, but I have some happy V-day balloons that I'm going to fill with water and launch from the school roof unto unwary couples' if anyone wants to join me."

Shahero thought about it, then nodded. "Sure."

"And I have to go into town if anyone needs anything."

"On your own?" Ruin inquired sounding so much like a mother hen that she wrinkled her nose and shuddered.

"Nope, Am's is coming with me, aren't you Ams?"

"Huh?"

"Remember you said you'd go into town with me!" Arista prompted with an emphasis on the words.

"Ah yeah sure, whatever, where's my underwear!"

The girls immediately stopped what they were doing and looked at the cubicle where Amber's intriguing question had come from.

"What do you mean?" Miyami demanded as she buttoned up her blouse and walked over to Amber's cubicle.

"My bra and panties are gone." Amber replied, a confused note to the her tone as she once again tossed her clothes around on the wooden bench.

Shooting a look at her friends, she dismissed them with a wave. "Can I come in?"

"Sure." Amber muttered.

The door pushed open a mite and Miyami slipped in, taking in her friends appearance. Amber was standing in the school skirt and a black spaghetti strapped top. Though it was obvious, Miyami thought as she averted her gaze to the pile of clothes strewn over the bench, that Amber wasn't wearing her bra.

"Are you sure you brought them down?"

Amber nodded. "Positive, remember you were saying…"

"Oh yeah, the cute lacy ones you picked just for Kai."

"Ssh!" The ochre eyed girl hissed, nervously glancing at the door.

"So you definitely had them down here. But they couldn't just walk away Ams."

"I know, but where could they be? Shit, I'm going to have to wear my old ones which just feels gross."

"Why?" Kirby asked. "You wore them down. Just wear them up to your dorm and get changed."

Aspin cast a glance at her watch as she emerged from her changing room. "She might not have time." Grabbing a comb, she crossed to the hairdryers hooked onto the wall and began to dry her hair roughly. The problem, she thought with coming down to watch Kane practice and spend time with her team, was that she didn't have any time to actually style her hair. It was naturally straight but the cold hair of winter had a tendency to dry it out and without hair products, it had a tendency to become frizzy.

"Yeah but I wasn't wearing a bra." Amber said mournfully.

Ruin smothered a smirk. "That's not something you have to worry about."

"I like the support, ok? I just feel naked without it." as Aspin and Ruin began to snicker at the hairdryers and Kirby began to clutch her sides, Amber grimaced. "Leave me alone, I'm quirky alright?"

Miyami shook her head and began to untangle her friend's hair. "I just don't see how your underwear could disappear like that. And you were hoping to please Kai so-" she broke off and inched away from Amber's elbow. "Violence solves nothing, doll."

Kirby's brow furrowed as something tried to make it's presence known to her. Then her crimson eyes widened. "Oh shit."

"What?" Ruin asked as she tied her short hair back into a tuft so she didn't have to mess with the hairdryer.

"I think I know where her underwear went."

"You do?"

"Where?" Amber demanded buttoning up her blouse.

"Let me guess, they went for a walk along the promenade?" Arista quipped then shrank back as her friends shot her an odd look. "Well you said they went somewhere."

"I think Mariam took them." Kirby confessed quietly and guiltily.

"Why? What was she planning to do? Walk them? Because I seriously doubt my bra is going to fit her and I'd doubt Kai'd confuse her with me just because she's wearing my underwear." Amber snapped scathingly.

"I'm really sorry."

Amber jerked her gaze to her cousin and shook her head. "You have nothing to apologize for. Jesus, what the fuck is wrong with that wee girl?"

Ruin held up a hand and shot a warning look at Amber. "Kirby, why do you think Mariam took Amber's underwear?"

"She was down here. She comes down to watch you guys practice, I mean I didn't think much of it. I mean she watches us some mornings too if she's up but she was in here just before you all came in. I saw her leave and she was acting kind of suspect, nervously looking over her shoulder. I just thought she didn't want you to see her, but thinking on it, she might have been hiding something." the younger girl gave a half shrug. "I'm not saying for sure she did because what reason would she have to do it?"

"Yeah, Kirby's right. Mariam doesn't have a reason to steal your underwear Amber." Aspin commented trying to placate her irritated friend.

"Let's see, what reason could Mariam possibly have to do something to piss me off or humiliate me. Gee, what could that possibly be?"

Aspin groaned and closed her eyes. She hated this tone and this mood on her friend. This was Amber when she was in her bitch mode. The sound of her voice was darker, more mature. Her tone was scathing and sing-song. It was another façade, another mask that hid what she was really feeling.

"Stop being a bitch Amber, Aspin was only pointing out that it might not have been Mariam." Miyami pointed out, dismissing Amber's dark look with a wave of her hand. She pushed open the double doors and sat down on the bench beside Kirby. "Although, Spin, I think it's more than likely that it was Mariam."

"Yeah but she's never shown any ill intent towards Amber before, why now?"

Ruin smirked and shook her head at her friends naïve mumurings. "You guys ever hear of mental warfare. Mariam's been playing each and everyone one of you." she looked directly at Amber who had stumbled out of the changing cubicle while trying to pull on a navy knee high sock. "You expect physical vengeance Runt because that's how you would serve it. A prank here, an obvious cold shoulder. Mariam isn't you."

"I know." Amber bit out. She did know. So what would Mariam do? She knew what she'd do in Mariam's situation but that wasn't what Ruin wanted her to think about.

"Are you saying that Mariam's playing mind games? Oh come on Ruin, Mariam's hardly this big bitch of the East. She's Mariam. She's… She's not Kennedie." Kirby reasoned with a sceptical lift of her brow.

"Yeah but she's hurt." Came the quiet reply.

"Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned." Aspin added.

"What has she got to be hurt about?" Shahero demanded. "She and Kai broke up. Amber didn't steal him and I can't believe we're still having to deal with this. She isn't the only person who's ever broken up with a guy."

They all stared at Shahero then slowly looked away.

"Look, I'm just saying that this is being dragged out and being built up into something bigger than it should be. This isn't the OC? And we don't have to drag this out to the end of the series before it's all worked out and everyone lives happily ever after."

"Or until the next series starts up and they bring in someone to stir everything up." Arista quipped as she stepped out rubbing a towel through her hair.

"Stealing your underwear seems a little drastic Amber and Mariam's never done anything to you before, why start now?"

"Hasn't she?" Ruin asked carefully.

Amber frowned. "Uh… I'm drawing a blank here, wanna fill me in?"

"She's playing on your insecurities by starting up a friendship with Kai. She's giving you the cold shoulder and acting like the wounded party." Ruin replied easily. "That's mind games in my opinion and now she's just kicking things up a notch. Mariam's just like any other woman scorned, she's just got her own ways of getting payback. Just like we all do."

"Ruin… This is Mariam. My friend and roommate Mariam. The girl you guys had a girls night with." Kirby pointed out imploringly. She honestly didn't think that Mariam would be vindictive and Ruin was making her friend sound like a psycho criminal rather than a hurt young girl. "Besides Mariam isn't evil. She's just hurt. Kai and her were good together- not as good as you and Kai, Ams, so don't go getting all bitchy on me, I was just saying. They had a nice relationship. She genuinely cared for him and with her track record with guys, well it's not good. I mean there was David and Mark and Jeff and not to mention her crush on Ozuma and brief fling with Bryan-"

"Bryan!" Amber exploded. "My Bryan? As in our cousin Bryan?"

Kirby froze. Uh-oh. She wasn't supposed to have said that out loud. Mariam and Bryan were soo going to kill her. Amber was not supposed to know about this. Um… She gulped and looked around, noting that all her friends eyes were on her, almost accusingly. "Look, I wasn't involved ok? I just heard it from Mariah who heard it from Salima who Mariam told once. No one else knows, I don't think Bryan told anyone and it wasn't a big deal. It was just a fling that lasted maybe a day or so last year. Kind of like a one-night stand without the sex."

"Bryan? My Bryan? What kind of slut is she?"

"AMBER!" the girls shouted at the irate Irish girl who was now pacing up and down the changing room.

"What?" she growled, her blazing eyes whipping up to glare at them. "It's not fair. First Bryan, then Ozuma, now Kai? So who's next Tala? Or better yet, my Dad? Because it seems to me she's making her rounds around every guy that I care about. They're mine!"

"Yours?" Ruin drawled.

"Yes, though I do choose to share them. And don't get all iffy with me, I consider you all mine too. If anyone upset you, it upsets me. That's how family works."

Kirby stifled a smile at the looks her cousin's friends shot her. It was rather sweet though in a placating way, Amber was the strangest person she knew. Though Kirby could understand the feeling. She was possessive of her friends, too. Her team, her boys.

"But that's beside the point. What was Bryan thinking?"

The teal haired girl blinked surprised. "Hey, I don't understand Bryan at the most coherent of times, I'm hardly going to understand what he was thinking when he was making out with Mariam."

Shahero shuddered visibly. That was just a disgusting image. Bryan was like an older brother to her, in a way it would be like her thinking of her brother Ricky making… No, that was really wrong. She liked the idea where her nephew just appeared in the cradle one day. God knows, how she was going to deal with her new baby brother or sister.

"That's just weird. I can't imagine Bryan with a girlfriend." Arista shook her head to clear the mental image. "I mean, kissing Bryan… It's wrong."

"What are you saying?"

"Oh for christ sake Amber, cool your jets. Let's just go to class and get today over with. Anyone would think it's your time of the month." Ruin muttered.

"Who's to say it's not?"

"Stop arguing. Seriously Amber, we're the good guys remember? You want to be pissed off with someone be pissed off with Mariam or scratch her eyes out but for pity's sake stop picking on us because you don't want to fight us, got it?" Miyami snapped, eyes flashing crimson.

Amber shrank back hurt, then shook her head. "Sorry, I don't know what got into me."

Aspin nodded warily. "That's ok. Come on," she looped her arm around her friend and guided her towards the door. "Have we got everything?"

The girls nodded then with thoughts consuming their minds, they exited the changing rooms.

* * *

The English room was a chaotic mess. The chairs were strewn every which way as Tala Valkov and Kai Hiwatari tried to hit each other with small chocolate hearts that exploded upon impact and painted a gooey mess on the back of their blazers. Tables were upturned as they unsuccessfully attempted to leap over them and only managed to knock them down on their fall. The rest of the class stood at the back, by the heaters luxuriating in the warmth of the radiators.

Any other day they'd have been sitting quietly at their seats but at breakfast, gossip had spread like wildfire through the students, alerting them to the fact that Mrs. King was away at a teacher training day and would be unable to take their class. So as it did with young students, all hell broke loose in their giddy stupor.

Ian Petrovich cursed softly as he crawled underneath a table in his attempt to avoid the flying ammunition. Coming across a relatively unharmed chocolate on the floor, he picked it up, studied it before deeming it worthy and popping it in his mouth. A sound above him caught his attention and he looked up to find a pair of legs dangling in front of him. Grinning he pinched the back of the calf and chuckled wickedly as a squeal pierced the air before he crawled under another table.

Amber shot the girl a dark look and continued to gaze grimly at the page in front of her. It was a picture of the screaming figure on a bridge. She wasn't sure why it was in the English book, all she knew was that it was by a Norwegian painter Edvard Munch and it was painted in a bold expressionist style. She'd seen it once when she was back in Bakuten Elementary, they'd photocopied it and posted it at the back of the class though why, she wasn't quite sure but it wasn't nearly as dramatic in black and white as it was in colour. It symbolized despair, she knew that and she could relate to it. It went well with the music blasting against her eardrums from her headphones.

Ian brushed past her legs and without thinking about it, without even looking she kicked him lightly in the side. It didn't take long for his head to pop up to glare at her but his words fell on deaf ears. It was almost amusing to watch his mouth move without the sound coming out. In fact that was the way it should always be, she decided.

Ian snarled realizing that the girl wasn't even paying attention to him, he climbed to his feet, dusted down his trousers and strode over to where Tala and Kai had collapsed on the floor.

"Ian." they greeted.

"Benson's being a bitch. What did you do to her Hiwatari?"

"Why do people always assume I've done something to her?" Kai muttered as he got to his feet, turning to help Tala before he walked over to his girlfriend and took a seat beside her.

"It wasn't Kai." Aspin spoke up, shrugging slightly. "She heard about Mariam and Bryan, she's pretty upset about it."

"Mariam and Bryan?" The boys questioned.

"Don't you mean Mariam and Ozuma?"

Aspin shook her head as she fixed up a table and selected a chair to sit down on that wasn't covered in toffee. "No. Supposedly Mariam and Bryan had a thing. I wouldn't say they dated but they made out a couple of times last year. No one knew about it, except for Kirby who let it slip today in the changing room."

"Shit."

"Go Bryan." Ian cheered impressed; before quieting under the dark glares of his peers. "Uh, yeah, shit."

Kai tucked a strand of Amber's hair behind her ear as he studied her distraught expression. "What's wrong?"

She shook her head, the lump forming in her throat and the familiar tickle in her nose beginning to prickle. "Nothing." she murmured but her voice was gone and it came out no more than a whisper.

Kai frowned, worry beginning to seep into his pores. Something was really bothering her, hurting her almost and he couldn't help. He looked up as Aspin dropped into the seat in front of them.

"I'm not sitting beside Ian, he's a gross pervert." she growled, shooting a dark look down to the end of the room where the midget leered giddily. "Hey, Amber remember the sea cucumber in Jackass?"

Amber mustered up a smile but didn't look up from the book.

Kai and Aspin exchanged worried glances then acknowledged Russia as she dropped down into the seat beside the purple haired girl.

"So, Mariam still pissin' ya off?"

"Huh? Oh no."

"Ri-ight. Wan' me t' beat 'er up?"

"Russia." Kai warned.

"Wha'? Ya wanna be friends wit' 'er dat's yer choice, bu' dat bitch is hurtin' yar girlfriend, bett'r make up yer mind on who's more important t' ya." the red head said before turning to look up at the front of the room. She froze. "Speakin' o' da devil. Wha' ya wan'?" she snapped.

Mariam tilted her head curiously and a bemused smile played on her lips. "Um, I wanted to speak to Amber. What's up with you guys?"

"Nothing." Aspin replied curtly.

"Um O-k. Hey Kai, how're you?"

"I'm good."

"Oh, Amber." she reached the table where the Irish girl sat and smiled down at her. "Hey you ok? So anyways, I made the biggest mistake ever down in the changing rooms. I accidentally took something of yours." She reached into her bag and pulled out a lacy black bra and dropped it onto the desk before she pulled out a pair of matching panties which quickly joined its other half.

The entire class fell silent except for two.

"She did not jus' do dat?"

"She did just do that." Aspin replied dazed.

Ian strode up and lifted the bra that Amber was staring at in shock and disbelief. "Huh, bigger than I expected? Size 32- Hey!" he snapped as Kai yanked it out of his grip and shoved it in Amber's bag.

Mariam smiled down at Amber's glazed ochre eyes and a satisfied glint lit up her eyes before she stalked out of the room. Amber swallowed thickly, the roar of sound was beginning to flood through her brain and her eyes were beginning to blur. Shoving her chair back, she hurried out of the classroom leaving a bewildered group of students behind.

Kai watched her go, then cursed before chasing after her vowing that he and Mariam were going to have a very long talk.

Tala stared after them before stalking up to Russia and Aspin. "I want Mariam Tikashi humiliated. I don't care what you do, but I want it done."

Russia simply inclined her head. "I'm all ov'r it."

"Make it good and make it public." Ian added, then shrugged at their surprised looks. "I'm the only one who gets to humiliate Benson, k? It's like an unwritten agreement."

* * *

Amber sat on in an empty classroom on the floor in a corner staring blankly at the wall. Her head was spinning and the emotional turmoil was tearing her up inside. She wasn't equipped for feeling so many conflicting emotions. Or maybe that was her problem. She had a habit of feeling too much.

But why had Mariam done that? She'd never done anything like that before. It would have been perfectly natural for her to have retaliated after finding out about her and Kai but to wait for two months to almost pass? It seemed just a bit odd. Surely she couldn't hold a grudge for that long. Amber certainly couldn't. After a while she would have forgotten all about it. She wouldn't be civil but she wouldn't wait for so long before carrying out a punishment. She had a life, she didn't have time to sit around holding a grudge. Life was just too short.

On the other hand she could see where Mariam was coming from. In Mariam's eyes, Amber had humiliated her. Mariam was gorgeous and sexy and could have any guy she wanted and the one she did chose plain old Amber instead? Yeah that was an insult and an embarrassment.

But still it hurt. It hurt to be humiliated like that. And why had she taken it? Why hadn't she shot back something witty about how Mariam shouldn't have been able to confuse Amber's small cup with her own or something, anything would have been better than running out of there in tears. God what sort of wimp did her friends think she was now? Good ol' Amber can deal it out but she can't take it.

She sniffed miserably and swallowed back a fresh onslaught of tears that wanted to fall. She wasn't going to cry. Being teary eyed was one thing but sobbing was a complete other. She was not going to let Mariam Tikashi make her cry. She was not going to be bullied by that blue haired bitch.

"You're not going to take that from her? Are you?"

She looked up and swiped at the tears blurring her vision. Great so now Kai could see how much of a wimp she was. How pathetic she was. Wonderful, as if things couldn't get any better. She didn't bother to look at him as he slid down to sit beside her.

"What do you want me to do?" she croaked bitterly. "Scratch her eyes out? Or give her a bunch of roses, after all she's your friend."

He digested that and leaned his head back against the wall. "I can't believe she did that."

She chuckled resentfully, the sound felt like broken glass to his ears. Crushed and sharp. "Do you want me to go back in time and replay it for you? I'm sure everyone can have another laugh at it."

"No one's laughing Amber. They're not laughing at all. They're on your side. Mariam had no right to do that to you."

"Didn't she? I think Ruin was right. This didn't come out of the blue. This was planned. First wear Amber down with paranoia and guilt then humiliate her and in the end, Kai won't want her anymore. It's actually a rather ingenious plan, you know. I mean, she's a brilliant actress. Played Juliet in the school play. Everyone was wowed by her portrayal of the virgin. I mean, that had to be good acting if they believed she was one."

"Amber."

"What? Don't think I can forgive her for that. And if you want me to be nice, you've got another thing coming. I'm going to be offensive about her so maybe you should avoid me for the rest of the day because you probably won't like this side to me."

He closed his eyes and slipped an arm around her pulling her flush against him. She was hurting, it was coming off her in almost tangible waves and despite his reluctance, he was hurting for her. He kissed the top of her head and held her while she ranted some more but the heat was slowly draining out of her.

She swallowed thickly and took a deep breath. "Please don't be kind to me Kai, please." she whispered forlornly. She could feel the anger dispersing to be replaced by something much worse. Despite her words though, she snuggled further into him taking comfort from him.

"I don't know why it's upsetting me so much. I mean, I should have known she'd do something." The fact was though, she hadn't believed Mariam would. "Why didn't I just snap something witty back though? I mean that's what I do? I just laugh these things off and in day everything's back to normal."

Maybe Mariam had been wearing her down, Kai mused. Psyching her out and weakening her for a more frontal attack. It was how the Sharks played. They intimidated their opponents, made them believe the Sharks were brilliant, were unbeatable and then they'd have no belief in themselves, they'd bend over and let the Sharks take the victory. It was how armies won wars. It was how life was played and Mariam had taken that strategy and applied it to Amber, someone she'd once considered as a friend. That was something he couldn't get over. Amber had beat herself up over them being together and Mariam had exploited it. He couldn't get over that. He had never realized just how callous she could be. Then his thoughts turned to Amber, could she be like that? Yes, more than likely it was a female trait, a defensive one they used when they were hurt.

"She and Bryan… I don't know what they were but they were something and he never told me. I tell him everything. I thought he'd do the same for me. I thought he told me everything but I don't know everything about him. Mariam knows him better than I do. She has a piece of him that I don't and I hate her for it. I've always thought that no matter what, Bryan would always be the one I could rely on. I guess that's not true either."

He rocked her slowly as she poured out everything that was hurting her. "He's just like Dad. He hides things too, always too afraid of how I'll react to tell me and then I'll hear it from someone else. I hate being the last to know. Especially when it's someone I care about." she began to slowly play with his fingers. "Why Bryan? Why did she date him? It's like she goes after everyone I care about. Bryan, Ozuma, you. Who next? My dad? Oh gee, who would I rather have? Pissface or Mariam. What if she was never my friend in the first place? Huh?"

"Amber stop it. You're just going to make things worse than they are. Talk to Bryan, hear his side."

"Don't care about his side. It's nothing to do with me who he dates. He can date the Queen of England for all I care."

"You don't mean that." Besides the Queen of England was old and wrinkly.

"Don't tell me what I mean." She said tonelessly before faltered. "Dammit I hate myself." she cried, pressing a hand to her mouth to stop it from trembling. Her eyes filled with tears that slowly began to trickle down her cheeks. "Oh god, I didn't… I don't…" she began to quiver violently in his arms as she tried to contain the sobs that were threatening to overwhelm her. It was like a dam had broken inside her and the tidal wave of emotions were threatening to drown her. Unable to hold them back, she turned in his arms and burying her face into his neck she let the bitter sobs wrack her body as she cried out all her pain.

He didn't try to comfort her with words or attempt to stop the tears, he simply let her weep until there were no more tears to cry. His hands stroked up and down her back, through her hair, letting her know he was still there. There was only so much she could take, he realized and now it had just built up so much that it had to be released. She'd feel better at the end of it.

As he held her, he thought wryly, that this wasn't how he'd expected to spend Valentines day. A flicker at the window caught his attention and he nodded at the group of concerned faces grouped there. If Amber could see the amount of people that cared about her, she shouldn't have been worried about what one person thought. He pulled her closer and kissed her head, watching as the others dispersed leaving the two of them alone.

The sobs slowly quietened and she began to simply hold onto him, only the odd random sniffle piercing the comfortable silence between them. Finally she pulled away and rubbed her wet face. She hated crying, it always made her head feel stuffy, her eyes burned and her face always look mottled, not to mention the sluggish, dizzy feeling that accompanied a good crying jag which was why she tended to try to keep them reduced to a minimum of one or two per year depending on the amount of shit she had to deal with. If no one died, got hurt or anything like that, then once or twice a year was a good enough amount for her to break down. However, she preferred to break down in her own company, but oh no, not this time. She had to go and cry all over Kai. Just great.

She sucked in a shaky breath and settled into nuzzle him again. She may have hated breaking down in front of him but she appreciated him being there. Especially since she couldn't count on Bryan.

She winced.

That was unfair. Kai was right, she did need to hear Bryan's side of the story. There really wasn't a reason that Bryan should have told her. After all Kirby had said that they'd only made out once. That wasn't really a big deal. It wasn't as though Bryan even gave her a thought nor did it mean that Mariam was still pining for him and they certainly weren't seeing each other behind her back, so why was she so upset?

She really needed to stop being so possessive of Bryan. He wasn't always going to be there and he was going to have his own life, she have to stop relying on him so much. It would be hard but she had to, besides she'd done so with Tala even though it had cost her something. She had Kai anyway, so it really wasn't a big deal if Bryan had someone for himself. In fact he should have someone for himself.

She looked up at Kai and mustered up a smile. "Thank you."

"What for?" he murmured.

She sighed listening to the rumble of it through his chest where her head lay tucked under his chin. She had to admit, she really liked being held by Kai. It wasn't the same kind of shelter that Bryan's cuddles provided, it was different and exciting. It was laced with anticipation of what he would do next, where he'd touch her next and with the certainty that she could change the mood at any moment.

"Letting me cry on your shoulder, though I think I soaked your shirt, you're going to have to change it."

Hearing the shift in her tone from bland to animated with the quirky youth he'd come to enjoy listening to, he smiled softly. "It served its purpose. So you're feeling better now?"

"Emotion wise, yeah I'm too drained to feel anything but numbness which is actually quite nice. On the physical front, I feel like crap rolled over by a big machine."

He chuckled and kissed her brow. "You have such a way with words."

She lifted her lips to his and sighed softly at the comfort his taste offered, even as the familiarity of his hands moving over her back had a tickle of nerves quivering low in her stomach.

"Why don't you take the morning off. Go get some sleep and I'll tell the teachers you not feeling well."

She turned her face into his neck and pressed her lips lightly to his pulse enjoying the way it kicked up a notch at her touch. "That sounds so good." she murmured, breathing in his warm scent but reluctantly she pulled away. "Unfortunately, if I do that, it proves that Mariam beat me."

He caught her chin and pinned her with a direct look. Temper was swirling in his dark mahogany eyes that had her breath clogging and his grip wasn't entirely gentle. "Mariam didn't beat you and you taking a few hours off isn't a crime. This isn't a game. You shouldn't care about what anyone else thinks. Mariam can go to hell, just take the morning off. You're exhausted both physically and emotionally and if you don't, I'll get Dad to make you. If that means telling him I think you're unfit to play, I'll do it. Understand?"

Her eyes blazed, the first sign of an actual emotion he recognized in Amber. "You wouldn't dare." she hissed.

"Believe me I would. Now go and get some sleep."

Her mouth opened and closed as she sputtered, trying to find some retort but coming up with none. Pleased, he pushed her off to get to his feet before offering her his hand which she simply batted out of her way. She dusted herself off and stomped off. Just before she got out of reach he caught her hand.

Furious, she swung round, ready to hit him with a few choice words only to find them stopped by his mouth sealing over hers. She jerked back and glowered at him while he smirked infuriatingly.

"Dream of me." he murmured, brushing a thumb over her lower lip that trembled and parted.

Entranced she gazed up at him before snapping to and growling. Then a smirk quirked her lips and her eyes lit up with sadistic mirth. "Oh I will, Hiwatari. I'll dream of the many ways I plan to castrate you!"

"Ember, you wouldn't do that. That would be cutting off your nose to spite your face."

"No it wouldn't since I don't plan on having any of your demon spawn. In fact I'm sure I'd be doing the world a favor!" she retorted smartly making him chuckle as he watched her disappear out the door. He made a mental note to check up on her to make sure she actually went to her bed before he turned around to leave via the other door. He hesitated as he noticed Tala before he continued towards his friend.

"You handled her very well, almost as well as I would have." The red head commented blandly before turning to look at his friend. It irked him that Kai had gone after her, usually he would have consoled her but he understood that he had to share her with Kai and that was that. At least he had no one he had to share Ruin with so he was one up on Kai on that. "How is she?"

"Emotionally drained."

"A good sleep should get her back to her normal self. Any idea what triggered it? Apart from the public humiliation I mean."

"She mentioned something about Mariam and Bryan. You running damage control?"

Tala nodded. "Russia's coming up with a payback."

"Russia?" Kai barked surprised. He knew his cousin and he knew that when she was on a vengeance kick, nothing Mariam could do would match up to it. "You did tell her not to cause her any physical damage."

"That's why I asked Russia and not Shahero. If it was Shahero and Miyami in charge, Mariam wouldn't be walking ever again." at Kai's surprised look, he ran a hand through his hair. "Look, I know you're trying to keep a friendly relationship with Mariam in order to keep her away from Amber but it's obviously not working. Can't you call the bitch off. Otherwise Amber will react and it won't be good."

"I plan to talk to Mariam, don't worry. So the Bryan and Mariam thing?"

"Oh they made out a year or so ago, no big deal. Pretty forgettable for everyone involved I think, possibly a dare, I'm not sure but Kirby brought it up in the changing room and Amber reacted. It's just too bad that Mariam decided to choose today of all days to take her hatred of Amber up a level."

"Why would Kirby mention it now?"

Tala looked at his friend sharply. "You don't think Kirby did it purposely to help Mariam, do you? Because you're way off the mark. Kirby would never do that to a family member. I was talking to Miguel and he says she's really cut up about it. She thinks that Amber isn't going to speak to Bryan again. She's convinced the Benson world war has just started."

Kai smiled ruefully. "Poor kid. Some Valentines day, huh?"

"Things are never dull in Preston."

"I thought when you said that all I had to worry about were the Cheerleaders running around with those red roses and cards." Kai muttered as they exited the door into the busy hall. His eyes swept over the groups of people and narrowed as they latched onto a familiar figure laughing and flirting with a group of boys at the end of the corridor. Excusing himself from Tala, he strode down the corridor, his long legs eating up the ground in purposeful strides.

He caught her arm and led her to the side.

"Hey Kai." she greeted slightly confused by his stony expression and the fact that he was talking to her at all.

"Salima, where's Mariam right now?"

"Um in the coffee place possibly." she glanced at her watch. "Yeah, she should be there. She has ten minutes before her next class. Why? What's wrong?"

"Nothing." he grunted as he stalked down the corridor towards the small canteen area on the second floor.

* * *

"Kirby, I really think we should just go back to class."

Kirby shot Daichi an annoyed look. "Who's more important? Hitler or Amber?"

"Hitler?" He winced as she elbowed him. "No I mean Amber, Amber. Sh--oot! Kirby, you're just going to piss her off by fighting her battles."

"Mariam made her cry!"

That shut him up. "She doesn't cry."

"Well she did."

"Both of you should be in class." a voice called out behind them and they both cringed before slowly turning to regard Coach Hiwatari.

"Hey Coach!" they greeted innocently.

"Class." he reminded them. His brown eyes taking in Kirby's angry eyes and Daichi's guilty expression. The students today were in complete uproar. Already he had to send Miyami back to class not to mention the fact that he caught his niece Russia trying to climb over the fence out of the school grounds.

"Uh we were just going." Daichi hurried replied motioning in the direction they were heading.

Nicolai didn't buy it. "History's back that way." he jerked a thumb in the direction he had come.

Kirby squirmed, she really wanted to give Mariam a piece of her mind before she went on her date with Miguel. She didn't want this to be a black cloud over it. "Look Coach, I honestly-"

"Class now. Whatever it is can wait until lunch."

"Oh but Coach."

"Do you even have a hall pass?" Hitoshi asked lazily from his spot leaning against the door, his fingers playing with a pen.

Daichi rolled his eyes. He preferred the grumpy Hitoshi, at least he hadn't noticed things like them not having a hall pass, heck he hadn't cared.

"Back to class."

Kirby sighed heavily. Well this royally sucked. Her eyes drooped as her shoulders slumped pitifully. She turned to head back to History just as Daichi nudged her.

"Hey look."

She turned in the direction he motioned and her eyes widened as Kai marched down the steps with an expression of dark fury on his face. He grabbed Mariam and all but yanked her out of her chair and marched her into a nearby empty computer room.

Nicolai watched the whole scene worriedly. What was that all about? He hoped to god that it wasn't something that was going to hurt Amber. Already planning to give his son a piece of his mind, he stalked over to the computer room.

Kirby and Daichi exchanged glances. There was no way in hell they were going to miss this. Ignoring Hitoshi's motion to head back to class, they jogged after Nicolai over to the computer room. Hitoshi made to follow but catching sight of another figure he'd been itching to see all morning, he about faced and headed after her instead.

* * *

To say that Mariam was shocked when Kai yanked her out of her chair would have been an understatement. She was down right stupefied. She'd been enjoying a nice coffee with a piece of chocolate cake when he had uprooted her from her table, unsettling her drink and knocking her bag over so that its contents spilt out before he shoved her in the direction of the computer room.

His expression gave nothing away but his eyes were burning a blistering brown, almost black. Surprised by his rough handling and his stony silence, she chose to sit down on one of the swivel chairs and wait for him to make the first move. Obviously something was bothering him so she would just let him spit it out.

"What the hell did you think you were doing?" he seethed, unable to contain the rage that was boiling through his blood. Every time he thought he had it under control all he had to do was remember how fragile Amber had felt against him as she'd sobbed her heart out and his fury would rise afresh.

She jumped as though she'd been shot as his temper lashed out at her almost physically. "Um, when exactly?"

"Don't play the innocent with me, Mariam, I was there, remember?"

"I probably would if I knew when you were talking about."

His eyes darkened if that was possible and fear began to slide it's icy cold fingers down her spine. "Oh you mean this morning. I just returning something to your girlfriend."

"You made her cry." that was what he couldn't get over. Amber didn't cry, he'd never seen her cry like that. It was as though she'd been broken.

"Oh god, she's so sensitive." Mariam said with a half laugh. "I didn't mean anything by it, why does she think I did it to humiliate her?"

"Don't play games with her Mariam, I'm warning you now. You do anything to hurt her again and I'll make you pay."

She blinked at him. "Kai, I didn't mean to upset her. You know me. We're friends."

"Not when you're trying to hurt her for something she didn't do. If you have to be angry with someone, be angry with me but do not take it out on her."

"I'm not angry, Kai. God, she plays pranks all the time and it's ok, but I accidentally put her in the spot light and suddenly she can't handle it?"

Kai chuckled and shook his head. "You're the one who won't be able to handle it. You made a mistake this morning. You didn't keep to your plan. You had an audience this morning and any sympathy you might have had, is gone now. All people can see you for now is someone bitter and twisted."

"I'm not bitter and I'm not twisted. And I had no plan. God why does everyone treat her like the golden girl. Everyone crowds around her to protect her but she can be so cruel. I make her cry and suddenly I'm persona non grata. At least I've never used tears to win the sympathy vote."

"Maybe you should try it, because right now, no one likes you very much."

"But I didn't do anything wrong. Why are you being so horrible to me? I was just returning something of hers? Big deal, others saw her knickers. So what? You've probably seen them before and they were nice, so why is everyone getting up in a lather about it?"

He stared at her, wondering just how honest she was being. Was this just an act or had she really meant no harm? She had to know how that would affect Amber. Publicly humiliating her like that but maybe it had been harmless. He didn't understand people, he couldn't tell if Mariam was lying to him or not.

"But you constantly seem to forget the fact that she hurt me."

"If she hurt you, then so did I."

"No I expect it from men, but not from her. She was supposed to be a friend. She saw how we were and wanted that, she's always wanted someone for herself, I know that but I just can't believe she'd take from another. And that's what she did. She thinks the world revolves around her and when you do something for yourself, she turns her back on you."

"Like Tala?" Kai demanded.

"Exactly."

"Except you seem to forget that she still cares for him. She and he are as close as they were before."

"How would you know?" she asked tilting her head. Kai really wasn't hard to look at, at all. That blue hair was just begging to have fingers run through it. His eyes were so dark you could drown in them quite easily. And there was nothing feminine about his facial structure or his build. He was purely, physically male. Her stomach hopped just thinking about how great it felt to be pressed against that body. "You never saw them together."

"Because I know both of them. The difference you're seeing is the fact that they've grown up. She never dropped you Mariam, you pushed her away. You played mind games with her." That was what pissed him off the most and he hadn't even seen it happening. "You used me to hurt her. I can't forgive that."

"She'll end hurting you too." she whispered softly feeling her nose beginning to tingle.

Kai sneered derisively. "Whatever you say Mariam. Just stay away from my girlfriend." With that he exited the room, shooting the trio in the corner a bemused look, he stalked off back to class.

Nicolai watched him leave before looping his arms around the duo beside him. "Ok you two, what was that about?"

Kirby simply grinned. "Uh… Sir, it's really complex."

"Jesus, he tore strips of her." Daichi breathed in awe. Curious he sneaked over to the door and peeked in the window and his awe drained away. "Hey, Kirbs."

"Yeah?"

"Mariam's crying."

* * *

Shahero gritted her teeth and darted down a corridor. Flattening herself back against the wall, she peeked around the corner. Seeing it was empty, she breathed a sigh of relief. Finally, she'd lost him. And about time too. How was she supposed to do anything when her ex was following her around?

She gave a sigh of relief as she finally deemed it safe to move again. Why the hell Hitoshi was following her was beyond her. They hadn't spoken since that day two weeks ago. She supposed that was because they couldn't be amicable. They could be enemies or they could be a couple but they couldn't be anything in between, it was just too hard. Yet, on saying that, she could admit to herself that she missed being around him. But he'd hurt her and she wasn't going to let him get away with that. She had her pride and she wasn't going to let him take that away from her.

However, as long as she kept a good distance between them then she was able to get on with every day life and not notice the empty ache inside her. The problem was that this past week he'd been acting strange, watching her with broody eyes and when she noticed him, he'd simply smirk in that infuriating manner and it was like she'd gone back in time to that period of time before Christmas. Then today she'd noticed him following her or maybe she was just being paranoid, she thought with a sigh, it was probably just her imagination that he was everywhere she was. He was probably just doing his job, whatever that was. She wasn't quite sure what he did during the day when his group where in class. Probably lazed around and did nothing.

A movement up the hall caught her attention and she swept her eyes up, panicked. Oh crap! There he was again. Ok it was not her imagination, he was actually looking for someone. Making a snap decision, she yanked open the closest door and ducked inside.

"Ah Shahero?"

Cringing and stifling a groan, Shahero turned around. "Oh hey Michael, Bethan. How're you two?"

"We're good. How're you?" Bethan queried, studying her friend with an amused expression. Why on earth was Shahero hiding in a closet unless you-know-who was lurking outside… That was probably the answer. Her boyfriend's friends were so amusing.

"Um…" Sheepishly Shahero rubbed her brow. "I think I'll leave you two alone. Oh and Michael, practice has been cancelled for this afternoon."

"Who told you that?"

"Spencer." she replied before opening the door and slipping out again hoping that Hitoshi had decided to go elsewhere.

"That one occupied?"

No such luck. A tingle shot up her spine, locking it in place and she could almost anticipate where he was, as she began to wonder just where he would touch her, if he would touch her. Dammit, she had to get over him soon. It was killing her.

Resigned she turned her face up to look at him. He looked as gorgeous as ever dressed in a white shirt with the sleeves rolled up and a pair of dark tracksuit bottoms. His hair was tied back as per usual with the jagged bangs framing his strong face. His dark eyes were as amused as ever, dancing with laughter at her plight more than likely. His lips were tilted into their usual 'I'm superior' smirk that made her want to clock him one on the jaw. He sure didn't look like he'd been having sleepless nights thinking about her.

She curled her lip in distaste and willed up the anger that was simmering under her skin. She needed the anger to hide the feeling of weakness inside her at the sight of him. Though why she should feel weak and weepy, she couldn't fathom. She'd never cried over a man before. Then again, none had given her a reason to.

"What do _you_ want?"

A blue brow rose as his eyes traced over her petulant features. Her face was pale and drawn, drained almost as though the life was seeping out of her. Her hair had lost some of it's sheen and her posture was slumped. Part of her had given up. She wasn't eating, she wasn't sleeping and he shouldn't have gotten any satisfaction out of it and he didn't. He didn't want to cause her any pain. He never had.

The question lodged in his brain and he clenched his fists. There was an easy answer to that. "The same thing I've always wanted."

Reading his look, she shook her head. "Forget it. I made that mistake before, I'm not interested in a repeat performance."

He wasn't interested in word games. He had a plan and he was going to carry through with it so before she could say another word, he scooped her up in a fireman's carry.

"Hitoshi!" she snapped as panic licked through her. What about the camera's, if anyone saw this he was going to be in so much trouble. Not to mention how crippled he'd be when he set her down. She wanted to pound on his back, kick him but since her fists were pretty much down at his ass that was out of the question and he had her legs pinned. "I hate you!" she hissed. "Put me down."

"In a minute."

"Where are you taking me?" she demanded furiously.

"Keep your voice down, Angel, you're only going to draw attention to us."

"Kinomiya, put me down right now." she growled before continuing. "I'm going to make you regret this. What the hell has gotten into you?"

"I had an epiphany." he answered almost conversationally as he turned down a darkened corridor towards the lesser used rooms in the school. They were too small to be used as classrooms or anything for the students so they were turned into offices or storerooms.

Shahero struggled to understand. An epiphany? Wasn't that the word Kirby had used? And what had she said he was going to do? Figure out how to get what he wants, were the words the young girl had used. Well obviously this had something to do with her. Possibly was all about her. Could he possibly want her back? He'd shown no such interest after their fight. Why had he waited until now anyway?

During her thought process, she hadn't noticed that Hitoshi had reached his destination and was now opening the door to a store room. He walked over to the centre of the room knocking over something in the process. Bending down he dropped Shahero safely onto something soft and firm before walking over to the light switch.

Shahero looked around her. The floor was littered with candles which was a surprise in itself but what was taking prominence in her mind was the fact that she was lying on a mattress. "If you think you're seducing me into sleeping with you, you can forget it."

He looked at her over his shoulder as he struck a match before touching it to a candle wick. "Angel, when I make love to you, it's not going to be in a storeroom."

Shahero just stared at him. He was in one of his moods especially if he was using terms such as 'make love'. She shook her head and decided to change the topic. "What's with the candles?"

He smirked, she hadn't denied his comment which was a good sign. "Don't you like them?"

She shrugged, then her brow creased. "So it _was_ you that Miyami saw hiding behind the shelves in the craft shop, wasn't it?"

He winced. He wasn't supposed to have been seen. It was embarrassing enough having gone to the shop and having to deal with the ogling freshmen and the giggling sophomores not to mention the Junior and Senior girls who began to ask awkward questions.

"So why am I here?"

He finished lighting the candles and shook out the match before turning to her. "We need to talk."

She stayed silent as she watched him cross towards her and her mouth went dry at the lancing look he sent her. Desire was simmering in her blood but she banked the fire. She was supposed to still be angry with him.

He sat down on the edge of the mattress and contented himself with stroking her leg. "First, I want to say I was wrong-"

"That's a first. You admitting you were wrong. Is this a step on your twelve step plan to a better you?"

Instead of his eyes flaring with annoyance as she'd expected, his eyes simply softened and his finger lazily began to trace circles on the buttersoft skin at the back of her knee. Her breathing began to labour as she concentrated on the tiny zings of pleasure gathering there.

"I missed you Kaeto." he murmured shifting so that he was sitting closer to her.

"I'm sure."

His eyes snapped to hers, darkening with temper. "You think these past weeks weren't hard on me? I care about you Kaeto, get that through your thick skull."

"You cared so much you rubbed your old girlfriend in my face?"

He closed his eyes and tried to reign in his temper, it would do him no good if he lashed out at her. "I need to explain about that. I didn't at the time, not because I was angry with you but I was angry with myself. I made a couple of mistakes, Selena's one of them and I lashed out on you because I was scared."

"Scared?"

"Yeah, that if you knew the truth about her and me, you'd hate me."

Her brow knit and her eyes searched his face. "So you had sex, big deal. I know I'm not the first girl you've been with. I just don't like the way you treated me in front of her. I don't like to be brushed off and treated like a child, especially so you can continue to drool over her. My ego isn't as big as yours."

"You think she can hold a candle to you?" he laughed at that.

"Oh please, do kill yourself laughing." she snarled scathingly.

He sighed and before she could evade, he kissed her mouth before she turned her face away from him but he simply settled for nuzzling the spot behind her ear. Her breathing went thick and her body heated, softened. "I want you, Kaeto. Always have done. In fact wanting you is what got me into this mess in the first place."

"Always my fault, isn't it? Never yours." she groaned and her body pressed against his even as she struggled to keep her angry front up. The guy had a devil's tongue and he knew how to put it to good use.

"Um…" he murmured pulling away from her throat before seizing her lips in a drugging kiss, pulling away before she could sink her fist into his gut. Instead, he switched his attention to her hands, placing a kiss in the centre of each palm, constantly aware of the heat of her body pressing against his. She could drive him to distraction without much trouble but he had a mission to complete here. "This story begins back when I was a naïve captain of the Varsity hockey team."

She blinked. That was about three years or so ago.

"You were fourteen and pretty stubborn, foolhardy, rebellious and a loudmouth. Huh, nothing's changed."

"Yeah I remember that time. Naïve isn't the word I'd have used to describe you, though."

"Shush." he ordered, nibbling on her knuckles and chuckling when she tried to yank them out of his reach.

"The buffet is closed!" she snapped, jerking her hand out of his grip and almost whacking herself on the mouth.

"Do you remember then, since you remember so much, how our match went with Bakuten High's team that year?"

She frowned then recalled it. There was a whole big scandal on how the rejects had nearly beaten the top team in the league, there hadn't been any evidence but there had been some speculation that someone had fed the Bakuten team the game play for the Tigers. She stared open mouthed at Hitoshi. He wouldn't. He would never have jeopardized his team in that way, would he?

He smiled bitterly. "Yeah you're remembering now."

"The Tigers narrowly beat the Rejects, some believed the Rejects found out the Tiger's strategies."

He nodded. "They did."

"You?" She couldn't believe it. How could he have betrayed his team like that? It was the worst thing anyone could do. It was almost throwing the game. It was disgusting.

Seeing the revulsion on her face, he swallowed thickly and ploughed ahead. "I was stupid and too full of pride. That was my biggest problem. I had a crush on this obstinate, sarcastic girl who was much younger than me. I was completely gone stupid over her. And like a schmuck, all I could ever say to her when I was even brave enough to approach her were stupid insults and sarcastic comments which caused her to retort with snappier comments that left me looking like a dolt."

"You were a dolt." she muttered. She could remember that Hitoshi too, he just about plain pissed her off during all the time she knew him. "How come you just didn't come out and say that you liked her? What was the big deal?"

"Shahero, I'm talking about you." he growled.

"Huh? Oh right, well why didn't you just say so you moron?"

"I thought I made it pretty clear who I was talking about." he retorted gruffly.

"Well you didn't. And you weren't gone stupid over me, you bullied me; picking on me all the time, insulting my playing, mocking me with your friends, pulling my hair."

He raised a brow. "You were listening to what I said, weren't you? I pretty much covered that already."

She harrumphed and folded her arms, turning away from him which only gave him easy access to her hair which he promptly took advantage of, combing his fingers through it lazily.

"I was crazy about your hair. It looks like black ink. Hence the pulling it and it was more a tug than a pull."

"Same difference."

He acknowledged that with a nod. Slipping his arms around her, he pulled her back against him and pressed his lips to her brow. "I'm sorry if I hurt you back then. I was young and stupid."

"Still are." she muttered. "Well stupid, as for being young, well you're no spring chick-" she broke off on a yelp as his fingers dug into her side and she squirmed against him, leaning back to rest her head on his shoulder. "So what happened to make you turn on your team?"

He sighed gustily. "You weren't interested in me, it was a blow to my large ego. My friends thought it was the funniest thing and wouldn't let me live it down. I took a pretty big dent on my pride and to get it back… well I ran into Selena one night at a bar I used to sneak out to. I didn't know much about her. All I did know was that she liked hockey, coached the Bakuten high team and she was older and interested in me. We used each other. I got my respect back and she got our game plays. I didn't really realize what I was doing at the time."

"She seduced it out of you?"

He nodded. "Pretty much. She was the first person I'd ever been with and I was naïve to think that she wouldn't use anything I told her. I was proven wrong and I learnt from my mistake. Dan knew, he forgave me and after some time I began to forgive myself for it. Still, I've never really felt clean after that."

Feeling for him, knowing that she'd never forgive herself if she made a mistake that cost her friends anything, she moved to him and hugged him.

"When you came across us, she was just trying to wind me up. It was brought back to me how much of a mistake I had made. I was angry with her and with myself, I lashed out at you because I was scared Shahero, really scared that you'd see how much I messed up and…" he trailed up, looking at her now with a plea for understanding in his eyes. "I need you Hero. You're the only thing that I've ever wanted."

So this was how it had been her fault? Still it was a startling shock to realize just how long Hitoshi had wanted her, and it made her heart do stupid summersaults. It shouldn't have but she felt smug because the only reason he had looked at Kaye twice was because he couldn't have her. Ha, so much for the bitch having a curvy figure and perfect hair, she was still only second best. So Shahero was petty, who knew! Who didn't, might have been a better question.

"She was your first?" she questioned softly, running her fingers through his hair, scraping her nails lightly over his scalp. He groaned in appreciation.

"Hmm? Yeah." Opening his eyes, he looked directly into the cerulean blue of hers. "It was no big deal. Guys aren't as sentimental as girls, it's only important when you're with someone you care about. Just remember that."

She nodded dumbly, confused as to why he was being so insistent on that front and why he wasn't making some lewd suggestion that it would be him and him only.

"I really missed you." he murmured pulling her to him so that he could cover her mouth with his, softly. His hands framed her face, warm and calloused against the cool, softness of her cheeks. His thumbs pushed back the stray strands of her ebony hand as his mouth seductively pried hers open, sending his tongue deep to tangle with hers. She sighed softly as she melted into him, shifting against him to make herself comfortable.

She moved onto her knees, her arms tightening around him as the emptiness she'd felt the past couple of weeks began to fill with him. She pressed closer to his body, enjoying the feeling of how warm his body was, how broad his chest was, the strength in his arms, his mouth soft and dangerous on hers. A soft whimper escaped her lips as she changed the pace of the kiss from soft and comforting to desperate and needy. She'd missed him and she needed this. She needed him.

His hands were everywhere and when they covered her breast, his mouth muffled her groan of satisfaction. Her fingers greedily moved under his shirt and moved over the smooth warm skin of his back, luxuriating in the feel of him, his presence.

He pulled back, breathless and dazed, he buried his face in her neck, his ragged breathing scalding her skin. "I love you."

Surprised, unsure she'd heard him correctly, she pulled back and looked at him. "What did you say?" she questioned slowly in a measured tone.

He frowned, confused by her expression as he tried to recollect what he'd just said. But as far as he could recollect, he hadn't said anything. "I… What do you think I said?"

Well that was a major cop out, she thought almost amused by his evasion tactics. "You said, you loved me."

His reaction amused her more. He simply stared at her, mouth open for several seconds and she could almost see the wheels turning in that head of his as he struggled to come up with a get out clause. "Shit, I said that out loud?" he demanded.

Now that surprised her. "Ah, yeah. So you didn't mean to say it?" That still meant he thought it though, that wasn't a complete take back of the words. However how did she feel about that? Hitoshi Kinomiya being in love with her, Shahero Kaeto? Well it was Valentines day, that was usually when stupid meaningless declarations were made.

"No I meant to say it; I just hadn't meant to say it yet."

"So, hold on a minute, you love me but you didn't want me to know? Is that what you're saying?"

"Well yeah, it's hard enough to be in love with you-"

"Wait a second here, _in _love? You said love, not _in_ love!"

"There's a difference?"

"Yes!" she snapped jumping to her feet and running a hand through her hair. How had things shifted so quickly. She wasn't ready to be _in_ love or have anyone _in_ love with her! She was going to college soon. _In_ love usually led to marriages and babies and she was far too young for marriages and babies. And she didn't know if she wanted to be married to Hitoshi. Though it wouldn't be bad, he'd certainly keep her from being bored… but this is exactly what she didn't want to be thinking about. She was seventeen years old! Yes her parents might have been young when they got married but she had ambitions. She wasn't sure what they were yet, but she had them. Though secretly one of them was to actually find someone she wanted to spend her life with. Living your whole life on your own without someone to care about you was not how she wanted to spend her life. But she had her friends, they were enough. Although if they happened to get married and have families, she'd just be a tag along and she didn't want that either. She wanted someone to just be dedicated to her, who she would care about above all others, someone she could talk to about everything and anything under the sun and on cold days, she could cuddle up to in front of a fire, someone who would desire her and make her feel beautiful. It wasn't too much to ask for. Ok, it was but people were allowed to have their aspirations.

But what if Hitoshi was the one for her? She didn't know. She wasn't willing to give him everything unless he was willing to do the same for her. She couldn't risk opening herself that much.

"Explain the difference Kaeto."

"I love my Dad, and my brother, and Johnny. That's love. _In_ love is a whole barrel of other problems." she snapped, waving her hands around her wildly.

"I don't love you the way they do, I don't treat you the same way they do." Hitoshi snapped back, rapidly beginning to lose his temper. What happened to the days when you could say you loved someone and they'd say it back?

"That's what I'm saying… Oh now you've confused me. Way to go!"

He approached her and grabbed her arms to make her face him. "I don't need to hear the words back, Hero, not yet at least but I do need you to accept them." he told her firmly. His hands shifted to grip her hair, forcing her to look at him, to accept him for who he was.

She watched the temper swirl in his eyes but more than that was the deep longing and under that was something else, something that made her toes curl and her heart soften inexplicably. He really loved her. They weren't just words he'd say just to get what he wanted. He genuinely meant them. Surprised and moved, she stared at him. "You love me."

Closing his eyes, he battled back the anger. "Yes." he bit out.

"Really?"

He released her and let out a quiet breath of frustration. "Look, I don't have time for this. I have stuff I should be getting on with, I'll find you later maybe we-"

"Do it later." she ordered, boosting herself up onto him, wrapping her legs around his waist as her hands dove into his hair working it free from the band he always tied it with. She pressed soft butterfly kisses along his jaw and his heart began to pound erratically.

"Shahero. This isn't the time or the place."

"Um-hmm." she murmured, nibbling on his ear before blowing on it lightly enjoying the way his body went lax at the attention. "It's Valentines day and we're alone, seems perfect to me."

"Shahero, I love you but-"

"No buts, you love me. I could do worse so-"

"You could do worse?" he rasped, having her pressed so close against him was doing interesting things to the rest of his body not to mention turning his brain to mush.

"Yeah, I figure if you're in love with me, then fine. You've got a good body and you're not bad on the eyes, you'll do until I find someone better."

He stared at her surprised then saw the lurking amusement in her eyes. "Fine, mock my emotions Kaeto, but," he lowered her onto the mattress and pinned her with his body. "You're not going to find someone better."

"Really?" she breathed, her fingers tracing light patterns over the smooth, taut skin on the nape of his neck. "I'm sure I could think of a few people."

He flashed a grin. "Then I'll just have to stop you from thinking all together."

And he did, surprisingly easily.

* * *

Amber played with the red rose Bryan had given her and contemplated what he'd said. For the first time ever, he hadn't sneaked it into her locker and pretended it was from someone else. No instead, he had presented it to her when he'd come to visit her while she'd been sleeping in her dorm.

Nibbling on her lower lip she tried to sort out her thoughts but that sleep had done her some good. At least everything suddenly made sense, the mood swings, the feeling of being out of sorts, it all came down to her period. She knew that it always acted like an amplifier for her emotions. Now that she understood why she'd reacted so badly to Kirby's news and then Mariam's attitude, she could begin to see things more objectively.

Big deal if Mariam and Bryan had had a drunken fumble. He had never slept with her and he wasn't with her now, even if he was he'd always be hers because he was her cousin, her family, her friend. It worked both ways. Bryan had a piece of her heart that no one could ever touch. Still, it was sort of odd that he'd never told her. Ah well, Bryan was incredibly secretive. He was a listener not a talker, she'd always said that worked well for them. How could she complain now just because she felt hurt? If she could -if she had- then she wouldn't be going around telling Bryan about any boys she had.

So Bryan had made out with Mariam, it wasn't a big deal. That shouldn't affect how she reacted to him. He still cared about her, this rose was proof of that, she thought with a smile as she tickled its petals against her skin. Bryan wasn't going to abandon her any time soon. She shouldn't have gotten so worked up about it.

She caught sight of Aspin and Kane sitting on his jacket under one of the trees out of sight of the school. She wasn't quite sure what chaos had erupted in the school that day since no one was in class. Or none of the seniors. Thank god the staff had foreseen the chaos that Valentines day would bring out of the students and had issued only half a day of lessons. Only no one had ever flaked off as much as they had today. It was like a bargain with the staff, you went to the morning lessons and you got the rest of the day off after lunch. It was a pretty nice deal in Amber's opinion, it was just that no one was bothering about it today. Even the staff were acting pretty lax, then again she was mainly referring to Hitoshi with that statement and he was hardly a member of the staff, he was more like a student with a specialized subject, I.e. piss off the baby brats and try to get off with Shahero, she added with a grin. She wanted them two to get back together. Life sucked when Shahero wasn't happy and even when she tried to be happy, it was obvious to see she wasn't.

Interlinking her gloved fingers, she rested her chin on them and watched Kane give Aspin an Eskimo kiss. They were sweet together. She'd always been envious of their connection. Kane could be an arrogant prat most of the time but when it came to Aspin there was no one more important to him in the world. That sort of devotion was admirable, he could stand back and let her climb her mountains even if he'd rather she'd do it with him. Aspin had struck gold with him, even if she did sometimes complain about him, it was only out of habit and everyone knew that. They could fight and they weren't so syrupy sweet with each other that it made you sick, they had a healthy relationship.

She liked this spot, it was so quiet and with the trees shielding it and her back towards the school, it was almost as though she wasn't at school. The grass was a strange green, long and wet from the rain that had poured down that night. The frost was lending it a yellowish tint. Birds were twittering excitedly from some of the trees while a blackbird was hopping along the quad near her bench, plucking at the grass in the hopes of finding some lingering food that a student may have left. Feeling for it, she crumbled a piece of shortcake she'd snatched from the kiosk. The bird darted for the crumbs and gathering a mouthful, flew up onto an adjacent bench and began to eat it.

Crumbling up the packet in her fist, she walked back towards the school, dumping the wrapper into the nearest recycle bin. The air inside the school was stale and lukewarm, it stung her skin and caused her nose to run. She hated the extremes of heat, she felt too warm in her heavy jacket and it certainly wasn't warm enough to remove it.

Up ahead she picked out Mariam in the crowds opening her locker and talking to Salima. Their eyes met and locked for a few seconds before she looked away and shutting her locker, she stalked off with her head high. Now why the hell was she acting like the wounded party, Amber wondered. She hadn't flashed Mariam's underwear all over the place! Ah well, it wasn't really a big deal. After all, who of any importance had seen it? At least they were clean, she thought wryly, it would have been more embarrassing if they weren't. It could certainly have been worse and it was a blessing in disguise. She was late for her period anyway and since she hadn't known when she was due, she might have got a nasty surprise. She certainly didn't want her nice new underwear blood stained. So Mariam had done her a favour.

She tilted her head back and felt her neck stretched. All this thinking was making her head hurt. She walked over to her own locker and yanked it open hoping to god that all her books were in place. She still hadn't quite recovered from Ian stealing her books. However she wasn't quite ready for the stuff that had come slipping out of it.

"Alright, I have got to change my locker combination. God knows what I'll find in it next." she declared grimly leaning down to gather the fallen… whatever it was; shooting a couple of boys from her year a dark look as they stared at her oddly. She'd been here for god knows how long and people were still surprised to hear her speaking to herself. She shook her head. People were weird.

And so was the thing that had fallen from her locker. A Package, she realized with a bewildered frown. Why on earth did she have a package in her locker? Looking around her, she slowly rose holding the small square package to her chest tightly, freezing and stifling a gasp as a sharp stabbing pain made a diagonal dart down from the base of her spine towards her bladder; or where she figured her bladder was. Years of biology still hadn't taught her anything about her own body and the various parts. She just knew she had a bladder and it held her pee like a water tank, only letting out streams of pee through a tap when it became too full. Biting her upper lip, she concentrated on breathing in through her nose and out through her mouth, fast, shallow pants to ease the pain.

"Hey Amber-"

"Whah!" Amber yelped and jumped, stumbling back with her hand on her heart as the package hit the floor again. Ah shit!

"Sorry." Arista apologized sheepishly and knelt down to lift the parcel. "What's this?"

The dark haired girl jerked a shoulder wincing against the pain before sighing in relief as it ebbed away. She turned and blindly put Bryan's rose in her locker before returning her attention to her friend and the package. "I don't know. It just fell out of my locker."

"What is with things leaping out of your locker? There's your books-"

"They don't like me."

"The skeleton."

"Ian doesn't like me." she muttered as she began to tear at the tape with her teeth.

"And now the parcel."

"Kai… likes me." came the awed reply.

"Huh?" Sometimes Arista really wondered if Amber was on the same planet as them.

"The parcel/ present is from Kai."

Stepping forward, Arista peeked over her friends shoulder at the frosted pink stone hanging from a string in Amber's hand.

"It's pink. You don't like pink."

Amber regarded her coolly. "It's a rose quartz, so yes it's sort of pink and kind of big. Oh, good there's a note, this might explain something. He knows I'm no good with jewelry."

Arista snickered knowing of her friends jewelry phobia. She looked down at the note and scanned its contents recognizing the neat scrawl as Kai's. Bemused she read it again out loud.

"'Rose Quartz: The heart healer. May heal emotional grief and wounds, open and strengthen the heart to unconditional love and affection. Considered to have the power to dissolve emotional wounds.' Huh, unconditional love, eh?"

As her friend wiggled her brows, Amber stifled a groan. "I don't think it means what you think it means. Read the next part and you'll understand."

_You don't need this but it can't hurt for you to have it- if it works, that is. You have a big heart, therefore you need a big stone but with your scrawny neck if I'd gotten you a bigger stone you'd probably break it._

"How romantic."

At Arista's mocking sigh, Amber scowled. "He thinks he's a comedian."

"No it's sweet, think of it this way, you can knock someone out by swinging it like that David and Goliath kid did. It's like self defense. He's giving you a gun without the gun and the actual bullet things that kill you."

With a roll of her ochre eyes, she looped the stone around her neck and stuffed it down her shirt. A smile played on her lips and a warmth moved through her even as she read over the words again. Folding up the note she tucked it into her shirt pocket.

"Hey, pretty!"

Bewildered, she looked up in the direction Arista was pointing. She'd been so concerned with the parcel that had leapt out at her, she hadn't noticed the second rose lying on top of her untidy pile of books. Lifting it, she stared at the butter yellow of its petals. Sighing, she turned the card so she could read what it had to say.

_Red roses are overrated. They're what everyone is told to like, it's what society expects them to like. I'd rather a yellow rose. It may lack the dramatic flare of a red one and the beauty. But on cloudy days it won't lose its warmth or golden glow. It stands out amongst the other flowers like sunshine commanding people's attention. And to my opinion it will last longer._

"Well it's fake so it would last longer." Arista deadpanned. "What's with the notes?"

"I don't know. He doesn't have a silver tongue like Brooklyn does."

"Brooklyn doesn't have a silver tongue."

There must have been something special about his tongue, Arista spent enough time trying to get into her mouth, Amber thought sourly, rereading the note again. Was it her or was he trying to say something with it. She was sure the rose was an innuendo for something and not a sexual something either.

"So are you ready to go or do you have to give Kai big smooches for his gift."

"I must have been cursed in another life." Amber muttered. "Aye, fine let's go then. But I still think we should tell the others. They're going to find out sometime and when they do, they're not going to be happy about it."

"They'll try to make me stop seeing him, Ams. They'll say I'm fraternizing with the enemy." Arista murmured, holding Amber's rose while her friend closed her locker.

"You are fraternizing with the enemy."

"But you like Mystel, right? And he likes Brooklyn."

"Yeah but people are allowed to make mistakes, I made one with Mariam."

Arista hummed softly as they made their way out of the main door. She was due to meet Brooklyn soon and they had to catch the bus into town. Her stomach gave a delicious hop at the thought of meeting him and spending some time with him since their time was short due to his duties and hers. Squeezing time in today had been difficult, especially trying to get Amber to come along, after all she had her own boyfriend she had barely spent any time with today. But Amber served as a good alibi, no one would suspect a thing. Except Miyami was getting rather dubious as to why Amber wanted to go shopping with Arista so often… Oh they'd get over that bridge when it came to it. She was going to see Brooklyn, everything else was meaningless at the moment.

* * *

"OK, we start here." Miyami snapped as they stood outside a door in the girls dormitory corridor that was not there own. A poster of some young drop dead gorgeous actor was planted on the upper area of the door and his eyes watched them with a smirk on his sensual lips.

"Kirby!" Aspin snapped and the petite girl quickly sucked in her tongue and smiled innocently.

"The poster isn't doing anything to you Kirbs." Miyami said in a gently scolding tone.

"Yeah but he's looking at me."

Shahero sidled up to the poster and peered at it curiously. "It is looking at her."

She smirked and plucked out a pen from behind Sonia's ear. With a snicker from the other girls, she stalked to the poster and her eyes flashed as she whipped the cap from the pen. Her fingers, holding the pen, squiggled over the poster with a flourish and the girls watched with horrified amused faces as the man's face was covered with large jam jar glasses, devil horns protruding from his perfect hair and a moustache to rival the Belgium detective from the Agatha Christie novels. She spun round and bowed modestly.

"Your talent awes me." Miyami snickered while Kirby clapped her hands with glee.

"Sorry to interrupt, but don't you think that when the girls see this graffiti on their poster, they may become suspicious… and what am I saying, to be suspicious they'd need a working brain between them, wouldn't they?"

Aspin gaped at Sonia, then grinned at the girls. "Way to go Sons, that was pretty damn bitchy. You go girl."

"We've created a monster." Miyami cackled, still watching the poster warily.

"We go'it!" a voice called out to them from down the corridor as Russia and Ruin both appeared carrying bell jars in their arms.

"Shush!" Miyami snapped. "We don't want any Freshies to peek out and catch sight of us loitering around here."

Russia rolled her green eyes. Who cared if any Freshmen saw her, she'd just threaten them into keeping their stupid gobs shut in fear of penalty of a major ass kicking. She'd only been back a few weeks and already she had a collection of students who avoided her like a plague and that wasn't to mention those who wouldn't allow themselves to have eye contact with her. God being feared was the best craic.

Though it was a shame that Kai had ordered her to stop the prank on Mariam. Though why she'd taken the order, she wasn't quite sure but since Miyami and Aspin had both decided to back out on a revenge prank on Mariam, she'd decided to change her targets. Kennedie and Clover would sate her blood thirst for the moment. It was a pity Amber wasn't here though, she and Arista would both have appreciated the revenge not to mention the fact that they would have served as great entertainment.

Sonia sucked in a breath to compose herself. This was going to be… well it wasn't going to look very good on her permanent record not to mention that most colleges wouldn't like to know that she was involved in such activities but this wasn't a matter of academic and self portrayal. No this was most definitely a matter of justice and doing what was right. Clover and Kennedie, most especially, needed to be taken down and she wanted a piece in their downfall.

"Do you think they locked their door?" she wondered.

Miyami shrugged. "It's a possibility, naturally." she approached the doors and laid her gloved hand over the round brass handle and twisted slowly.

Each girl awaited the result, looking very effective and spy-esque in their black outfits and gloves. Miyami had gone all out for their costumes, insisting they wear shades, hats and gloves to disguise themselves, though Shahero had pointed out, how many other groups of females travelled in a pack?

The door didn't budge and Miyami hissed out a breath. "Ok, well, Ruin, you're up."

Ruin rolled her coffee eyes and stalked over to the door, tugging out the hair pins she'd attached to the chain around her neck. It was an expensive necklace her mother bought her for some sort of engagement, Ruin couldn't remember, but that was why it didn't matter if it broke or not, though she was hoping it would snap under duress of having the pins hanging from it. If not, then she'd simply rip it off when she got back to her dorm.

"That only works in the movies." Kirby quipped softly as she gazed around the empty hall. Light streamed in, white from the dismal grey sky, in through the sky light and illuminated the white doors and plain walls with the off white lino floor. It was so bland, she thought with a wrinkle of her nose.

"You think?" Ruin mumbled over the pins hanging from her mouth as she crouched down at the doorway. She peeked through the key hole and gave a brisk nod, then set to work.

"How do you do that?" Shahero demanded as she watched Ruin fiddling with the pick in the lock.

"Stop breathing on me." the gothic girl demanded irately as she listened out for the satisfying click of tumblers.

"Ruin can hotwire a car, why not pick locks?" Aspin said dryly.

"I wish she'd teach me." Kirby said wistfully.

A loud squawk interrupted them, echoing down the silent hall and they all jumped the height of themselves. Ruin hissed and muttered a curse as one of her picks snapped.

"_Base to squadron leader, come in leader._"

Russia quirked a brow as Mariah's voice came over the walkie talkie hitched to Miyami's pants. "Y' 'ad 'er call ya leader?"

Miyami smirked before plucking the walkie-talkie and pressing the respond button. "This is Squadron leader, how goes it Base?"

"_The suspects are flying the nest_."

"What the fuck does that mean?" Shahero demanded.

"They're leaving the Dining hall." Aspin replied with a shrug, flipping her purple hair over her shoulder, then her eyes widened. "Ah, that's not good."

"Follow them Mari."

"_I thought we were supposed to stay in character and use secret agent codes."_

"Just follow them." Shahero snapped.

"Where would they go after?"

"'afta get a smoke don' dey?" Russia responded, leaning against the wall and folding her arms under her chest.

"Typical they probably only nibbled their dinner, why couldn't they be like Tyson, then we'd have all the time in the world to get this done." The blue eyed Asian girl mumbled causing the others to regard her with grins except for Miyami who gave her a reproving look.

"Got it." Ruin announced, rising to her feet and dusting off her hands.

"Nice one. Right, we want this to be swift and efficient, no leaving any obvious evidence that we've been in there." Miyami opened the door and stood back to allow the girls entrance.

They marched in and each swept the rooms with their gazes. This room was nothing like their room. Their's was a very large room that allowed all eight of them to dwell in their quite comfortably, it had once been a freshman dorm, freshmen all having been housed in the same dorm in order to help them interact with each other and get to know each other better. Since one year, or one term in their sophomore year to be precise, the Octopussies had been separated which led to them causing all sorts of havoc, midnight feasts, disturbing the rest of the students, shouting messages to each other from opposite ends of the corridors and dorm swaps at random moments. The teachers couldn't keep track of who was in what dorm and where they were so in the end, it had been decided that one of the large dorms would be given to the Octopussies in order for them to calm down and behave. It worked, they still had their midnight snacks and they had a tendency to stay up but they weren't disturbing the rest of the students as much nor would they be missing in the case of a fire.

Clover and Kennedie's room bedded four, the usual number allowed in a dorm but only three beds were occupied. Clover, Kennedie and some girl named Tahnee, they had run ins with from time to time.

"It's a shoe box." Shahero commented squinting at the eye searing pink walls and lacy white curtains. Posters, of very attractive and mostly naked men, were pinned to the ceiling over the three used beds and made her shudder to think why exactly they were placed in those strategic positions.

"Not enough room t' swin' a cat." Russia commented almost disdainfully as she stepped further into the room and looked around it, noting the numerous cosmetics on the vanity, the wardrobes in the corners, and the bedside tables covered in glossy gossip magazines.

"Why would anyone want to swing a cat?" Sonia wondered out loud, stepping over a pair of barely there panties that had been discarded on the floor. She wrinkled her nose. How unhygienic.

"Huh, this explains a lot." Kirby declared. "Think about it, three people shouldn't even have to share this space, their ego's would take up too much of the space, so how exactly can they expect their minds to expand when there isn't any room. They sacrificed their brains in order to have egos." she thumped down on the bottom bunk quietly pleased with her synopsis.

"How sad." Sonia said sympathetically, then she shrugged. She preferred them to have big ego's and no brains, much easier to deal with them that way.

"Does swinging a cat mean by its tail? Maybe it was originally supposed to mean, setting up a swing set for the kitty and people took it the wrong way. I mean, you're not going to fit a swing set in here and be able to push the kitty 'cause it won't be able to go high enough." Kirby wondered suddenly, picking up a magazine and looking through it. Finding it of no real interest, she flung it haphazardly away.

"Enough." Miyami snapped. "We have a reason to be here! Now get to work."

"Aye, aye Capt'in." Shahero shot to her feet, body ramrod straight, hand in a salute and a mile wide grin on her face.

Miyami rolled her silver eyes and stepped past Sonia to the bedside tables. Tugging out a drawer, she began to root through the stuff quite methodically so as not to arouse suspicion but she wanted to find something. Something as to find out what exactly the gruesome twosome would be up to next. Another attack on her and Johnny's relationship and she was going to scratching out some eyes.

Russia tugged out a drawer without much enthusiasm and wrinkled her nose in disgust. "Someone's expectin' some midni' company…" she mumbled, poking through the box of condoms, -at least they have the brains to protect themselves, gotta give them marks for that- a white paper bag from the pharmacy, -she could guess what was in it-, and some other things she wished she hadn't seen. It gave her icky images and a feeling that nothing but holy water would be able to clean her. She shut the door abruptly and pulled out the second one.

"Jackpot." she whispered, her eyes landing on various pieces of skimpy material that didn't seem to actually be clothes. She held up a stringy thong. "An' dis is why she's pissed off all da time. Anywan would be if dey 'ad a constan' wedgy."

Shahero snickered and then smirked evilly. Her eyes landed on something and picking it up, crossing to her friend. "Time to give them the snip, don't you think?"

Russia's eyes rounded in excitement as she saw the pair of scissors that the blue eyed girl held in her hands. Then without ceremony, Shahero angled her hand and snipped right through one of the strings.

Aspin hearing the snip, stood up and looked between them. "She'll tie it together, cut out the padded bit…"

"The crotch?" Sonia asked joining them.

Shahero took the thong from Russia, and snipped right through the crotch. The panties fell limply in her hands into one long irreparable strip.

"You know, now you've done hers, you're going to have to do the other girls too."

"Aye, well fair is fair." Russia mused, grinning at Aspin who smirked viciously. She picked up another pair and a '_sknit_' echoed through the room drawing Miyami's attention in time for her to witness the fall of yet another pair of panties. Humor rivaled with horror. This was going to be a very obvious fact that the girls had been through their drawers, but since stage two would indicate that they had been in the room, what was the big deal of Dumb and Dumber knowing? So instead of scowling at them and berating them, she joined them.

"You're going to have to leave them something." she said.

Ruin grinned, and reached into the drawer pulling out a rather large pair of tasteless off-white panties. "Would these do?"

"Oh my god yes!" Kirby almost squealed. "Bridget Jones panties." Mock sniffing, she dabbed at her eye sentimentally. "Amber would be so proud."

"Dey'll prolly go commando." Russia stated blandly hoisting herself up on top of the nearest bunk bed which was probably Kennedie's. There'd be no way that slut would lie at the bottom of anything, unless it was the ocean. Russia had many nice dreams about doing exactly that.

"Don't spoil our fun. Besides, they wouldn't have these if they liked commando so much… and oh god I just remembered something."

"The time Johnny…" Ruin trailed off watching as Shahero paled and nodded.

"What?" Miyami demanded.

"Johnny mooned us out of a second storey classroom once, because I didn't believe he went commando."

The silver haired bombshell thought about that for a moment and then nodded. "Sounds like him."

"Looked like him too." Ruin stated with a straight face while the dark haired Japanese girl dissolved into snickers.

'_Sknit'_. Shahero grinned, really enjoying this. Today was turning into the best day ever. She'd made up with Hitoshi -who loved her which was odd, but ok- then she got to cut up some bitch's panties to shreds, though Russia was right, they probably didn't use them much, though all the same she was glad she wore gloves. Otherwise this would be down right disgusting.

"This is going to take forever, a forever I might add, that we don't have." Miyami sighed.

Aspin sawed through a string and glanced up at Miyami from the other side of the room. She simply shrugged, she was doing her best. But her penknife wasn't much good against skimpy lingerie and most of it was more mind boggling than anything else. It was sometimes much harder to cut them when she was trying to decide which bit was the crotch bit.

Sonia pulled out a drawer. "Out of the group, Clover is definitely the dumbest and most likely to keep a diary of some sorts. Though Kennedie does display a tendency to note down various plots and plans, all we need do is figure out where they may keep these books."

Ruin tugged up the mattress of the nearest bed and dropped it as though it suddenly scalded her hand. Aspin balked and stepped back.

"That was gross."

"Did you smell that?"

"That's revolting." Miyami covered her mouth with her hand to prevent herself from gagging.

"What was it?" Kirby wondered, moving closer but not too close as though she feared something may attack her.

"Week old period pads and stuff like that." Ruin explained. "The smell is the blood that's gone bad."

"Ok I did not want to know that." Kirby mumbled, her pale peach colored skin turning a unique shade of green as color bloomed in her cheeks.

"You asked." The taller girl replied in that same deep emotionless tone. "Well, if it's under that mattress, we can forget about it. The smell would probably corrode it."

"How come it doesn't leak out?" Aspin wondered.

"Prolly da same way our 'eau de smelly feet' didn't give Ian a 'eads up. It's compressed or sometin', sealed possibly by da mattress disablin' it ta ge' ou'"

"Shit." She shuddered. "How about we just let dumb and dumber plan their little idiocies and we fight back and show, once again, how we're better. I don't want to try to estimate their plans. Honestly, I just want outta here."

Miyami nodded. "Ok, let's finish off these panties and then we can finish phase two."

The girls nodded and set off to their various spots to finish off phase one.

* * *

Twenty minutes later, two girls stalked down the corridor, haughtily looking down on anyone and everyone they deemed unworthy to be in their presence. They gossiped and mocked those they despised and generally just laughed at the less fortunate. As they approached their dorm, they paused as the pink haired girl dug in her blouse breast pocket for a key.

The blonde gasped. "Someone desecrated Kyle!"

Kennedie rolled her eyes at the blonde's pesky pitch and lifted her gaze to the poster and snorted. "Good god, who bothers to do such amateurish pranks?"

"Well everyone here is so amateured."

Kennedie closed her eyes and decided not to correct the girls grammar. "Whatever, just take it down." slotting in the key, she twisted it, frowning when it remained locked even after she heard the click. With a shake of her head, she twisted the key one more time and scowled. She yanked the door open and Clover squealed as they were bombarded by flies all buzzing around the room chaotically. Kennedie stepped into the room, swatting around the black blurs and took in the lights that were switched on. One loud buzz caught her attention in time for her to notice a black pellet fry against the light bulb and then dive bombed onto the bed. A smell of burning reached her nostrils and she balked, backtracking out of the room. Slamming the door shut, she stormed up the corridor.

"Alright who did this?" she demanded.

Doors opened and students piled out of their dorms to witness the irate pink haired girl in the perfect school uniform, white socks pulled up to her knees and patent black shoes. "Well?"

"Well wha'?" Russia drawled leaning on her doorjamb.

"Was it you?" she hissed.

"Now I can' confess if I dunno wha' yar gabbin' abou'."

Shahero peeked out the doorway and snickered. "What's wrong with you? Got ants in your pants?"

"Did you put flies in our dorm?" she hissed under her breath, stalking towards them with murder written in her indigo eyes.

Comprehension seemed to dawn on Russia's alabaster face. "Oh, da flies, yeah… Nope."

"Maybe something in there smells bad and attracted them." Shahero suggested and Russia snickered.

Clover's cheeks bloomed pink and Kennedie sneered. With a scowl and a haughty sniff, she stormed off. "Watch your back."

"Oh gee, original."

Russia nodded. "Sure was."

"I'm quaking in me boots…" she looked down at her feet. "Well they're sort of bootlike… meh, maybe not."

"Well wha'ever. We can 'andle 'er and lemme tell ya, dat was one 'hell o' a prank."

"Yup we rock." with that simple statement that summed up how they felt, they both disappeared back into their dorm to relive the expressions of Clover's face and the fact that Kennedie lost her cool in front of the female student body.

* * *

Mystel ran a hand over his hair, making sure it was in its usual spiked style as his gaze scanned the crowded mall for a distinctive silver head and more importantly a petite dark haired girl. Beside him Brooklyn boredly sipped at his coffee, his own eyes doing a leisurely search of the hoard only to quickly avert back to his coffee any time Mystel looked at him. He didn't want to let on that his stomach was in the usual jitters he received before seeing his Belle, it was sort of embarrassing. Usually he made sure to be late so that he could be certain she was there before he arrived but he couldn't show such insecurity to Mystel, that would be admitting he cared whether or not Arista turned up. He didn't… want anyone to realize that he really cared whether she showed up. Each of their trysts meant something to him. Each time she arrived it showed she hadn't given up on him, on them. It would be so easy for her to choose her team over him, after all they were like her family and there wasn't a lack of eligible boys there. None of them compared to him, but she could be seduced or be taken advantage of or she could be persuaded that he wasn't all that.

Thoughts like that scared him and were therefore blanked from his mind when ever he felt the teeniest hint of insecurity.

He took a gulp of coffee and studied Mystel. "You're awfully interested in the crowd. You aren't perhaps waiting for someone yourself are you?"

Mystel flashed a grin. "Nope, just looking out for your Belle. She might not see us here."

"Yes, us being so invisible right in the front of the coffee place that we usually meet at. God, you're into her, aren't you?"

"Who?"

"Who." Brooklyn snorted and rolled his eyes, carefully cutting up his scone and spreading the butter thickly over it. "You know who. The plague."

"I don't get that nickname. She's hardly very threatening."

"Right. Nice subject change. She's with Hiwatari and though I'd love to see his face if you stole her from him, I think you should be careful with her."

"She likes Hiwatari, she's hardly going to dump him for me. Though what she sees in that controlling jerk, I don't know."

"Mystel, was that an insult? My god man, you really are in love."

"Shut up Brooklyn. I'm not in love."

"Just in serious lust, eh?"

Mystel sighed and looked away. "She's a nice girl but she's not interested in me."

Brooklyn shrugged then frowned. A flash of silver caught his attention and his eyes narrowed as they focused on the spot where he'd last seen it. There it was again, though this time the crowd of people parted enough for him to see Arista and Amber speed walking down the promenade, both looking frantically over their shoulders as though they were hiding from someone.

He kicked Mystel under the table and when the blond glanced at him, he nodded his head towards the girls. Both boys watched bewildered as the girls charged past them without batting an eyelid.

"What was that about?" Mystel asked warily as he turned to his friend.

Brooklyn shook his head before digging into his pocket. "You go follow them, I'll pay for this."

"Ok," the blond took the order and pushed himself to his feet, quickly joining the slow moving parade of shoppers. A few quick overtakes and he caught sight of them again, darting into a woman's clothing store. He positioned himself near the exit so that he could keep watch on them and so Brooklyn could see him when he passed by.

It didn't take long for Brooklyn to catch up with him, his eyes were narrowed on a piece of paper he was tearing up.

Mystel grinned. "Another phone number."

Brooklyn grumbled something incoherent before looking around the shop. "They went in here?"

"Yup, grabbed something from a rack and made their way towards the changing rooms."

"Strange."

"What's really strange was that what they took from the rack was a pink skirt."

Pink? Arista didn't like pink. She certainly didn't like pink skirts. It was something she wouldn't wear and he was doubtful Amber liked pink skirts either. It just didn't seem her style. "So they're hiding from someone?"

"That's my guess."

"Then let's go figure out who they're hiding from." Brooklyn stated as he ventured into the female clothes store, drawing a few interested looks from the young girls cooing over the latest fashions. He approached the shop assistant sitting beside the changing room who gave him an intrigued look.

"Yes?" she questioned politely.

"We're just looking for our girlfriends, they're trying on some clothes."

The girl simply smiled at them. "Uh-huh, well I'm sure if you wait out here they'll come out in a few minutes."

Brooklyn sighed and bit back a retort when Mystel cleared his throat. "Yes, I'm sure you're right."

He stalked back towards the door. "I guess we wait until they come out."

"At least they're not like other girls, they won't spend all day in here." Mystel quipped chipperly as he leaned back against the entrance of the shop. He caught the eye of a small toddler who was toting dangerously on one leg. He smiled before reaching out to steady the small child.

"Oh god," Brooklyn groaned disgustedly. "Next you'll be kissing babies."

Throwing his friend a grin, Mystel replied. "I'd rather kiss Amber."

"You really have got it bad."

"What can I say, she's cute."

"There are loads of cute girls in this world Mystel, many of them are cuter than the plague." Brooklyn advised looking down at his friend.

"Yeah well, I happen to like Amber."

"And she's got it bad for Hiwatari for some ridiculous reason, god only knows what she sees in that pompous fuck-wit."

"I'm just enjoying Amber's company, ok? Let's just drop it."

Brooklyn opened his mouth to say something; then shook his head. He didn't even know why he was trying to save Mystel the heart ache. Since when did he actually care about people? He didn't care. He didn't care about anyone. He had always been self absorbed, more obsessed with bettering himself at the expense of everyone else and now here he was trying to guide Mystel away from something that was just going to hurt him in the end. He'd seen Amber with Kai, he knew the girl was infatuated with the older boy and nothing short of him dumping her -and that seemed highly unlikely- would set her free from him.

A familiar voice caught his attention and he rolled his eyes, reaching out his hand to snag Arista's shoulder as she passed him by hiding behind a large group of women. She winced and slowly looked up. Seeing Brooklyn there, the trepidation on her expression melted away into a shy smile.

"Hey."

"Hey, where were you sneaking off to?"

Looking around her, she caught his hand and directed him away from the entrance. "We caught sight of Foxy earlier and if he sees us with you two, well he'd go straight to Tala about it. We just couldn't risk that."

Amber strode into the shop and pinned Arista with a dark look. "Where did you go? One minute you were beside me, and the next you were gone." Her gaze swept up. "Oh, hey Brooklyn, where's-?" she looked round as a figure came to stand beside her. "Hello Mystel. Wanna leave these two love birds to themselves?"

Mystel grinned brightly at her. "Sure."

Brooklyn watched them go with a narrow eyes before he turned back to his girlfriend, quickly kissing her lightly on the mouth, shooting a bewildered look at a group of women who sighed softly. Catching Arista's elbow he directed her out of the store, sweeping the crowd with a glance for any familiar faces.

"Maybe you should stop bringing Amber with you."

Arista frowned. "Why? She keeps Mystel company."

"Mystel wouldn't come if she wasn't going to be there."

"Yeah but she's my alibi. It makes it less suspicious if I'm going out with her instead of just me going missing."

"I know Belle." he sighed, sliding his hand down to her wrist which he lifted to his mouth to press a kiss to her palm, then placed another at her pulse noting with satisfaction that it was already beating a fast tempo though that may have had more to do with her escape from Foxy rather than his presence. "It's just that Mystel is beginning to like her. A lot."

She jerked her hand out of his grip and rubbed the tingling skin. "That tickles." she mumbled, then rolled her head back to regard him warily. "Anyway, Mystel knows she's taken for. Hell, all Amber ever talks about is Kai. He has to know how she feels about him. It's just too bad that Mystel had to like her."

Yeah, Brooklyn nodded his head, it was just too bad. "He'll get over it. Now, where do you want to go?"

"I don't know."

"Well how about the cinema? We can remain inconspicuous that way."

"Not so great for talking though." Arista murmured, pulling his arm around her shoulders and leaning into him. He always smelled so good and his body felt so good, for some reason the heat of it always soothed her. It was like once she was around him, his calmness seeped into her and something from her would take over him. He wasn't prone to showing emotion, he usually kept calm but not with her, he never seemed to mind being publicly affectionate with her. It was good for her ego to know that she could make him loose control. To know that he couldn't be in her company without having to touch her, hold her, kiss her.

Brooklyn ducked his head to catch her lips with his. He drew out the kiss, listening to her soft catchy sigh before he pulled back to smirk at her. "Who says I wanted to talk."

She stuck out her tongue, quickly withdrawing it when he went to catch it. "Don't, that's disgusting."

He laughed at that, a sexy chuckle that made her toes curl as it reverberated through his body. A couple of girls looked there way, making Arista want to claw their eyes out. "You don't think it's disgusting when you're sticking your tongue in my mouth." he murmured into her ear. His breath tickled the auditory organ and a tingle went straight down her spine.

"I don't-" she began on a hiss only to break off at his look. "I thought we were going to the cinema."

Brooklyn nodded before guiding her down the escalator.

* * *

An hour and a half later, the four of them had regrouped to sit down in the café the boys had been in earlier to chat. Arista sat so close to Brooklyn she was almost on his lap due to the fact that his arm was wrapped tightly around her waist. It would stay there until he drove her to the bus, she knew. That was just the way it was and she didn't mind. They barely saw each other much so when they did, they had to put that time to good use.

Amber spooned up her cappuccino into her mouth as she observed Brooklyn and Arista. She'd been out with them once and it was still hard to get over. He genuinely seemed to care about her. This was Brooklyn, the guy who had hurt her wrist -though he had apologized for that and had bought her an ice-cream, though she did get the feeling that it was just to make Arista happy. Hey, the fact that he did that gave him one or two brownie points in her book, which he promptly lost after he continuously made digs at Kai and Tala. She didn't necessarily like Brooklyn but she didn't dislike how he treated Arista. It was hard to pin how she felt about him. Arista though, seemed to really like him.

"So Amber, what did Hiwatari get you for Valentines day?"

"And that's your business, how?"

"I was just curious as to what Hiwatari gets a girl? A hockey puck? A signed picture of him? Lingerie?"

Amber rolled her eyes. "Let's not go there, please."

Brooklyn frowned. He'd been expecting a witty quip but instead he got a cool look and a dull tone. He looked at Arista who sighed heavily.

"Amber had a little incident with a girl at our school. Namely Kai's ex and it involved her underwear being flashed to the whole school."

Mystel studied Amber worriedly. "Are you ok?"

"Huh? Oh yeah, I'm fine."

Brooklyn sipped his coffee contemplatively. "Benson, if you're having trouble with his jealous ex, why are you with him?" There he went again. Why was he actually showing an interest in the plague's life? He looked down at Arista who was sucking on a lollypop in a uniquely seductive way that made something inside him stir to life.

"Would you expect Arista to break up with you just because you have a few exes?"

"Well Kai doesn't have a few, Ams, he just has Mariam."

"At our school yes." Amber pointed out to Arista, before looking back to Brooklyn. "Look, Adams, I'm with Kai. Mariam's just a pain in the ass at the moment. I can deal with her. It's no reason to break up with Kai."

"Yeah but I'm sure you could find a guy with a less complicated background and a personality."

"Ugh!" Amber groaned exasperatedly. "Each time I think you're turning into a reasonable person, you do a complete U-turn and drive straight back to Jerksville. I care about Kai, alright and he does have a personality and he's honorable, caring and a good person. So fuck off."

"Dammit, Dick, stop pissing off Amber." Arista grumbled before glancing at her watch. "We have ten minutes before we have to head back to school."

"So what did he get you for V-day Ris?"

Arista pulled back her sleeve to show off a stylish man's sport watch. "Nifty, huh?"

"You got her a watch, god you're such a Romeo."

"I happen to like the watch." Arista pouted.

"I got her some other things, but they're not for public viewing."

At Arista's blush, Amber chuckled, wishing that she could share this info with Miyami and Aspin. They'd get a kick out of the fact that Brooklyn Adams, or any guy for that matter, was buying Arista sex toys. It was pretty damn hilarious. "Oh and the card you sent, subtle, real subtle. I'm sure she'll have no trouble hiding a ten foot card."

"It was hardly ten foot. It's shorter than you, isn't it? As hard as that may be to believe."

"Oh now we're getting to short comments, you're a real original guy Adams."

"Amber." Arista growled warningly.

"Brooklyn." Mystel pleaded with an edge to his smooth dulcet tones.

"Look, we have seven minutes before we get to the car so why don't you and Mystel go pay for the bill and me and Brooklyn will head down to the car."

Amber quirked a brow. Did she really want to let them go off alone? After all, they'd been all over each other in the cinema. Funny, they didn't seem to realize that though it was dark, it wasn't that dark! Though, if she was honest, wouldn't she be the same with Kai? Well yes, she would but Kai wasn't the enemy. Brooklyn definitely was and he was mean to her. However he was nice to Arista, very nice and the watch was kind of nifty, she could admit that reluctantly. And he did have a car which meant they wouldn't have to wait for the bus. He could just drive them back to the school and drop them off at the bus stop up the road which was handy but risked them getting caught by someone from the school.

"Fine." she bit out with a scowl. She didn't like this one bit but at least now that she knew, she could keep an eye on these two and run damage control. Just as long as Arista didn't get hurt, then she wouldn't have to kill Brooklyn Adams. "Come on Mysty." she ordered before she stalked towards the counter, listening to Mystel's offer to pay.

Arista sighed and got to her feet, tugging on her jacket, struggling with one sleeve until Brooklyn came to her rescue. She sighed heavily and leaned into him as he guided her towards the elevators that led down to the underground car lot.

"So what will you be doing for the rest of the evening?" It was now past seven and they'd spent most of the afternoon perusing the shops but since the day was drawing to an end, he was curious as to what she would be doing when she was gone. He would be heading back to his dorm and probably end up catching up on his studying, maybe listen to some music. Maybe Mystel would try to cheer him up, maybe even draft him into one of the blond's strange exploits. It was embarrassing to admit that he was beginning to do normal teenage things, like going out on dates with an incredible, smart and witty girl and having friends. Before, he had just stuck with hockey and studying. He was a natural at both, he never really needed to try hard which pissed off the other boys and further isolated him. Of course, Mystel just didn't care. Social barriers never affected the perky blond, he was painfully optimistic, endlessly so. Brooklyn supposed he should be grateful to the friendly boy.

"Well there's the Valentines day disco, so I suppose I'll go to that."

"You don't sound too pleased about that." he commented.

"It's not that." she replied, stepping into the elevator when it pinged and the doors slid open with a soft '_whoosh'_. "it's just all my friends have got guys now, and I have you which is great but you're not there. So at the party I'll have…" she paused to think about who was on her team and then to pair them up with another. "…Spencer and um… Bryan and ah, Ian and well they aren't all that talkative. In fact they're probably not going to be there." she sighed softly leaning into his caress as he ran his finger up and down her jaw line.

Dark blue eyes raised to his and he pulled her into his embrace. It annoyed him when he felt this tug of protection for her. He didn't care about people in general and yet, he cared about her more than he cared about anyone else. That was dangerous.

He lowered his lips to her sweet mouth wanting to elevate the lost look in those navy eyes. He was used to Arista being bubbly and mischievous with a compassionate yet naïve aura. This lost and alone vulnerability destroyed him.

Her arms reached up to wind around his neck stretching onto her toes. Her slender body pressed intimately into him. The warmth of her mouth, the softness of that compliant body and the sweetness of her scent frazzled his senses, aroused him unbelievably. She was so small and defiant, she wasn't what he was expected to like by societies standards, but she was just so appealing. His stomach swooped and he figured they had come to their stop. Part of him told him to pull away or give a free show to the public but the other part of him was urging him to continue plundering that hot mouth. Giving a groan of need, his fingers dug into her hips and pressed her closer, his mouth tearing from her mouth to move to her throat, not breaking contact from her skin.

She moaned softly, feeling the burning mark he was branding into her skin as she scraped her nails lightly through his thick soft hair. She adored his hair. It was a Belyaev trait, she thought dazedly, to prefer red heads. His long rangy body pressed firmly into hers and she was dimly aware of his state of arousal. That sent a giddy thrill down her spine. She had caused that reaction.

"Belle, we should stop." he said as his breathed heavily against her throat. His voice sounded strange. It took a second to realize that it was heavy. With passion, a second voice added. Oh hell, she mused, pulling his mouth back to hers.

"In a minute." she growled as she urged his mouth to open and she skillfully invaded it, toying with his in a delicious dance.

The door pinged and open and they parted guiltily. Somewhere in the back of his mind, Brooklyn noted that it was a delayed reaction since they'd arrived a few minutes ago. He groaned and rested his forehead against hers.

"If we were somewhere private…" he trailed off and kissed her nose.

Panting softly, she tried to concentrate on lowering her heart rate. Brooklyn had a strange reaction on her, every single thought of hers flew right out the window whenever he came in contact with her. Though it did give her a strange satisfaction to feel him kiss her like a starved man.

"Oh for pete's sake!"

"Why Pete? There's no Pete's here. How about for my sake?"

"Oh fine, for Mystel's sake, can you too just stop that disgusting display of disgustingness."

Arista rolled her eyes at Brooklyn before turning to regard Amber and Mystel who were standing in front of the elevator. "What's wrong now Amber?"

"I want to leave. There's a party back at the school." Amber replied sulkily. Besides her boyfriend was there and watching Brooklyn try to suck up Arista wasn't exactly appealing. She sighed and shoved her hands into her pockets, cocking her hip and bracing herself.

Arista sighed glumly. "Yeah so I heard, I figure I can just watch something on TV or I could take advantage of the common room being empty."

Brooklyn watched her, his heart going out to her. He'd rather be with her, go to her stupid school disco (and thoroughly stir up some trouble) than just hang out around his room. Irritated about what way his thoughts were turning, he had no plans to get tied up in any girls. He had plans, plans that a steady girlfriend would only interfere with but all the same he just couldn't turn Arista away. Though on saying that, he wasn't offering to go to the Preston Valentines disco even if he was getting fed up with hiding their relationship.

"Get in the car then, Benson." he ordered, tossing Mystel the keys for his friend to start the ignition.

* * *

Kai sat in one of the corner tables in the darkness with colored strobe lights flashing and swirling around the room illuminating random faces for a split second of glory before they were immersed in black. He sipped his drink slowly and watched the writhing mass of bodies usually known as the student population of Preston. He caught sight of a flash of silver and focused on both her and Johnny dancing near the edge of the crowd. He caught Johnny's gaze and chuckled as the flame haired boy raised his eyes to heaven as Miyami grinded herself against him.

A body thudded into the chair beside him and he acknowledged Ian with a nod. The big nosed Russian was looking downhearted due to the fact that there was no one there for him to talk to. Enrique was flirting madly with every girl on the dance floor, weaving his way from one to another and dancing away in a strange version of the 'moonwalk' when he got too close to an unavailable girl with her boyfriend. Kane was dancing slowly with Aspin, his arms casually placed on her hips. Rei and Mariah were snuggling on the bleachers, talking in quiet murmurs and exchanging kisses every so often while Salima sat in the corner and pretended not to notice them. Tala was sipping a drink by the buffet table as he watched Ruin dance with Bryan, who surprisingly enough knew how to Jive which was a memorable sight. Hitoshi was pretending not to notice Shahero dancing with Russia and his brother who was bouncing about the dance floor in an energetic frenzy. Michael and Bethan had slowed to a lethargic swaying motion just to the edge of the dance floor after their fast paced foxtrot. Spencer had tried to retreat to his room but Kirby had latched onto his arm and had dragged him out onto the floor much to Miguel's bemusement while he headed back to sit with his friends who were varying from being girl phobic to being too cool to dance or make moron's out of themselves.

"Can't you say something to stop her staring?"

Kai flicked a glance at Ian before rolling his head slowly to take out the kinks in his neck, casually noting the fact that Mariam was boring a hole into the back of his head. "If I say something, she'll think I've forgiven her for what she did to Amber this morning, besides I already spoke to her."

Ian nodded and grabbed a handful of peanuts from the bowl placed in the centre of the table. "Dirty, rotten prank she played."

"Ember can take it and she can throw it back."

Ian grinned. "That she can. Where is she anyways? I thought she'd be glued to your hip?"

"My hip has never had anyone glued to it."

Ian snorted. "You probably had girls all over you -not just your hip- back at Clonmel."

"All boys school." Kai deadpanned.

"I know." grinned the midget.

Whatever Kai was about to retort got lost as Russia dropped into the seat beside him and dropped her head to the table, soaking up the coolness from the surface. "I 'ate dancin'. Bloody load o' auld bollocks!"

Shahero grinned as she joined them. "That was fun. Hey Kai, you not dancing your little heart out?"

"Hiwatari's don't dance."

Russia's head shot up as Shahero nodded accepting the answer. "Damn, why didn' I t'ink o' dat."

"I wouldn't have accepted it from you, you're a Kennedy, not a Hiwatari."

"Ugh, I wish."

Aspin raised a brow as she joined them. "You wish what? And where the hell is that sister of yours, Shahero?"

"We're not actually sisters… I don't really know what we are." Shahero added after a thought.

"You're blood sisters, remember!"

"We all are." Russia pointed out, holding up her hand where a small very fine white line snaked down her palm.

Aspin frowned and turned over her palm seeing one slightly similar. "Um… oops."

"Jesus, it seems like ages ago since we did that." Shahero whispered with awe.

"Did anyone ever explain to you about blood transmitted diseases?" Kai questioned peering at Aspin's palm while Kane slid into the seat beside her, offering her a plastic cup.

Shahero glared. "We did it when we were in our first year here, we didn't actually think about things. It was just something we came up with on a spur of the moment to solidify our friendship."

"Shahero swallowed the dictionary again." Ian quipped.

"Yeah and in a second you're going to be tasting my fist!"

The air suddenly charged around him and a prickle moved over the nape of Kai's neck. His lips quirked slightly but he didn't turn around as slender arms slid down over his chest to interlink around him as a familiar body pressed against his back. Her scent surrounded him as his girlfriend nuzzled his neck while his larger hand covered both of hers holding them in place.

"You're back."

Amber nodded tiredly and pressed closer to him. She hated being so dependant on him but she'd been feeling down and lethargic ever since they'd left the mall for the bus stop and she'd come to recognize the feeling as a symptom as Kai withdrawal embarrassingly enough. She'd been suffering with it quite a lot recently and she hadn't really seen him all day and with all the couple stuff for Valentines day, it was quite natural, she assured herself. Besides, he was gorgeous. It was nothing to be ashamed of.

When he turned his head, she leaned around to kiss him softly in greeting, allowing him to untangle her hands and lead her to sit on his lap. Looping her arms around his neck, playing with his hair, she snuggled into him.

"So how was the shopping Amber?" Miyami teased, having joined them just as Amber had arrived and was now currently sitting on Johnny's lap.

Amber took her arms away from Kai's hair and turned to face her friend. Pasting on a smile, she narrowed her eyes. "I hate shopping. I hate people. Why do shoppers always walk so slow?" she demanded gesturing frustratedly causing Aspin to move her drink out of the way. "Every time I went to put my foot down there was always someone underneath-oh sorry." she apologized to a unfortunate boy she'd happened to touch as she passed. She glanced over her shoulder and then snapped her hand away, clutching it to her chest with a horrified expression on her face.

"Did my hand just-?"

"Touch that jocks crotch?" Miyami asked kindly, before nodding. "Yep."

"Thought so. OH god!" Amber yanked her hand back and shoved it into Aspin's half full cup of soda causing it to wobble dangerously and slosh every where.

"Hey!"

Paying no heed, Amber jerked her hand out of the cup. She wiped it on the Enrique's trouser leg causing the boy to gape at her astonished.

Ian snorted and his drink sprayed over the table, splattering it with droplets of red liquid as he burst out laughing before a dribble went down the wrong way and he began to hack and choke.

"Amber!" Enrique groaned dabbing his pants with a napkin Shahero had given him while Miyami hit Ian repeatedly on the back.

"Maybe that will teach you to talk without such energetic hand movements." Kai murmured in her ear causing her to shudder.

"What was he doing standing there anyway?" Amber grumbled as her cheeks burned in humiliation. "Has he never heard of personal space? My arms aren't that long. And yuk! Who knows where that _thing_ has been."

"Well judging by the drink in his hand, I'd say he'd been at the punch bowl." Aspin drawled, breaking into a grin as Amber scowled at her and flipped her off. "You're so mature Amber."

"Speaking of mature," Kane started. "I thought we were going to find somewhere private."

Aspin just stared at her boyfriend blankly.

"You know, to do mature things."

"X-rated things?" Amber asked delightedly as Aspin flipped her off.

"Shut up Amber."

"Ah we all know Benson's just jealous because she hasn't done anything that exciting with Hiwatari. She's just trying to live vicariously through you."

"That's because my boyfriend isn't a hentai."

"Mine is." Shahero grumbled.

Miyami slapped her hands over her ears and began to bump her head off the table murmuring something like 'bad images' while Johnny tried to soothe her.

"It's ok Miyami, just replace Hitoshi with me."

"Oh god, now it's you and Shahero, that's worse!"

"Well replace Shahero with you."

"I can't do that. Oh god!"

"X-rated, hentai things with Johnny and Shahero." Amber chanted with a gleeful expression.

"Oh god, I'm going to be sick." Shahero gasped, paling instantly and shoving out of her seat before dashing towards the bathrooms. Unaware that a certain lecherous assistant coach had followed her in.

"X-rated, hentai things with Hitoshi and Shahero in the toi-lets."

"Ember, quit bouncing around in my lap."

"I'm getting out of here." Aspin declared getting to her feet and pulling Kane out behind her as they headed towards the exit.

"X-rated, hentai things with Kane and Aspin in the stu-dy, but I don't really know if that's where they're going, but I think so."

Tala shook his head with bemusement as he watched his little friend sing quite drunkenly and out of key. "That's quite a u-turn Amber, from grumpy to annoyingly perky in a heart beat."

"And all from touching some guys crotch." Miyami quipped and had the vicious satisfaction of watching Amber stop midway through her song to pale sickeningly.

"Oh god." Amber gulped before rubbing her knuckles into Enrique's thigh as though she could clean them.

"Hey!"

"And you're now going after Enrique crotch!"

"At least she has a fair clue where his has been." Kai murmured causing the group to laugh at the blond's expense.

"Ha."

Amber chuckled before turning around to view her boyfriend. The darkness in the gym was flattering to him, it made his eyes seem darker and his face seem dangerous. Her stomach did the familiar flip-flop she got every time his eyes met hers and safe in his embrace, she felt warm and cared for. "Dance with me."

"Hiwatari's don't dance." he replied kissing her quickly.

She rolled her eyes. "Hiwatari's don't dance my arse. Where's your Dad taking your mother for V-day? Dancing that's where. Hiwatari's don't dance, ha!" she waved a hand dismissively before scanning the rest of the table, her eyes lighting up on a figure. "Taly-baba! Dance with me!"

Tala sighed and got to his feet, holding out a hand for her. "When have I ever been able to deny you?"

"Never. Can I stand on your feet?"

"No."

"Sucker shits." Was her heavy grumble before clasping his hand in hers and letting him guide her to the dance floor where a slow song was coming to its end. They joined the group gathered there and placed their arms around each other as they swayed to the music. Resting her head against his chest, she listened to the steady thunder of her best friend's heart beat and sighed happily.

"How're you feeling?"

"Good." she lifted her head to look into his very blue eyes.

"You sure?"

"Yes." Amber replied unsurely. "Why is something supposed to be the matter with me?"

"I was just wondering. You did go off the rails slightly this morning."

She shrugged. "Yeah, well that was…" she trailed off and gave him a squeeze. "I'm fine Tala, you don't have to worry about me."

He sighed and rested his cheek on her hair. "But I do. It's part and parcel of being your friend."

She smiled up at him before Mrs. King caught her attention as she ordered Johnny and Miyami to separate sides of the hall due to their impropriety. She snickered and buried her face into Tala's shoulder as Bryan twirled Ruin out causing the usually stoic woman to laugh. She looked up into Tala's face and noticed he was watching Ruin with a strange look in his eyes. Tilting her head, she studied his striking face.

"Something wrong, brother?"

Tala smiled and looked down at her endearingly before flicking the tip of her nose. "No, nothing."

"Ok then, but you can still tell me anything."

"I know." he murmured pulling her closer as they swayed gently in the midst of the crowd.

* * *

A few hours later, Kai found himself sitting alone at the table watching his girlfriend being expertly twirled around the dance floor by Daichi. It was surprising how confident the boy was as he guided his older cousin. A flick of his hand and she spun out before he reeled her back in. A smile played on the bluenette's face as he sipped his soda and watched his girlfriend throw her head back to laugh with what could only be described as utter joy. She looked as though she was feeling better and Mariam hadn't been too pleased with that. She'd stomped off in a huff a while ago, not to be heard or seen of again. He couldn't have been prouder of her.

He caught a glimpse of the teachers faces as they nursed headaches at their table on the other side of the hall. Their eyes were beadily glued to each student on the dance floor, making sure none of them were doing anything inappropriate while envying their boundless energy.

He caught sight of Tyson bouncing up and down beside an equally energetic Miyami while Hitoshi caught Shahero and dragged her into dance with him. He'd danced with a couple of the other girls much to Shahero's bemusement as the girls batted their eyelashes at him but he was completely immune to them. Kirby and Miguel were enjoying each other swaying gently to the fast paced music. Tala and Ruin had moved to a quiet corner, probably so immersed in themselves that they were unaware of what was going on around them.

He heard Amber let loose another laugh and he turned his gaze back to her. She hadn't come off the dance floor since she'd went onto it. She'd danced with the Octopussy's, she'd jived with Ruin, dragged a moping Ozuma onto the floor and nudged him into dancing with Sonia only to watch in frustration as the Australian legged it off the dance floor. Now she wheeled on her sock clad feet, her shoes left under his seat, her hair flying out around her. As he watched her face light up with laughter at something her cousin had said, he felt something inside him click into place and unlock inside of him. Where she'd been seeping in before she now began to flood in. His stomach clenched and his heart began to yearn for her. His throat was suddenly dry. Lifting his glass, he took a mouthful of soda. He needed her now.

He shook his head.

He needed air.

* * *

The air was crisp and cool. Stars glimmered like spattered silver paint against the depthless navy canvas. The moon sat fat and full just above the Gym, adding it's ethereal glow to the young man who stood at the railings over looking the forest that surrounded the school. In the gym somewhere behind him, a guitar was being strummed with the patter of percussion instruments only punctuated by the laughs and cries of students.

Out here, he felt apart from them. Maybe that was why he'd ventured out. Inside the walls of the school it was so easy to fall into a pattern of being normal or societies version of normal. And then the darkness inside him would rise up and he'd need to be on his own. Something unsettling was working its way through him and he was damned if he understood it. He felt restless and unsteady and confused.

He knew these moods. They made him antsy and unbearable to be around which was why he'd walked out of the dance. Everyone in there was having fun, he didn't want to bring them down. And watching Amber laughing and enjoying herself, he just couldn't contaminate that. She was so full of light, he was so full of darkness, he didn't even understand how to keep it contained. Who was he to want her so much? He wasn't good enough for her. She deserved so much better.

He punched the wall to his left hard and viciously, ignoring the pain that stung his knuckles as the skin tore and split on impact. He hated those thoughts. For the most part he'd managed to suppress them but sometimes, when he let his guard down, they snuck through his guard to plague him. They were a sign of weakness he wouldn't allow.

He froze as the gravel crunched behind him. Whipping round, he spied Amber paused in the middle of sneaking back into the hall. She winced when she noted him watching her expectantly and with a soft sigh, she closed the door behind her, turning back to him wringing her hands nervously.

"Sorry. I didn't mean to interrupt. I was just wondering where you were."

"I needed some air."

"Well ok, I'll see you in a wee while then."

"No." he blurted out roughly; surprising even himself because he had planned to just nod and then dwell some more but then that would be giving into those black thoughts. They were worse than his grandfather in keeping him away from others at times. Recovering his composure, he gestured to the spot beside him. "Stay a while."

She watched the way his eyes glittered at his jaw clenched. It was almost as though he was fighting with himself, though about what she couldn't begin to fathom. "Ah, sure."

Slowly she approached the railing he was standing before. It was a nice night, she could admit, but she didn't seem to have the same energy to appreciate it. Not when there were waves of frustration all but rolling off her boyfriend. It didn't really make sense, not when Kai had seemed so comfortable earlier. Part of her was eager to question him and help him, after all, he'd been there for her just this morning. If he hadn't been, she'd probably be in a sour mood right now, unable to enjoy the disco.

"Holy shit… what happened to your knuckles?"

Almost ashamed with himself, he shoved his hands into his pockets, ignoring the pain of the rough material of his jeans scratching against the tender flesh. "Nothing."

"Ok, if you say so." She muttered in a tone that expressed her disbelief in his words.

"I do."

She shrugged and turned her face up to the night sky. All the stars twinkled and winked. With a smile of awe, she began to count them knowing it was fruitless because she never would. There were so many, it was amazing to think that there were so many stars out there. Picking out the Big Dipper, she travelled the line of it with her gaze.

"What are you doing?"

She glanced at him. "Counting the stars, only I got side tracked by the Big Dipper."

He raised a brow and shook his head. "You're not normal are you Benson?"

"Of course I'm not Norman, did you hit your head?"

A smile flickered in his eyes as though a will-o'-the-wisp had suddenly came to life within the dark brown depths. "I didn't say Norman, I said normal, you know ordinary?"

"Hmm." she murmured enigmatically. She'd heard him perfectly well but her misunderstanding him had amused him so the sadness in his eyes had disappeared for a moment. "What do you mean, I'm not normal? Of course I'm not normal. What's normal? You show me normal."

"That tree's normal."

"Do I look like a tree?" she demanded indignantly.

He assessed her with a long almost smoldering look before nodding. "You're right, you're more like a sapling."

For a few seconds she gaped at him, then she tapped her lips in a contemplative manner. "Ok, you can have that point." Then she looked down at herself. "At least you didn't call me a twig."

"Thought about it, but it didn't seem that original."

"I'm choosing to ignore that."

He snorted with amusement before giving in and pulling her against him. She turned into him and laid her head against his chest, her own arms wrapping tightly around him.

"How're you feeling?" he asked after a long moment of just enjoying her presence. So it made him weak that he needed her, right then and there he didn't care. Besides, holding her gave him a strange sense of peace.

"Loads better. I'm now ashamed I even made a big deal out of everything. I mean, so what if everyone saw my bra. We're long past the age where boys didn't know we wore them, most of them are at the stage of trying to get them off. Though I actually think some of the guys thought because she had thrown mine on the table, that I wasn't wearing one. Of course, those are the boys who never change underwear so they can't fathom the fact that I can have more than one bra." she muttered with a strain of mock anger to her flippant tone.

"Ember, you have such interesting views on the male species."

"Hmm, what do you expect? I have a team of them to base my views on."

"So which of them don't change their underwear? Actually, don't answer that."

"I will anyway, more than likely Ian."

Kai brushed a kiss over her head. "No, I happen to know for a fact that he does." her head tilted back to see him. "I, uh, kind of walked in on him changing and got a full view of his ass."

Amber snickered, shaking with the laughter that wanted to bubble out before stiffening in his arms. "Oh bugger! Bad image, bad image!"

He chuckled and wrapped his arms tighter around her as she tried to bury her face in his chest to escape the visions.

"So why are you out here on your own?" she asked, pulling away from him enough so that she could view his face. It was such a gorgeous profile. Her arms slid up his chest to wind around his neck. She smiled softly, finding the way his muscles tensed under her fingers so intriguing, still.

When she began to sway, he smothered a smile deciding to ignore her question for the time being. It was nothing he wanted to annoy her with. "Stop trying to get me to dance with you."

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Of course you don't." He murmured, fingering the small pink oval that had slipped out of her top. "You got it then."

"Mm-hmm. I would have come and thanked you but Arista yanked me off to the mall for some shit or other. I wasn't paying much heed to her."

"You spent all that time in the mall and you had no idea why you were there?"

"Well… I was mostly there to compensate for Arista having no boyfriend so I took her on a date to the cinema." She hated lying to him, but telling him: 'Oh I had to act as a liaison for Arista and her horny boyfriend Brooklyn', probably wouldn't go down very well. After all, he and Brooklyn didn't seem to be bosom buddies. Besides this was for Arista and Arista had been her friend longer than Kai had been her boyfriend and that was a sucky way to sum things up.

"Bad film?" he wondered when he caught sight of her sour expression.

"It was so-so."

"I'm not dancing." he drawled mockingly as she tried to sway again.

"But I wanna dance. This is a dance, people tend to dance at dances, hence the very obvious name. At races you run, no race and at-"

"Plays you play?" he queried.

"No… Well yes, you play another person. My point is, you dance at dances and you're not dancing."

"That's not all you do."

Her brow furrowed. Hall + disco music dancing. And he'd avoided her question but he'd tell her if he felt like it. No use pressing him, he'd only get irked and snap. She rather liked him in his playful moods especially when compared to his dark, broody moods. "What else is there?"

"This." he replied before covering her mouth with his. The scent of her punched straight to his gut so that the kiss which had started off just slow and soothing became dark and needy and desperate. He wanted to keep it sweetly passionate, to keep it as innocent as she was but the dark part of him yearned for the light that was so innately a part of her. He wanted to consume her and let her chase the darkness away.

Lost in desire, Amber could do nothing but respond to Kai's subconscious demands but when she felt him pressed hard against her, she had to pull back reluctantly. "Kai." she warned dodging his lips, sighing in bliss when his lips blazed a hot trail down her very susceptible neck. "Uh-uh, not here."

He nodded, trying to catch his breath but the scent of her was winding around him, keeping him captive. Placing one last chaste kiss behind her ear, he pulled away. He averted his gaze, ashamed of the way he never seemed to be in control of his needs when he was around her. Last week he almost took her virginity in the common room and there now he'd kissed her in a way that should have been completely private.

With a bewildered expression, Amber turned his face to her with her finger. "What's wrong?"

Looking into her eyes, he read none of the fear he'd expected to see there. He shook his head. "Nothing."

"Ok, if you say so."

"I do."

"You know, if you ever need to talk. I'm here for you, right?"

He smiled down at her and kissed the tip of her nose. "I know and it's honestly nothing. I just needed to get away from the crowds for a while. Sometimes I just don't feel like being social."

She nodded. She knew that feeling. Usually she kept ignoring that feeling, continuing to hang out with her friends until she just exploded with frustration, taking it out on her mystified friends. However, because she understood that he was feeling a bit down, she resolved herself to cheer him up.

"You know, they say men who can dance are good in bed…" she trailed off with an impish smile.

"I can dance." he ground out.

"You just choose not to, huh… So you are good in bed, you just choose not to be."

The light playful tone to her voice amused him and his lips lifted upwards slightly while his eyes softened. "Does that saying work for both genders?" Her eyes widened, flared then dimmed and his amusement greatened.

She scowled up at him, her ochre eyes flashing, then in response she leaned up on her tip toes and captured his lips for a feverous kiss which finished before it could quite begin. She wasn't going to tease him more than she should.

However he caught her lips once more in a softer kiss. One that seeped through her bones and rocked her. Leaning up, she aligned her body with his, thrilling at the feel of the hard lines of his body. He was so toned and built and gorgeous. Add that to his intelligence and personality and you had a damn near perfect package. Her arms tightened possessively around him. She'd never dared to imagine herself with a boyfriend like him and now she had him, she wasn't going to let him go.

"We should probably head back in again." she murmured into the soft skin of his throat.

"Hmm, you go ahead. I'll stay out here for a few more moments."

"If you're sure."

He laid his lips on hers one final time, enjoying the brief contact. "I am."

Untangling herself, she headed for the door. He watched her go. Watched her reach for the door and look back to blow him a kiss with a playful grin and sparkling eyes. His heart clutched painfully at the carefree action and he swallowed hard just as she disappeared inside. Stunned he turned back to look at the scattered stars in the sky and he found himself wondering just when the hell had he started falling in love with Amber Marie Benson?

* * *

"You're in love with her!"

Bryan arced a brow and shook his head at the insanity of the statement. He'd been sitting quietly in the common reviewing the chapter text for his engineering class for the next day when someone had entered. There wasn't anything strange in that, many people came into the common at night for some privacy, however this person had come and sat on the arm of Bryan's chair. Now that was strange. People didn't voluntarily approach him unless they were friends of his and he knew for a fact that his friends and family were at the dance and besides, none of them could be quiet for a second.

So imagine his surprise when he looked up to see Mariam watching him with one of those smiles that told him she wanted something. Her friendly greeting had confirmed his initial thoughts. Mariam and him weren't friends, they weren't even acquaintances since they ran in very different circles. So he wasn't too pleased with her overly friendly treatment of him, it made him highly suspicious. So when she made him a proposition he 'supposedly' couldn't resist, he had been put on edge.

Supposedly she figured that he and she had something in common: They both wanted Amber and Kai split up. Now Bryan couldn't say he liked that Hiwatari boy being with his cousin but out of all the twits in this school, he was at least glad she'd chosen one who had his head screwed on relatively tightly. But having Mariam come up to him to ask for his help to make his cousin unhappy just pissed him off. He'd told her so in the first place. That conversation had led her to throw the wildest accusation possible at him.

In love with his cousin? That was just wrong and vile.

"Grow up Mariam, she's my cousin."

"So is Kirby but you don't act the same way!" Mariam pointed out as she paced angrily before him.

"Because she and I haven't been through the things Amber and I have. Amber and I are more than cousins, we're friends. Unlike you Amber can be friends with a boy without falling in love with them!" he snapped angrily. He didn't like losing his temper, he was unstable when he did and he often lost control. But taking pot shots at his cousin was rude and unbelievable. He loved his cousin, that was understandable but not the way that Mariam was insinuating. That was sick.

"You know what your problem is, Mariam," he began dangerously, "You don't know who you are. You've spent so much time making yourself into something boys will like, that you haven't a clue what you're like. You're not happy and you think that you need a boy to be happy. But you're scared to be alone. That's why you can't be friends with a boy without convincing yourself that you're half way in love with them. I doubt you even like half of them."

Mariam stumbled back as though slapped which she supposed she had been, verbally if not physically. Bryan never spoke much. But that didn't mean he had a right to say those things to her. How dare he? He didn't know her. A couple of lousy kisses and he had a right to say those things? No, he didn't!

"I- I…"

He got to his feet, closing the book and slipping it into his bag. "You don't love Kai, so don't try to spoil their happiness out of spite. Amber doesn't go after boys, she's never had a boyfriend before so the fact that she's with Kai is a big deal in itself. Don't hurt her just because you don't understand yourself."

"Kai and I were good together."

"Yes you were. But he's good with Amber and she loves him."

Now Mariam's eyes narrowed maliciously and her lips twisted. "Is that why she's seeing someone behind his back?"

Bryan froze and turned slowly to look at her. "What?"

"Oh, didn't you know? Amber's been dating that blond player for the Sharks. He's actually quite cute, can't fault her taste."

"She's not cheating on Kai."

"I saw her today at the Mall, Bryan. And the funny thing is, I don't think Kai knows anything about it."

"She's not cheating on Kai." Bryan repeated. "She wouldn't and if you go telling people that she is, I'll make you regret it." he growled darkly as he stood over her with his intimidating height. Without another word he spun around and strode out of the door, slamming it against the wall.

Mariam closed her eyes and released a shaky breath. Her shoulders slumped as she covered her mouth, her eyelids opening slowly to reveal glazed jade eyes. Bryan could be a scary man, using cold eyes and his big build to be scary. Taking a cleansing breath, she stumbled out of the room and up the corridor, not noticing the two figures in the corridor.

Aspin turned to Kane with a bewildered expression. "Amber's cheating on Kai?"

"Bryan's in love with Amber?"

The female member of the pair face faulted. "No, he isn't. Weren't you listening? I don't believe Amber's cheating on Kai. Maybe she's just being friendly but she wouldn't cheat on Kai with someone else. She likes him too much."

Kane shrugged before pulling his girlfriend into his arms. "Well it's got nothing to do with us."

"No but…" Aspin sighed. "I bet Mariam just made it up."

"Still fraternizing with the enemy… That's still not good Aspirin."

Aspin sighed once more and rapped her forehead off her boyfriend's chest lightly. He was right, it wasn't good. And he was right that it had nothing to do with them. However, it did show Mariam in a less than kind light. Maybe she should talk to Amber and let her friend know that Mariam was on a mission to get Kai back. That way Amber would be more attentive to Kai and stop hanging around with Blond Sharks. That in mind, she pulled Kane down the corridor to continue with their 'X-rated hentai things'.

* * *

**Well... this was supposed to come out at Valentines day, funnily enough but my internet wouldn't let me on until tonight. That was a long time without the net but... well is this chapter ok? I know it's mushy, but it's V-day and well... you'll understand my serious need for mushiness next chapter. That was in no way a hint on what's going to happen next chapter, no siree bob. Lol. **

**Yes, I know these chapters are getting ridiculously long but the characters are getting ridiculously vocal. They just don't do one line conversations, alas. **

So I hope you like this chapter and please review, thank you. Come again. :P


	24. Needing you

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Beyblade or the other octopussy's, see the previous chapters for who does, k?

* * *

Smells like Team Spirit

By: Zadien

* * *

Chapter Twenty Three- Needing you

"**You join us for the third period of the JV Tigers versus the JV Rejects match. So far the far superior Tigers have thwarted every attempt the Rejects have made to get within inches of their net; showing skill and dedication to dominate this match in what has turned out to be a very one sided game. It would be, in my humble opinion, far better for the Rejects to just go home because they're, once again, about to be _rejected_ from the league due to their inferior tactics and lack of team work. Oh and all seniors have been advised to sign up for the Ireland trip today as tomorrow the trip will be finalized. Thank you."**

Kai sat on the third bench behind the box and watched the ice with a bored expression as the buffer slid around the ice to ready it for the next period. So far the JV team had exceeded all expectations and he knew that they would be a hard team to beat when it came to their real showdown. If they did win, he knew that they would deserve it. He liked to win but he had no problem acknowledging those who beat him.

And Miguel was a good captain; he rallied his team with minimum effort and never forced his superiority on them. That was where some captains went wrong; bossing their team around with their 'look at me, I'm the captain' attitudes. A captaincy was an honor bestowed onto a worthy person but it was just as easily removed.

Beside him, his father sat snacking on pistachio nuts and making notes on the game play and weak spots to discuss them with Hitoshi after the match. The win was in the bag now but he knew that Miguel couldn't let the team slack off; their defense had been tight all through the game which was why they had a complete shut out. The puck hadn't even been allowed through; poor Max had taken to slumping against the net while slurping on his water bottle out of sheer boredom. Kirby was a true bright spark on the ice; she glided with an almost impossible grace that was rarely seen in a hockey game while Tyson had joined Goki and Dunga as a defender to be reckoned with.

They would no doubt be a worthy Varsity team that would easily surpass the next group of Sharks; of that he was certain. And Tyson would make a name for himself on the pro scene, due to his speed on his skates and his great determination on the attack. By becoming an enforcer, he was distancing himself from his brother and forcing people to see him for his skills.

His eyes lifted over the rows on the opposite side where the rest of his friends sat discussing the match and just generally messing around. He wanted to be up there with them; which was a surprise in itself since back in his Shark days, he liked nothing more than being on his own. Now he was longing for companionship. Still his team wasn't quite like the Sharks in any aspect.

Casually he focused his gaze on Amber, who was sticking her tongue out at Ozuma for some unknown reason. Ozuma simply shrugged her off and continued his conversation with Michael while Shahero was laughing at a joke Miyami had made at Johnny's expense, judging by his disgruntled expression. Tala was listening avidly to whatever Ruin was saying to both he and Bryan, who had his arm wrapped around Amber, pinning her to his side. Arista was tapping at her phone while singing along to the music; which, he noted with some amusement, was 'Who let the dogs out'. A vague reference to the rejects he was sure.

He noted Russia was climbing over many of the students who had come out to watch, roughly shoving their heads as she passed by to drop into the empty seat beside Kane, who sat on the other side of Ozuma. Spencer turned to her and shook his head as she offered him whatever she had purchased at the tuck shop. Ian was nodding off; his head kept bobbing and his body was leaning towards Rei, who constantly had to shove the boy away and then catch him before he fell off the seat, much to Shahero's amusement.

"Why aren't you sitting with your teammates?" Nicolai asked the million dollar question.

He had been watching his son for the entire game and he'd seen the amusement in his gaze when he saw them do something ridiculous and he noted the glimmer of longing to be with them. And yet, here his son sat next to his father as though he was obligated to, which in fact he wasn't. Nicolai had in no way forced his son to sit with him; not that he minded the company -though Kai rarely said much when he was watching a game, he still managed to provide ample company with his presence. However, his son could have gotten up and gone to his friends at any point and yet he hadn't.

This meant that something was bothering him. Of course, that wasn't a revelation to Nicolai. He had noticed his son's lack luster behavior for the past week; he had seen the minor amount of attention he had been paying to his girlfriend and he had also noted the pain in his goddaughter's attitude at his son's aloofness. Which signaled that Kai was pushing her away for either no reason or one that she couldn't see. Either Amber had done something to Kai and she didn't know that he knew about it or Kai had made some decision about their relationship and neglected to inform her, which was probably the more likely scenario.

Kai didn't share his thoughts well with others. Trying to coax a play out of the boy was like trying to get blood from a stone and to figure out a compliment from his pep talks was like trying to decipher Egyptian hieroglyphics. Doable if you spent enough time studying the words or were fluent in the language which took a while to master.

"They'll only distract me."

Nicolai snorted at that. Kai could ignore almost everything; especially when he didn't want to hear it. He even heard his son make a comment to Tala about being able to ignore Amber when he first came.

"Look, I just came to watch the match, not to socialize." Kai bit out tersely; his expression grim as he glared intently at the ice.

"What's going on with you and Amber?" Nicolai finally asked.

"Nothing." Kai sighed; raising his gaze to where his girlfriend sat. She was resting her head on Bryan's shoulder, sullenly watching the ice with a listless gaze. She paid no attention to the goings on with her friends; instead she sighed softly, her shoulders slumping and her expression becoming tired and dull.

"I'm not asking as your father but as your coach so don't go pulling the 'it's nothing' routine on me. Your actions are affecting the team dynamics, Kai, as I said they would. I thought you were mature enough to handle this effectively."

Kai snorted. "You make it sound like a game play." He muttered sardonically. He made what he had with Amber sound cold, clinical and regimental. "It's not that cut and dried. It involves emotions."

"I'm well aware of that Kai." The elder replied calmly; after all he was in a stable marriage with a woman he had loved for almost two decades. "But I also know that it doesn't involve hurting someone's emotions deliberately."

"Who's hurting?" Kai demanded gruffly. She certainly wasn't. He saw her continuously laughing and joking with her friends, not even noticing he existed.

"You both are by the looks of it. I just don't understand why you're pushing her away. Every time she tries to spend time with you, you make up an excuse and she knows you're doing it. I've seen you spend almost every evening down on the ice and while I'm not unhappy you're dedicating yourself to improving your skills; I'm worried about you losing out on having a social life." Not to mention the fact that his son was making himself miserable.

"**Well the third period is about to start again. The teams are returning from the changing rooms where the coaches will have given them their third period strategy and a review on how they've performed so far. Just a few changes on the line up it seems, Tyson Kinomiya will be replacing Goki on the first line since the enforcer took a rather hard fall in the last minutes of the second period. For the rejects, Thomas Crane will be replacing Cameron Tyler on the right wing. The ref is now ready to drop the puck."**

"I don't need a social life, dad. I just want to finish school and play pro."

"And is Amber stopping you from achieving any of those two goals?" Nicolai asked.

He watched Miguel glide up to take the face off. Kirby was in her usual spot to flank him while Daichi braced himself opposite her. The red head was admirably trying to ignore the taunting of one of the rejects though Nicolai could already see the fight that was going to kick off if the lanky Reject didn't back off. Daichi was a hot head on the ice, he didn't take kindly to insults or people mocking him, which usually led to him belting someone repeatedly until he was pulled off the fallen opponent and hauled into the penalty box for five minutes. He watched as the ref said something to the lanky Reject and the boy stepped an inch away from Daichi.

"Look, I just don't have the time for a relationship right now. I've got too much going on at the moment." Kai bit out.

"**And the Tigers win possession of the puck. Davidoff passes it back to Preston-Lee who saucer passes it to Max Tate in goal. Kinomiya with the puck and Davidoff has found some open ice. Nice pass. Ooh and he hit the ground hard! That's Christopher Bailey for the rejects on the ice."**

"So I take it you've broken up with her."

Kai ground his teeth. His father was being deceptively calm and that was making him edgy. He preferred it if his father just shouted at him, got angry with him because he knew how to handle that but his father was handling him and that was just unacceptable. "No."

"Well, don't you think you should? I'm sure she would understand. She might be unhappy, but if she understood that you needed to concentrate on your studies, I'm sure she would back off and possibly find someone she could be happier with."

Despite making it seem as though his attention was solely on the ice, the elder Hiwatari didn't miss the way his son's body tensed and his fists clenched at the mention of his girlfriend with another boy. "After all, if you're not going to care about her, why shouldn't she find someone who does?"

"I do care." Kai growled. "That's the whole point. I care too much."

"**Benson with the puck, ooh slap shot and the goalie came up fast. He's frozen the puck and that'll be a face off." **

Looking at the raw emotion on his son's face, Nicolai closed his eyes and sighed in comprehension. "You're in love with her."

"What? No." At the level look he received for his vehement denial, he sighed. "Not exactly. At least not yet." He blew out a breath and rested his face in his hands. "I just think we should slow things down; it's for the best. She wants to go to college and I want to play pro."

"Kai, lots of teenagers think they're in love but it's just infatuation, lust. It'll burn out before you know it."

Despite the _supposedly _reassuring comment, Kai found he couldn't believe it. He didn't think what he had with Amber was just infatuation or plain lust. She was too special and what he felt was too complex for it to be reduced to something based on hormones "We're still moving too fast. We've only known each other a couple of months and we've been an item less. I don't want her to…" he trailed off with a shake of his head.

On the ice, Kirby was skating furiously towards the net with Tyson on her tail to keep away any tackles. As a reject swerved in to hook her, the youngest Kinomiya slammed his shoulder into the boy, sending him flying onto his knees and hands.

"Do you want to break up with her?"

Kai shrugged. He had distanced himself from her for the past couple of days since Valentines Day in the hopes that he could gather the courage to end things. He didn't want her to ruin his dreams and his future, and part of him knew she wouldn't; after all she had rooted for him to ignore his grandfather and play pro. He knew she wanted him to follow his dreams but that meant leaving her behind, he wasn't sure he could do that. Thinking down the line of a time when she wouldn't be there was almost impossible for him. Then again; he wouldn't know what that was like until he broke away from her. He would survive naturally, being without her wouldn't destroy him or anything so corny, but it might make life a little duller.

"I think that's the question you need to- DUNGA, BLOCK HIM!"

Kai jolted in his seat at his father's bellow and growled softly. This was not the time or the place to be having this conversation and yet, he just needed to get everything off his chest now so he could clarify it all in his head. Did he want to break up with Amber? Did he want to see her with someone else? Did he want to be ignored by her, hated even?

No.

No, he'd experienced that feeling and he hadn't cared much for it then but now he knew how she could be, the warmth she held and the way she sighed when he touched her… No he didn't want her to hate him. He could probably end it amicably but the thought of her being with someone else… he probably could handle that, too, he supposed. As long as they were friends, he would hold some part of her and yet; his gut churned uncomfortably and something hot unfurled in his stomach and burned in his heart.

"**Woo! Score by the Tigers; that was one Hell…ck of a wrist shot. It's hard to defend yourself against one of those, they just come at you from out of nowhere and Miguel Davidoff has startling accuracy when it comes to shooting goals."**

"If you break up with her, at least do it kindly." Nicolai finally said as his own eyes sought out his goddaughter. Even to him, a man who hadn't seen her in a long time and who hadn't spent an awful lot of time in her company, he could see she was miserable. Her usual spark was gone; instead she looked dull and lifeless, curled up against her cousin as though he could protect her from the world. "But talk to her Kai; she misses you."

"I know." Kai finally said.

He missed her too. Missed just talking to her and having her say something utterly ridiculous just to amuse him no matter how stupid it made her look to others. He missed how she'd smile at him from across a room and make him feel like he was the only one there; or how when she was bored in study hall, she would hit her head lightly off his shoulder just to have something to do. He missed how she would go gooey over the smallest thing and not be ashamed by it. He missed how she'd become passionate about the most unlikely thing or how one minute she'd be childish and annoying and then the next minute say something incredibly intelligent that would make people look twice at her.

He just missed her.

"How did you know you were in love with mom?"

"**Ow! Jesus, that had to hurt. That's Joseph Tikashi on the ground; boy did he take a hard hit. It seems the Rejects are taking their defense up a level, no holds barred. It'll be up to the Tigers to take up the hitting. And he's iced the puck."**

Nicolai raised a brow in surprise, not expecting such a question from his son and judging by the curt delivery and the way his son wouldn't look at him, he realized his son wasn't quite comfortable asking.

He shrugged. "Honestly I don't know. She made my head hurt at times, and my heart just by being herself. It was hard to keep up with her. I guess I really realized that time when we broke up. I went to Ireland with James and Seth, was a pain in the ass and realized that I wasn't quite myself unless she was there. You'll know you're in love Kai, when it happens."

And what if he was and he didn't know it? Kai wondered. He shook his head. He didn't need this sentimentality. He didn't have the time to be in love. He had his whole life planned out and love would just screw it up. He didn't need love. He would be too busy for the emotion. But that didn't mean he and Amber couldn't have some fun for the rest of the time they were together.

With that thought in his head, he raised his eyes to where she sat and as though sensing his thoughts, she looked directly at him and the disappointment in her golden brown eyes made his stomach clench, hard.

Unable to meet her gaze, he looked away to concentrate on the game where Daichi was trying to ignore the prods of the lanky Reject. Finally unable to take it anymore, Daichi whirled around and grabbing the shirt of the Reject, he pummeled his fist into the boys' head, despite the helmet that was securely fastened. The boy tried to react but Daichi's firm gripped stopped him from doing much but try to squirm away.

"**And that'll be five minutes in the penalty box for Daichi Benson and for…" **there was a shuffling of pages from the commentators' box. "**Uh… the little reject dude." **

The Tiger supporters cheered at the words from the commentator, a certain senior by the name of Aspin Grant who didn't seem to be bothered about naming the rejects team players. Supposedly their usual commentator had come down with a cold due to the central heating in his dorm being turned off. Though naturally no one seemed to have a clue how that happened. It was just one of those freak accidents in Preston that every one seemed to fall foul of.

"**And that's a goal to the Tigers; three on one, the goalie had no chance."**

And judging by the calls and cheers of the Preston fans, no one seemed to miss the poor commentator at all.

* * *

"I kicked ass." Tyson Kinomiya declared above the din in the Common room. The team and their student supporters had retired to the junior common to celebrate the victory. 7-2 had been the score. And it had been a well deserved victory. Not even Hitoshi could find a good reason to complain about any of their playing. Tonight they had been in the zone.

"Well not literally because if we're being literal, your ass was the one that was kicked." His cousin, Miyami, said from where she sat curled up on the couch beside her boyfriend.

"Yeah, stupid reject." The navy haired enforcer growled, rubbing his poor posterior which had been most heinously violated by the boot of a fallen Reject player that Tyson had accidentally knocked to the ground.

"Did you get ice for it?" Kirby queried innocently, as she tried unsuccessfully to ignore the shaking figures of Miguel, Daichi and Max.

"Yeah, but I don't like the cold."

"If you don't put ice on it, it'll swell up. And then you'll need a butt ring."

"A butt ring?" Daichi looked up quizzically. He'd never heard of a butt ring, or at least he didn't think so. Engagement ring, wedding ring, doughnut ring, cock ring (which was something he really didn't want to know but he'd heard one of his older cousins mention it once), inflatable ring-

"Daichi baby, what are you doing?" Miyami questioned in a motherly tone, as she watched the young red head count each finger.

"Nothing." The young Benson flushed sheepishly as he quickly folded his arms.

"We believe you, thousands wouldn't."

Daichi simply shrugged off the comment before rolling his eyes at the scene of his two best friends conversing deeply with their arms around each other. It was one part disturbing and two parts heartwarming. He loved them both; Miguel had been his best friend for as long as he could remember. They had camped out in his back yard together, went fishing together (almost drowning themselves in the process), and saw their first ghost together. He had been the first person, after the required calls to his family that Daichi had phoned to say he had been accepted into Preston. And Kirby was the closest person to a sister he had. They grew up together and if he had any problems, she was the first one he went to talk with. But seeing them forming a unit together alerted him to the fact that sooner or later, they would move on from him and he would simply be the third wheel.

"Aw, get a room you two."

"Miguel and Kirby, up a tree; K-I-S-S-I-N-G; first comes love; then comes marriage; then comes the baby in a carriage."

Kirby flushed but managed to scowl at Tyson's out of tune singing, she opened her mouth to retort but Miguel got in before her. "You're just jealous Tyson because you don't have a girl."

"That's because I don't want one."

"Or you can't get one."

"I can get any girl I want." The loud mouthed Japanese boy declared boldly.

"No, you can't."

"Fine, if you think you can; I dare you to kiss the next girl that speaks to us." Kirby challenged with a haughty grin, watching as her friend puffed out his chest and accepted.

Miyami sighed heavily. This was going to turn out bad, she just knew it. But since she wasn't going to have her cousin's slobbery mouth anywhere near her, she turned into Johnny and pressed her mouth sweetly against his.

Max looked around the party to see if he could spot Tyson's victim. When a flash of brown caught his attention, he choked on his soda.

Frowning at his behavior, Kirby followed his gaze and her body convulsed. Oh holy shit, this was going to be bad. Oh, so bad. But so funny. To stop herself from giving the game away, she buried her face in Miguel's shoulder and peeked up through her lashes.

"Guys, I just want to congratulate you." Hillary remarked as she approached them holding a glass of soda carefully in her cupped palms.

Her eyes which had been bright with mirth slowly began to grow wary at the groan of disgust that left Tyson's mouth. She knew she wasn't his favorite person but she hadn't said anything to him in the past couple of days so he had no need to be so rude. And why were Max and Daichi laughing so hard? Especially Max, he was usually so nice to her. Stunned, and slightly hurt by their reaction to her presence she began to slowly walk away with a shake of her head.

Behind her Kirby called something out to Tyson, that made him beg for her to change something but since Kirby was remaining firm in her beliefs, Tyson had to just settle for what he got, or something. The further away she walked, the less she could over hear. It was probably for the best that she couldn't hear them. Sometimes Tyson could be so hurtful and no one ever told him off for being so mean to her. He was a BMOC and everyone adored him; it didn't matter what he did. His brother Hitoshi told her that it was just one of his flaws and just because no one contradicted him didn't mean they felt the same, but that was how it looked to Hillary.

She knew she wasn't popular. Everyone thought she was bossy and stuck her nose into everyone else's business but half the time she didn't realize she was doing it. She just had this annoying habit of talking before thinking things through. Though if people really thought past their prejudice against her, they'd see that more times than not, she was actually right. They were just jealous they didn't think it up themselves.

With a determined nod of agreement, she walked through the tangled groups of people towards the door that led to the corridor. The cool air immediately stung her cheeks and caused a shiver to run down her spine. Sucking in a breath, she hunched her shoulders before releasing them again. She took a tentative sip of her soda and looked up and down the corridor. Everything was silent out here now. Quiet as a mouse, just as it should be.

It was surprising that she was even allowed into the party, she thought sourly. After all, Tyson obviously didn't want her there. And she was trying out her New Years resolution of being nice to people and giving others compliments. After all, you had to be nice for people to be nice to you. Or, so that's what that self help book her mother had given her for Christmas had said.

"Oi!"

She jolted and looked over her shoulder at where the rude outcry had come from. Her brows knitted as she caught sight out of a slightly out of breath Tyson standing just behind her.

"Is there something you want, Tyson?"

"Uh…" he trailed off and looked around him nervously; in fact he almost seemed to be squirming in his distress.

"Hey." she murmured, stepping closer to him. "Are you ok, Tyson? Is something wrong? Do you feel sick? Because, if you do it's probably because you've eaten too much and then playing on a full stomach is not good for your digestion, but I guess I could fetch Mrs. Tate for you." She looked down the corridor, mapping out where she would go as soon as he gave the word.

"Would you quit your gabbing?" he demanded frustrated. "It's bad enough I have to do this, without having to listen to you."

"Excuse me? Oooh, that's it Tyson. I swear on my grandmothers' grave that I will… ooh!"

Fisting her hand on her hip, she glowered at him before with a huff of indignation, she spun on her heels and marched down the corridor. That was the last time she was ever going to try being nice to that ill-mannered oaf! And she was nice to him. She had offered to get him help and she'd shown him some degree of concern that he hadn't warranted and then he had to ruin everything by being mean. Well see if she did anything to help him if he collapsed. He could just fend for himself!

Tossing her head, so that her brown bangs were cast away from her brandy colored eyes, she folded her arms as she continued to mentally rant about the misdemeanors of one Tyson Kinomiya. He hadn't improved one bit from the boy she had known since she first started this school. The only reason she even knew him was because he had been Kenny's best friend and she was very good friends with Kenny. And even then he had been obnoxious and rude, but as soon as he was placed in the Junior Ice hockey team, his ego had inflated even more and he began to throw over Kenny in favor of hanging out with his cooler team mates. He only used Kenny when he needed something and that wasn't what a friend did. She certainly didn't treat Kenny like an encyclopedia. Only picking it up to extract information, before tossing it back into the library to gather dust.

"Can you shut up until I get this over with?"

"Get what over with?" she demanded shrilly as she spun to glare at him. Her eyes widened as she noted how close he was. Her nostrils flared. Had he not heard of such a thing as personal space? Probably not, because if he had, he would realize that he was invading hers. To put everything back to how it should be, she stepped back feeling surprised when Tyson let out a sound of frustration and stepped back into her again. "Tyson, what is your problem?"

"Would you stop moving?" he bellowed angrily. Every time she moved back, he had to move closer and it was taking twice as long as it should have. It was bad enough he had to kiss her at all (thanks to stupid Kirby) but he didn't need his friends to think he was having a full on make out session with her. His sharp outburst had stunned her immobile. "Good."

Inhaling a lungful of air and flicking the tip of his nose with the pad of his thumb, he gathered his courage and planted his hands on her shoulders.

She stiffened immediately as her huge brown eyes became darker. Nerves seemed to dance along her skin as he looked down at her with an expression of serious contemplation. "Uh, Tyson?" She squeaked.

"Shush!" He ordered grimly before lowering his head.

Her hands came up to his chest and she pushed against him; thoroughly surprised at the strength in that solid mass. Despite his eating habits, he did seem to have some muscle tone. Not that she knew much about things like that. She was here for her academic capabilities not her sporting ones. "Tyson, what are you doing?"

He lifted his head and his eyes seared hers with his annoyance. "What does it look like? Look, it's just one measly kiss, so just hold still."

"Kiss?" She squeaked, her voice quaking in surprise. Why did Tyson want to kiss _her_?

"Yeah, so just hold still and it'll be over before you know it." He grumbled, shoving up the sleeves of his shirt before clamping his hands on her shoulders again.

"But-"

"Hillary!"

"Why do you want to kiss me?"

"Well I don't want to but Kirby dared me so I don't have a-" he broke off as a sharp '_thwack_' echoed through the corridor followed by a female gasp. For a second he had no idea what had happened and then. "Ow, you slapped me?" His cheek stung and his whole mouth felt swollen from the wallop.

"Well you deserved it! That is the lowest of the low Tyson, even for you!" The irate brunette managed to blurt out despite the way her eyes had gone large and shiny with tears and the emotion that was clogging up her throat. With a slight sniffle, she whirled on her heels and marched down the corridor.

Tyson moaned pitifully as he turned back to the party. "Ow. She was wearing a ring!"

* * *

"So the next thing Tyson knows, Hillary's slapped him and is marching down the corridor."

"What a letch!" Mariah shook her head in disgrace and shot a dark look at Tyson who slumped even further in his chair and looked down at his cereal.

Salima nodded. "Poor Hills. That would have been her first kiss too, I think. She's been decidedly unlucky when it comes to boys."

"She brings it on herself." Mariam muttered, not looking up from buttering her toast. "She's neurotic and I seriously don't think she's all there. And she gives her opinion on everything."

"That doesn't make her a bad person." Mariah retorted; scooping up some of her scrambled eggs and slipping them into her mouth. Her golden eyes sought out the brunette and found her sitting beside Kenny and her cousin Kevin. They were talking about something scientific that Kevin had found and needed Kenny's opinion on; while Hillary glumly scribbled in her note book only looking up to shoot dark murderous looks at the bane of her existence. "She just doesn't react well to boys. She's used to them disliking her."

"Hmm, maybe."

"Actually, Mariah's right. Hillary doesn't know how to react when a guy talks to her. And when she tries to be herself, everyone just takes her up wrong."

"Maybe." Mariam repeated, sinking her teeth into her toast. Munching it thoughtfully, her gaze traveled along the many students eating to find the figure that usually occupied her thoughts. He was sitting in the corner; as usual he was reading the news paper and sitting beside the Goth, Tala and that really tall blond guy, Spence or something.

"What's with Kai and Amber?" Salima asked, following her friends gaze.

"He's becoming fed up with her, just like I said he would."

Mariah rolled her eyes. Like Mariam had a clue herself. She was living in a fantasy world when it came to Kai. She just couldn't accept that he would like someone who wasn't her. However, there was some friction between the Shark captain and the Irish girl. Rei had mentioned something about it to her the other night when she had casually pointed out how the two of them hadn't even looked at each other all through the party.

"I seriously doubt he's fed up with her." Kirby said acidly, as she dropped down into the seat with Emily taking the seat opposite her.

"Oh and how would you know?" Mariam challenged.

"Well I've actually talked to one of the pair. You on the other hand are just using your suspicions which are clouded by your other needs. Besides Kai hasn't even talked to you for what you did to Amber. That certainly doesn't sound like a guy who's _bored_ with his girlfriend."

"Actually he said hello to me this morning."

"Hello? Wow, he might as well buy you an engagement ring. Are you aware of how desperate you're sounding? Where's the Mariam we know? The one who didn't care about any guy and who stuck by her friends through thick and thin?" Kirby demanded; angrily shredding her donut.

"I grew up."

"No, you really didn't. If it's possible, you grew down. You've regressed into a former period in your life." Kirby snapped back. She was really getting fed up of listening to Mariam bitch about Amber. She hadn't spoken to Amber in months; she didn't even know what Amber was like and because of that, she'd fabricated a phantom version of Amber to suit her scorned inner woman.

"Big words for such a small person, Kirby."

"Stop it." Salima bit out tightly as she noted the various looks being directed at their table as the girls' conversation grew heated. "Both of you behave. You're acting like children."

Mariah rolled her eyes. Mariam's attitude was driving her up the wall. She wasn't acting the way she had once been. She was no longer fun to be around, she was quietly becoming obsessed with Kai and it was distressing to watch.

Flicking her gaze over to the male in question, she raised a pink brow. He wasn't the most striking guy in the room but she could vaguely see what attracted Mariam. It was obvious when he was with Amber that she was the most important person to him, the only person that even existed in the world apart from him. His face would relax and he'd smile more easily. He was clearly devoted to her, and she could believe that Mariam wanted him to feel that way for her. She was focusing on him because he had treated her well, better than her other boyfriends and maybe she thought that if Amber was out of the picture, he'd show that same devotion to her.

The problem was that how Kai reacted was a direct result of Amber's personality. Mariah couldn't see how Kai could react the same way to Mariam who was quite different to Amber. Different characters deserved different responses. She didn't think Rei would treat Salima the same way he treated her. Some people were meant for each other and that was clear in how they interacted with each other. She felt so secure and confident in herself when she was with Rei because he loved her for who she was. She didn't have to pretend to be anyone else.

But it was some what interesting to watch Kai, even now, after spending a week being aloof and ignoring Amber.

For there he was sitting with his coffee half way to his lips and his gaze was fixed on something across the room. She didn't need to look, but she did anyway because it was a nice thought if her hunch was true… which it was, she gloated silently as she followed his gaze.

It was lingering on Amber, who was wrapped up in her duvet and studying a book intently. Suddenly, she looked up with a wicked grin and began to read something out that had the others looking at her forebodingly and then they began to laugh while poor Enrique flushed and scratched his head sheepishly.

If she listened to Mariam's theory and believed that Kai was growing bored of Amber, then why was he watching her like a hawk? Why, when they were in the study hall, did he concern himself with making sure she wasn't distracted from her homework? Why did his fingers tighten ever so slightly on his cup handle every time Enrique's hand lingered on her shoulder?

He wasn't acting like a boy who was growing bored. He was acting as though he still cared but didn't want her to know it. So what Mariah would like to know was why he was acting this way. There was no use in Kai distancing himself, Mariah thought. It made him seem more and more reclusive and would create friction in his team. So whatever was bothering him would have to be settled soon.

With a sly smirk, she nudged Kirby and inclined her head towards Kai. Kirby followed the movement with her gaze and smiled softly, her romantic heart pinging at the scene.

"Hey, so is there a movie night tonight?"

Kirby tore her gaze away from her cousin and her boyfriend. "Yep, or so Shahero said."

"Who's picking?" Salima wondered.

"Bryan but he handed the duty over to Amber and Shahero."

"So we'll have at least one good film."

Kirby snickered. "Yeah."

"So do you wanna hang out after school or have you got a date with Miguel?" Mariah teased with a slight nudge of her elbow. Gold eyes brightened with amusement at the soft glow beginning to illuminate Kirby's cheeks.

The younger girl blushed and shook her head. "Nah, I'm free. Miguel and I are taking things slow."

"But you really like him, right?"

"Yeah, I really do."

"Oh, me and you should double date some time?"

"That'd be great."

Salima suddenly pushed her chair back and got to her feet before storming out of dining hall. She vaguely heard the comments from Mariah and Kirby about her behavior but she didn't care. She was fed up with their actions and their snide comments. Kirby and Mariam were constantly being bitter with each other and Mariah and Kirby were growing closer and further apart from the rest of them. The dorm was like a war zone with a definite line drawn down the middle and yet, none of them were acknowledging that anything was wrong. They just continued on becoming faker and faker and she just couldn't go on like this.

* * *

The sky was a forbidding black; heavy clouds threatened of incoming snow and further cold weather. Standing inside the common room, illuminated by the white daylight, stood the majority of the Tigers. After their practice had been cancelled due to the foul weather, the group had trooped into the common room to stand by the roaring fire and to drink hot cocoa.

Spencer stretched out his legs and winced at the pain that stabbed sharply at his knee. Since he had grown up so fast during his teenage years, his knees had suffered badly; so every now and then he'd get a twinge or the tendons would flare up and he'd have to take some painkillers for them. Usually, by doing the exercises the physical therapist had given him, he could perform as well as any able bodied teenager. However on cold days like today, the knees had a tendency to act up. He was a little glad that practice had been cancelled. It meant that Nicolai wouldn't see his minor problem.

On the TV in the corner, the news was playing with the only people paying it the vaguest interest being Ozuma and a semi-dozing Bryan who growled every time someone mentioned switching the channel. Johnny was sitting on the corner seat with Miyami nestled in his lap as he talked with a surprisingly serious Enrique. Shahero was curled up beside the Scot, with her head on his shoulder plucking out the gooey marshmallows in her drink and slipping them into his mouth since she had decided she didn't like them.

On the other sofa, Aspin and Kane were having one of their deep discussions, but every so often Aspin would shoot Kai a concerned glance while Kane tried to reassure her. Kai was oblivious, standing over the fire, staring into the flames licking at the dry logs with a faraway expression.

Beside Ruin, Ian was admiring what he liked to think of as his moustache in her compact mirror. She was happy to let him indulge in his little delusion while she massaged Tala's tense neck.

"It's snowing." Rei announced, from his window seat.

"Maybe we can get enough to start a snowball war."

Ruin looked over her shoulder and arched a brow before shrugging. "I'm in."

"Girls against boys?" Ian wondered.

Aspin exchanged a look with Miyami that said 'I-don't-think-so'. "Yeah that would work. Us four against all of you. Unless one of you boys isn't telling us something."

"Well you know I'm all man." Kane drawled boastfully.

"Yeah unfortunately we did see you naked that one, two… was it three times?" Miyami asked Aspin, who nodded with an embarrassed look. Who knew her boyfriend was such an exhibitionist?

Johnny brushed a kiss over the curve of his girlfriends pale silken shoulder. "I'm completely male."

Tala leaned back into Ruin's magic fingers. "Never been any doubts for me."

"No there's never been any doubts about whether you're a guy or not, but certainly there've been ones on your sexuality."

Tala's eyes snapped to Shahero, shock evident in those big blue eyes. "My sexuality? What, like whether I was gay or straight?"

"Sure."

"Who came up with that theory?"

Shahero shrugged with an impish grin. "Well you remember the time everyone thought Kai was gay…"

Tala's face blanched. "She didn't."

"She did."

"What was Benz thinking?"

"She wasn't thinking it until Kirby put it into her head."

"Kirby as well?"

"Yeah."

Tala's brow furrowed in confused bewilderment. Reaching up and cupping Ruin's neck, he pulled her down for a long, deep kiss. "There, does that satisfy you?"

Shahero dismissed his comment with a wave of her hand. "Sure, you're bi, we completely accept that. Just as long as you're happy."

Miyami and Aspin snickered at their friend's glib reply and Tala's discomfort with the topic. Ruin simply flipped the Asian girl off and returned to rubbing her boyfriends' shoulders. "I know some things about Hitoshi you wouldn't want me to be spreading about, Hero."

Shahero shrugged. "Doesn't bother me."

"Doesn't bother me either, having Hitoshi as a cousin is an embarrassment in itself."

"Says the girl who actually likes having Tyson as a cousin, go figure."

The group snickered at Ian's comment. While Miyami grabbed the nearest cushion and tossed it at the annoying midget. It hit off the side of his head and caused him to teeter on the edge of the sofa while sending Ruin's compact flying.

"I hope that's not seven years bad luck." He grumbled, as he crawled off the sofa to the collect the compact.

"So, where are Arista and Amber?"

Most of the team shook their heads; well the majority that heard Miyami's comment did. The others who didn't continued to watch Ian fumble with the catch as he tried to figure how to open the compact to check the mirror. With a sigh, Ruin snatched it from his hand, opened it and then gave it back to him when he began protesting.

"I think Arista was saying something about going to the city to get some stuff."

"She's always going there recently; what's with that?" Enrique asked suddenly, acknowledging Michael as he led Bethan into the room.

"She's got a boyfriend but she won't tell us anything."

"You're girls!"

"Well done, Ian." Kai drawled sardonically, as he turned to face them, ignoring the searing heat at the back of his legs.

"But don't girls talk and stuff?"

"Yes, it's an advantage of being the more evolved race." Miyami quipped, flashing Ian a bright smile that made him sneer.

"Every time we tease her, she denies that she has one. It's almost as though she's embarrassed." Aspin shrugged in a baffled manner.

"Embarrassed? What would she have to be embarrassed about? Doesn't she know that we would like to meet the guy?" Tala wanted to know.

Most of the boys seemed slightly put out that Arista didn't want them to meet her boyfriend; after all, they had to give their opinion on the boy. They had done so for all the boyfriends the girls went out with, including that moron Aspin had liked years ago. He drove Kane crazy and so, to preserve their own sanity, the boys had to take action. All Aspin knew was that the boy had decided he was gay and couldn't be with her. Naturally Aspin had been upset, which was why Johnny took a distinct pleasure in beating the boy senseless. All Miyami's boyfriends, bar Rei had received a few good scare tactics. As far as they could see, the only ones who deserved their girls were them. It was a strange thought.

"We really should meet him; make sure he's good enough for her." Johnny declared lazily, causing Shahero to roll her eyes.

"Oh, like, you guys have a say in what we do."

Johnny and Tala pierced her with a meaningful look. She made a face. She already had an older brother, she didn't know how all these boys had adopted the position but it was disconcerting. The only good thing about Hitoshi, apart from his looks and his body, was the fact that as he was older than them and because they'd looked up to him in their younger days, they had a tendency to just accept him.

"Who makes sure you guys are good enough for _us_?" Aspin asked, jerking a thumb at herself and Miyami.

Johnny shot her a pitying look. "We don't need to judge ourselves to find our worthiness; we prove it day in and day out by looking out for you eight."

"Speaking of the eight of us, where's Sonia?"

"In the gym running the treadmill last time I checked, Miyami." Ozuma replied without taking his eyes off the TV. "She has this daft notion that if she stops running her legs will fall off."

There was definite sarcasm lacing his words; a sure sign of the agitation building with her avoidance tactics. He was fed up always wondering about where she was or how she was feeling. She certainly didn't take into account how he was feeling. He was going slowly insane. Especially since he had to sit next to her in certain classes.

"And Amber?"

"With Arista? They've been hanging out a lot recently." Enrique piped up innocently.

Miyami grimaced. "I know. But I don't think they're together today."

"Hey Kai, do you-" when Shahero caught sight of Kai's dark look, she quickly broke off. "And you're not the person to ask."

Kai sighed and shoved away rather violently from the wall. He approached Miyami and held out a hand. "Key."

Not bothering to comment about his brusque manner nor the rudeness of it, she simply handed him her key and watched him leave the room.

* * *

The steady pounding of footsteps was the only thing to be heard in the gym. The TV up in the corner was on mute so that the talk show presenters' mouths moved but no sound came out. That didn't bother Sonia one bit. She was lost in thoughts and sound only interfered with them. Taking her fingers, she pressed them to the inside of her wrist. Her pulse was steady, her breathing slow and even, and her muscles felt gorgeously loose.

There was nothing she liked more than running. It made her feel refreshed and energized. If she went a day without running she felt sluggish and strange. Running was her life; going to school was just something she had to put up with. She didn't dislike school; in fact she enjoyed the learning process and it had brought her, her friends, but sometimes there just didn't seem to be enough hours in the day. She spent time in her classes from early morning to after three and then she had to do her homework and train, she barely had any time to socialize anymore and with college applications and exams, there were just not enough hours in the day.

Everything was just piling up on top of her and the worst part was that it didn't seem to bother the others. They seemed to have time to play hockey, hang out and have boyfriends. She didn't have time and every time she paused to have some fun she felt guilty. She expected so much from herself; she couldn't bear the thought of failing. Especially not when she knew how good at running she was. She would always be good at running. It was something she could count on no matter what. It was something she knew wouldn't let her down. It was the backbone of her life.

The door was pushed open and a group of boys wandered in, joking amongst each other. They froze on realizing that they weren't the only ones in the room.

Sonia sighed and continued to run, not bothering to slow down. She didn't want to give them the impression that she wanted their attention or for them to even talk to her. So, she kept her eyes straight ahead, gazing out at the buildings rising over the tree tops in the distance.

She felt the boys approach, felt their gaze run down her lean form and cringed. She should have worn more than the sports bra and shorts but since it was a Saturday she hadn't been expecting many to be in the gym. Not to mention the fact that she was a runner and that was what she ran in, it was hardly more revealing that what girls on the beach wore. She just didn't see why boys had to treat the female form like a piece of meat.

The door opened once more and the boys quickly changed their direction as Ozuma walked in. It was unofficially known around the school that Ozuma Benson, the vice captain of the Tigers had his eye on the track runner of the Octopussy's.

Shooting the boys a dark look that had them shrugging and slinking out of the room, he approached the red head casually. Her breathing was beginning become laborious and a slight sheen of perspiration was causing her bangs to become limp. She was running herself ragged and it was slowly driving him insane. He couldn't stand to see her hurt herself to achieve a goal others had set for her. She wasn't living her life for herself but so that she didn't let any one down. It made him so angry.

"You've been at that for nearly an hour, don't you think you can rest a while."

She tensed, a shiver coursing down her spine as she heard the soft timbre of his voice. "I have to practice." she stressed.

"You're always practicing. You never take a day off."

"I'll take tomorrow off."

"Sonia." he began, covering her hand with his so that her eyes leapt to his. She sucked in a breath and her pulse jumped.

"Ozuma, I have to do this. I have an exam on Monday so I need to study tomorrow. I won't have time to practice tomorrow."

"Sonia." He sighed and before she knew it, he turned off the treadmill.

Startled she stared at him for half a moment. She blinked and stared a little more. "Why did you-?"

"You're making yourself sick and that's pissing me off."

"Pissing you off? It has nothing to do with you! You practice your sport and I don't bother you!"

He raised a brow at her. "Why are you getting so mad at me?"

"I'm not mad." She informed him stubbornly.

"You have that cute little line in the middle of the brow."

She flushed hotly as his finger came into scalding contact with her skin as he traced her brow. She stumbled back from him and walked to the window to stare out at the blizzard of snow that was beginning to obscure her vision.

Ozuma rolled his eyes. "We need to talk."

"We were talking and then you turned off the treadmill."

"I'm worried about you. You're going to make yourself sick. All work and no play makes Sonia a dull girl."

"Well… well if I'm so dull, why are you still here!" She demanded, fisting her hands and scowling at him.

"Sonia…"

"No Ozuma, just go away. I don't have time for this. I have to train and I have exams to study for-"

"You're giving yourself a headache." He murmured, dismissing her ramblings in favour of massaging her shoulders.

He was right. She could feel the ache centring around her temples, sending zips of pain from one end to the other. She could feel her resolve crumbling under those long fingers that were tenderly working out the kink in her neck. Her head fell back on a soft moan.

With a soft smile, he increased the pressure, pressing his thumbs into one hard knot that refused to leave.

"You shouldn't get so stressed." He whispered at her ear; the motion causing his lips to graze the delicate shell and she shivered.

"I just- just have so much to do." She replied softly, leaning back into him.

His hands slid from her shoulders, down her arms to rest on her hips. He lay his chin on her shoulder, breathing in the soft fragrance of her perfume that she'd sprayed on that morning and the clean soapy scent from her clothing. "Why do you run yourself ragged, Sons? The world won't end if you take the day off. It might even do you some good."

"I need to run, Ozuma. If I don't, I'll get lazy and out of practice and people expect me to win. So many people need me to win this competition; I can't let them down."

"What about you? What do you want?" He wondered, relishing the closeness holding her to him allowed. She wasn't squirming to get away; in fact she seemed quite content to stay there and he was only too happy to oblige.

"It doesn't matter. Running is the only thing I'm good at."

"That's not true. You're smart, funny, a great friend but you've been neglecting those traits lately. When was the last time you talked to Michael or helped out in one of the Octopussy's pranks?"

Sonia turned in his arms and frowned at him. She didn't like being told she had failed in something; especially when it wasn't true. Well not exactly true. "I'll have you know that I helped the girls out just last week to get back at Clo- Bugger, Ozuma, I wasn't supposed to tell you that!"

He chuckled richly and pressed his brow to hers, noticing the silkiness of her hair, the softness of her skin and the depth of her eyes; he could drown in them easily. "We miss you Sons."

She sighed softly; the breath escaping without much acknowledgement. "I miss all of you, too, but I have to train."

"So train with us. Or train when we do, either in the gym or wherever you want just don't distance yourself from us. Who else is going to keep the girls in line? The boys certainly can't do it."

She managed a weary smile at his joke, but the tiredness was seeping into her bones. Too many late nights and early mornings were beginning to take their toll. "I just wish there were more hours in the day. I always seem to be so far behind."

"Behind? Sonia, you're further ahead than all of us. Why don't you believe in yourself? We all know you can do it."

She lifted her eyes to his, almost pleading with him for some understanding; of what, he just didn't know. "What if I don't? I need to get good grades to go to a good college and I need to win my races because otherwise the school doesn't have a chance. I'm all they've got. The other girls just aren't fast enough."

He sighed, suddenly beginning to realize just how different their circumstances were. He had a team to back him up while she stood alone; a solitary figure at the starting line.

Slowly he pulled her into his arms, careful not to startle her. He pressed a cautious kiss to her brow. Instead of freezing and pulling away as he had expected her to do because, god knows, she'd been doing enough of that recently; she simply melted against him with a soft sigh, her arms sliding languidly around his waist.

A fond smile curved his lips as he gazed down at her. She was so sweet and gentle; he was always just a little frightened of hurting her. And yet despite everything, here she was in his arms. Feeling a strange giddiness inside, he pressed another kiss to the cool softness of her cheek.

She murmured something incoherent and then, she tilted her head up seeking his mouth… he froze and his head jerked back in surprise at her reaction. Immediately, he began to curse himself; she had wanted him to kiss her and he'd pulled away? Daichi was right, he was a bloody moron. He wasn't going to live this down; his brother would find out and he'd tell his father and Seth would use the story to amuse the family for the next couple of decades and instead of baby photo's, they'd tell his girlfriends down the line, the story of how Ozuma had pulled away from a kiss like a complete wimp.

In his arms, Sonia startled and her eyes flashed open, staring into his with… dismay. Pure and utter devastation as she began to struggle out of his grip.

"I'm sorry." she apologized profusely. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to do that, well, I mean I did but I should have known. You're just being a friend, nothing more, nothing less. Just ignore that; I was being silly." She gave a false giggle that hurt his ears but the more she struggled, the tighter his grip became until she slumped in his arms and a soft sob escaped her lips. "Just let me go Ozuma; I've humiliated myself enough today."

"I'm sorry." He uttered softly; the last thing he wanted to do was humiliate her.

"Don't apologize, it's my fault. I should have known you didn't want me-"

"Not want you?" His dark brows furrowed over sparking jade eyes. "Of course I want you! I want you so much it hurts."

Her startled blue eyes met his. "But you didn't… You flinched Ozuma!"

He sighed and a small laugh escaped his lips at the strangeness of the situation. "I was shocked; I thought you didn't want me."

"Oh." she murmured softly, chewing on her lower lip before a smile curled them. "Oh dear, I think we got our wires crossed."

He snorted then chuckled. "Yeah, I think so." he muttered, cradling her face in his hands. He dipped down and pressed a kiss to her curved lips.

The smile quickly disappeared from her mouth as they began to move under his, her arms banding around him as she began to press herself up against him. He slowly traced her mouth with the tip of his tongue and she parted her lips. Tentatively at first, to sample the flavour, he began to explore her mouth; then his tongue became more and more insistent.

With a growl, his mouth pressed harder to hers and she made a soft sound at the back of her throat. For a moment, he began to think he'd gone too fast and had once again, frightened her but she held him tighter, her mouth eagerly responded to his with a passion that exploded around him.

Slowly they both parted for air, pulling back and breathing harshly as they looked around them, unable to meet each other's gazes.

"Sonia," he began uncertainly, "I want us-"

A loud shout startled the pair and Ozuma marched to the door, tugging Sonia after him, his hand firmly clasped around hers. Like hell he was letting her go now.

Outside in the hall, Kai tried to barge past Russia who was trying unsuccessfully to reason with her cousin.

"Jus' leave it Kai."

"Leave it? Is she cheating on me or not?"

"NOT!" Russia snapped.

"Who?" Sonia murmured; rising on her tiptoes to see over Ozuma's shoulders.

"Then why is she meeting him behind my back?"

"Pro'ly 'cause she knew ya'd react jus' like dis! She's not t'ick, ya know."

"Who?"

"And what about these?" Kai held up a white rectangle box with blue writing on it. A small sticker was placed on the front with printed words that were too light to be read from far away but it was clear that it was a box of pills or something.

"Wha' are dey? Do y' even know?" Russia demanded, her blood red brow rising and a smirk began to spread over her lips. "Aye, as I t'ot. Y'ave nay clue either! So don't go charging in dere like a feckin' bull in a fuckin' china shop."

"What's going on?" Aspin asked coming down the stairs; her fingers gripping the white painted banister.

"Kai t'inks Amber's cheating on 'im."

"She's meeting Mystel, that's where she is." Kai growled.

"Mystel? Oh, the shark."

"Yeah, how'd you know that?"

"Oh… I ah…"

"We over heard Mariam telling Bryan that Amber was seeing him behind your back." Kane said walking down behind Aspin. "I didn't believe her."

"You better start." Kai growled.

"She's pro'ly just making a new friend." Sonia piped up. "She's always making new friends."

"An' knowin' 'ow much ya 'ate da Tigers, no wonder she didn' tell ya."

"How do you know that he's not just squeezing her for information?" Kai questioned coolly.

"'ow d'ya know it ain't da ot'er way round."

"Because Amber's not like that." Kai snarled; raking a hand through his two toned hair. He couldn't believe she was cheating on him. He had asked for it, he'd pushed her away and straight into another boy's arms. He nearly choked on the bad taste that entered his mouth.

"And yet you believe she'd cheat on you?" Aspin demanded.

"I found her mobile, there's a message from him and a reminder that they're meeting and now I'm going to take her phone to her."

"Kai." Sonia gasped out; the words tumbling from her lips. Those same lips that Ozuma had just kissed mere moments ago.

"At least give her the chance to explain. There's a big chance that you're just overreacting and that Amber's simply being Amber. She probably doesn't even see anything wrong with what she's doing." Aspin told him. She knew Amber and she sincerely believed her friend was just being her usual naïve self.

Kai met her gaze and despite the conflicted emotions in those dark depths, he still gave her a rather jerky nod before he turned around and strode out the door, shoving the tablets in his pocket.

Aspin watched him leave with a sigh before turning to her friends. "Somehow I don't think this is going to go very well." Her attention flickered to Sonia and Ozuma who were retreating back to the gym now that the drama was over. "What were you two doing?"

"Running." they answered in unison, sharing a quick grin that had the purple haired girl knitting her brows in bewilderment before she shrugged and looked to Russia. "Should someone go after Kai to make sure…?"

"'e won' 'urt 'er if dat's what y're worried 'bout."

"I know, but still, things with those two can get out of control very quickly."

Kane simply shook his head. "Let them sort it out, it's their problem, not ours."

"Yeah but it'll affect your team." Aspin grumbled before she turned around to head up the stairs with the intention of finding Miyami and discussing everything with her.

* * *

"Look, I'm just saying that in a fight, Faith would win."

Amber shook her head as she stirred her coffee. Outside the window of the small café they had sought shelter in; big fat flakes of snow drifted on the eerily calm air from dark, venomous clouds. Cars crawled through the slush while people passing by, hunched their shoulders against the bitter cold. It made her feel snug and cozy to be sitting in the back of the quaint teashop across from Mystel. "No, she wouldn't because the screenwriters wouldn't let someone whose evil win."

"She became good again!" Mystel protested; snapping his cookie in half and offering it to her.

"Are you trying to bribe me? Because, even though I'm taking the cookie, it's not going to work." She bit into it and enjoyed the sensation of the chocolate bits dissolving in her mouth. "Besides, she still killed someone."

"It could have happened to anyone."

"Not to me it wouldn't have." She retorted.

"Why? Because you could see into the future and know the man would be there?" He teased with a slight smirk. He was really enjoying this conversation. Who else would sit in a coffee shop with him and discuss whether Buffy or Faith was better? He couldn't see Garland or Brooklyn talking to him about it and the other guys were schmucks who couldn't tell their backside from their head. Besides, the conversation would just come down to who had the bigger breasts and as fun as that was, it really wasn't much of a conversation. Everyone knew Faith was better endowed.

"No." Amber rolled her eyes at the absurdity of the comment and played with her pendant which was fast becoming her favorite accessory. "I wouldn't be walking around with a pointy stick in my hand in the first place."

Mystel threw his head back and laughed richly. "In which case, you would be dead because the vampires would have killed you even before you got to the man."

"Exactly, therefore it couldn't happen to anyone. Just to a stake happy vampire slayer with a half assed watcher."

"You didn't like him either?"

"What was to like? Wesley was a tit… was his name Wesley? Oh well, if it wasn't, I'm sure there's a Wesley out there who's a tit."

"Nice way to cover your tracks." She beamed at him. "But Wesley wasn't so bad in the Angel series."

"Oh don't get me started on that. Angel and Cordy…" she trailed off with a shudder and gulped down her coffee, scalding her throat in the process.

"You don't approve?"

"NO! He is Buffy's soul mate, he can't just suddenly up and like Queen C!"

"Yeah but she changed. She was no longer Queen C of High school fame."

"No, she was Cordelia of the 'Oh my god, I'm getting a vision; no wait it's just a migraine' fame."

"Don't you believe people can change?" He questioned with some mirth and some seriousness.

"Of course I do. However, I don't believe in soul mates changing. I mean, that just defies the whole idea of soul mates."

"You're such a romantic, Amber."

Amber wrinkled her nose in disdain before shrugging. "Maybe I hit my head… I did fall out of bed this morning… but I was having a really good dream; I don't remember it but I know it was a really good dream."

He chuckled and turned his gaze out the window to watch the people walking past. The snow was falling, big heavy flakes that fluttered from the sky to linger on the ground. The line of cars was driving slowly around the town square, their windscreen wipers sweeping away the powder that threatened to obscure their vision.

"We should head home soon."

Amber flicked a glance at her wrist and sighed heavily. "Yeah I guess. My bus comes in a little while but if you-"

"I'll wait. So I gather things with you and Kai are still… awkward?"

She opened her mouth as though about to say something before shaking her head. "Meh, I don't wanna talk about it. He's being a total shit and I haven't done anything wrong so why should I spoil my day wondering where I've gone wrong."

He mustered up a wry smile. Hearing Amber talk about Kai always made him feel vaguely uncomfortable. And yet, each and every time, he brought up the topic and he really didn't understand why. It was almost as though he was a glutton for punishment and maybe he was. Still hearing that she was still angry with the ex-shark captain gave him an odd satisfaction even though he knew it was tearing her up inside. Despite her independent 'I-don't-need-him' attitude, he knew better. One day she'd be like this, the next she'd be broken and filled with self doubt.

"Then, why do you stay with him?"

She gave him a dark look. "You tell me." she muttered gruffly.

He reached over and took her hand in his, knowing that to anyone else in this shop they looked like a couple. Amber was too lost in her thoughts to even realize and he sighed, patting her hand before releasing it. Any other time he tried it, she discreetly removed her hand and he knew he shouldn't do this sort of thing with her but he wanted to protect her and care for her. Hiwatari certainly didn't do those sorts of things.

It made him wonder if it was just a control thing between them. Hiwatari seemed like the sort who want would to have control over someone as spirited as Amber. He knew, from what Brooklyn had said; that Amber and Hiwatari hadn't gotten along at the start and that she annoyed him and now suddenly they were dating. It just seemed unreal to him. They just didn't match; both too different to be together.

However, as much as he would have liked to believe Hiwatari treated her like dirt, -and he could well believe it because Amber seemed like the sort of person who could forgive anyone anything if she cared about them enough- he just didn't. She was too strong to be the sort to take something lying down; she didn't have the aura of someone who had been kicked too many times. So there had to be another reason that Hiwatari and Amber were together… or not as the case may have been at that moment.

"You can leave him if you want. You're not obligated to stay with him."

She rolled her eyes but her expression remained stony. "You don't understand. As angry as I am with him for the way he's treating me, I still think that it's just a phase. And it probably is; he's probably just having a bad week."

"Still doesn't have to take it out on you, though." Mystel pointed out easily; sipping on his coffee and flicking a glance at a blinking light above his head.

"Yeah, well I don't wanna talk about it." She replied dismissively then winced as a flicker of pain flashed through Mystel's eyes.

She didn't mean to be sharp with him but talking about her boyfriend with Mystel felt slightly strange to her. Especially when he was so nice, it was mean for her to dump all of her troubles on him. Not to mention the fact that, well she really just wanted to talk to Tala but since he was with Ruin most of the time and Bryan was giving her the beady eye, she just didn't know who to turn to. It made her feel more and more isolated. She didn't want to bring anyone down because of her problems; besides, they'd just probably say she was being melodramatic. She probably was too.

But still, why should she have to explain his actions towards her? She hadn't done _anything_! He was the one acting all strange. Feigning tiredness every time she mentioned anything about wanting to go out or he always had somewhere else to be. There was a sinking feeling in her stomach that told her that he had found someone else… maybe even Mariam. Oh god.

Her stomach churned as something icy settled in the pit of it as everything inside turned cold. Was he seeing Mariam? Is that why she was so smug recently? Had she got him back?

It seemed to make some sense to her, actually a lot of sense. Kai had been cold and aloof recently, he tried to act like normal but he always made sure that they were never alone either running off or getting friends to join them. His eyes didn't shine when he laughed instead it looked like thin ice over a dark, deep pool of water. Dangerous.

And Mariam seemed to go out of her way to make her notice just how often Kai wasn't around. Maybe Kai was realizing what a mistake he'd made with her. After all, she was a frigid cow; too scared to do much more than kissing.

"Amber, you're killing the scone."

"It's evil." She muttered sourly and Mystel nodded slowly.

"Yes, I can see that." He replied in a measured tone as he studied her, then something caught his attention outside the window. "Um, Amber, does anyone know you're here?"

Amber wrinkled her nose. "Huh, no. I haven't seen Arista all day, why?"

He inclined his head towards the window. "You recognize the car?" He asked softly.

She followed his gaze with a sense of foreboding and gulped. "Oh shit." There was Kai, sitting in his car in a traffic jam just outside the window. All he would have to do was look across and he'd see her there with Mystel. She couldn't allow that to happen. She couldn't let him screw this friendship up because she knew that if it got out, her entire team would be against it. "Oh fucking hell." She whispered, grabbing her jacket and discreetly getting to her feet, ducking behind the wall in an effort to remain out of sight.

"Shit, let's go." Mystel muttered, placing money down on the chair and quickly heading for the door.

"We can't go out the door!" She hissed frantically. "He'll see us!"

"Then where?" he wondered."

She glanced around nervousl; then she caught sight of a sign. "The bathrooms. Come on." Wasting no time, she weaved in and out of the tables and headed down the small, cool corridor. Panting hard, she turned to him. "Next time: no window tables."

* * *

"I thought you said you had it stashed in here!" Michael grumbled as he watched and ducked the objects that Enrique was flinging out behind him from his closet. On the nearest bunk bed, Ozuma was idly playing Super Mario on a dark yellow gameboy.

Kane tapped his foot impatiently. He'd already tried to drag out Enrique from the closet to look himself -he wasn't very good at waiting for others- only for the blond Italian to squeal like a bloody pig! He obviously believed that Kane would steal his precious magazines. Kane snorted, not likely. All of Enrique's magazines were cheap and tacky.

"It is in here, somewhere."

"Maybe it rolled away." Kane muttered drolly.

Michael cast Ozuma an inquisitive look and smirked. "So how're things with you and Sonia?"

Ozuma started; then shrugged. "They're ok."

"Ok, just ok?" Kane wondered as Rei walked into the room and let out a breath. "Hear that Rei, things between Oz and Sunny D are ok."

Rei's brow furrowed. He felt as though he was missing something in this conversation but he knew better than to try to figure out what was going on in his roommates' heads. "That's good."

Kane shook his head. He was never going to get used to the melodrama of his friends. If Ozuma wanted the girl, why didn't he just get the girl? It wasn't as though she was violent or likely to skin his dick. Though he couldn't see the appeal. Sure the girl was bright, friendly, had killer blue eyes and a pretty face but underneath that, she was uptight and couldn't take a joke. Unlike a certain female he happened to know intimately.

He flopped down onto his bunk underneath Ozuma's and picked up a comic from the threadbare carpet. There was a burn patch in the corner where Johnny had dropped a cigarette and nearly set the dorm on fire one night. If it weren't for the fact that Enrique had been studying one of his comics and had smelt the stench of burning carpet.

Enrique sat back on his heels and frowned. "Where is it?" He finally whined.

Running a hand through his short, curly crop of blond hair, he shrewdly studied the jam packed closet before him. He was pretty sure he had put the basketball in his closet; pretty sure but he did have a tendency to forget things. Like the name of that girl he had made out with the other night. He could barely remember what she looked like, never mind her name so when she come up to him the next morning… well he had been half asleep, he couldn't be expected to think through the haze of sleep in his mind, could he? She really had no right to get all prissy with him.

"Enrique, stop nodding to yourself and find the goddamn ball or we're using your head!"

Enrique sneered at the blue haired boy before diving back into his closet.

"So you two are just ok?" Michael prompted.

Ozuma rolled his eyes and suppressed a growl. "Yes."

"So what were you two doing in the gym?" Kane probed.

"Working out some sexual tension?"

"Enrique! That head doesn't have to stay attached to your shoulders!"

"Kane, leave Enrique alone. It's not his fault he's blond." Rei joked, taking a seat by the study table and kicking out his feet. "But seriously Ozuma, you're not pretending to be Kai anymore."

Ozuma sat up. "What does that mean?"

"Brooding. You've spent the past couple of weeks brooding." Kane explained, fluffing his pillow and settling down on it.

"Make that months."

"ENRIQUE! Ball, now!"

"God you were depressing, you were acting like a guy who'd lost his dick!" Kane added over the sound of Enrique grumbling under his breath while Rei continued to explain his theory.

"See Kai gets away with it. I figure it's that whole Heathcliffe thing that appeals to the female species, but you, well…" he trailed off.

"You're just annoying." Kane filled in.

"Who's Heathcliffe?"

"Man out of some trashy romance or something; they call it a classic but it's a romance, therefore it's a contradiction in terms."

"An oxymoron."

"No you're just a moron Enrique."

"Would you please stop learning things!" Kane demanded while Enrique glared at Michael for his comment. "You scare us when you try to be smart. It's not normal."

"You know, this is why I like girls. They don't treat me like I'm stupid."

"Aw, man." Kane muttered rolling his eyes. He didn't see any point in telling Enrique that if that was his only reason for liking girls, it was a piss poor one.

"That's because they don't take the time to get to know you. Now where's that ball!"

Rei chuckled at his friends' antics as they continuously harassed the blond Italian who was muttering curses under his breath. He leaned back and flicked his bangs out of his eyes as he studied the state of their study desk. Pens were scattered every where and with a sigh, he began to pick them up and place them in the wooden penholder that had been created out of pegs. He had a vague recollection of someone saying it had been Kane that had made it but it had been so long that he honestly couldn't remember what belonged to whom. When they left Preston, it would be hell to sort everything out. It was almost like a break up, he thought with a wiry grin.

"OH!"

"Oh god, what now?" Kane drawled tiredly.

"Let me guess, you forgot to put on clean undies?" Michael hazarded a guess.

"Michael!" The three boys balked while the golden blond haired boy laughed uproariously at the idea of grossing out his friends. Then he paused, "What happened to Jessica?"

Kane sat up and looked towards the end of the room where a life sized poster of a famous actress was sitting. At first there seemed to be nothing wrong, until he looked closer and noted that she had been given… "Nipples? Who the hell was drawing black nipples on her?"

The four boys turned to Enrique who looked furious. "Who defiled her?" he seethed.

Ozuma and Rei exchanged a cautious look then they both shrugged. "We'll fix Jessica later," Ozuma soothed. "Right now we gotta find that basketball. I'm bored and I need to work on my arms."

"You kissed her!"

"Who, Jessica?" Enrique demanded appalled only to be talked over by the charcoal haired teen.

"How did you-" Ozuma broke off and flushed, before glaring at a triumphant Kane.

"I knew there was something, just couldn't put my finger on it and what with Hiwatari charging off to kick the ass of that shark, I just didn't notice it."

Rei gave Ozuma an inquisitive look. "You two a couple now?"

Ozuma shrugged noncommittally, before giving in to the grin that had been pulling at the corners of his mouth. "We sorted things out, turns out we both misunderstood a few things."

"Try everything." Enrique muttered. He couldn't understand why there was so much grief in getting a girlfriend; he could get a different girl every week. The problem was getting rid of them. They were always so clingy.

"Shut up, Enrique." Ozuma snapped tossing a pillow at him.

"At least he's in a steady relationship." Rei added.

Enrique shot them a startled look. "I'm sorry grandpa, but seriously guys, you're young. You should be enjoying as many girls as possible. Why stick with just one? I'm not saying that the girls aren't great, they are. They're fucking fantastic but still, you should take some time to sample the wares."

Ozuma bit back a sigh. He was well used to Enrique's thoughts; after all he'd spent quite a lot of time over the years dodging girls that his friend had set him up with. Usually the girls Enrique chose were quite vapid and that wasn't necessarily his type. He didn't mind a quick fumble in the broom closet but there were times when he wanted more. Then again, Kennedie had been one of Enrique's choices for him and at the time, Ozuma had believed it a good match. She was pretty, demure and smart and then he realized the truth. She wasn't anything like her cousin. She was pretty but she used her looks to attract people's attention. She wasn't demure, just a good actress and her brains were used to ruin others lives. Sonia would never do that.

"Enrique, when you find a good girl, then you-"

"SHUT UP!" Enrique shouted almost anguished as he covered his ears and began to sing 'la, la, la' quite loudly and definitely out of tune.

Kane laughed good-naturedly. "Let the boy enjoy himself. No need to force him to get old before his time."

"Just don't get any girls pregnant, Blondie; I don't think the worlds ready for another you."

"Yes dad." Enrique saluted peevishly causing Ozuma to roll his eyes while Michael laughed and jerked the blond to his feet.

"You know where the ball is yet?"

"Oh yeah, Hillary said she wanted to practice shooting some hoops last Wednesday and I said she could have it?"

"Hillary?" Kane asked with a disgusted wrinkle of his nose.

"Yeah, you know the sophomore that's always hounding Tyson for something or other."

"But why?"

"Why not? She needed a ball, I figured why not. She's cute, got nice brown eyes and ah… other attributes." The blond gave a devilish grin which caused his friends to roll their eyes and swat him lethargically.

"Come on; let's ask her where she put it!" Rei declared, rising to his feet and sauntering out the door leaving the others to follow.

* * *

The ball gave a hollow 'bong' each time it hit the floor to echo through the narrow corridor as the five boys wandered down the freshmen's dormitory hall. On each door there was a list of names for the students that occupied the dorm. Half these names were unfamiliar to the boys. They'd never really associated with the freshmen and sophomores. The only sophomores they really knew were those directly linked to the Junior varsity team.

"So is it true that Tyson tried to kiss _her_?" Kane asked with complete bafflement. What he'd seen of Hillary when she went to retrieve their ball was that she seemed bossy and snobbish.

"Yep." Rei replied glancing at his friend over his shoulder and catching the ball that Enrique tossed him, spinning it lightly on his fingertips.

"What possessed him?"

"A dare. He was being bigheaded about his talents with girls and Kirby took him up on it." Ozuma said over Enrique's exclamation of 'hey, she's cute!'

Kane snorted. "Typical Kinomiya."

Rei raised a brow. "You be careful who you say that to. Half the people in this school are probably related to the Kinomiya's in some way."

"Almost as bad as the Benson's-Ow!" Kane bit back a curse as his arm exploded in pain. Ozuma was far too quick with his fists for Kane's liking. He really should learn to duck out of the way when he said something uncomplimentary about the Benson clan but surely Ozuma should be used to the jibes at his family's size.

"Speaking of Benson's…" Michael trailed off as he noted a pissed off Amber stalking into the common room that the girls shared. Her head was bowed, her shoulders tensed and fists balled tightly while water dripped from her drenched hair.

"Hey Amber." Enrique greeted guilelessly.

Her head shot up to regard them all hotly. "Oh hey."

The blond tensed physically and jerked his head round to see if the other boys had noticed what he had. Brief eye contact showed him that they had. Instead of the bright jovial Amber he enjoyed being around, there stood a dark shadow of her.

"What's wrong with you?" Ozuma demanded bluntly.

Her dark gold almost brown in their dullness eyes swept over to regard her cousin dispassionately. She gave a shrug and her lips twitched but there was no warmth. "Nothing."

"Did Kai find you?"

Ozuma could have hit the blond beside him. He just didn't ever pay attention to what was going on. In his little world, everything went just as he wanted it to. He could have any girl he wanted and if she didn't want him -gods forbid- well the world didn't end. Yet, he just never could read the emotions of others and that made him a fool and yet, completely blameless.

Amber smirked but it looked more like a sneer from their vantage point. "Oh he was looking for me?"

"Yeah, he left a while ago. Thought you were with-" Enrique broke off on a wince as Kane stabbed him none too gently with his elbow.

"Too late, Kane, I think I know what he was going to say. But I'm sure Kai will be glad to have your loyalty." She drawled bitterly before she stalked up the stairs that led to her dormitory. She paused half way up and leaned over the wall that bordered the small landing. "Oh, if you happen to see _him_, tell him I want to talk to him. If he's not too busy that is." She muttered something under her breath but they couldn't hear.

The five of them watched her disappear down the corridor and they exchanged worried and angry glances. "What's with Black Amber?"

Ozuma simply shook his head. "She's only doing it for attention. Her pride's hurt and instead of admitting she's in the wrong, she turns into a frigid bitch."

"She sorta reminded me of Ruin. You know the dark tone and the look in her eyes. Not like Amber at all." Enrique shuddered as they walked through the common and headed out the door.

"She wasn't like Ruin, Ruin has this…" Rei shrugged unable to explain what Ruin had.

"Humanity?"

"Je ne sais quoi?"

Rei waved away the suggestions from Kane and Michael. "She just has something that stops her from being a bitch. She's just aloof, wary of people but she cares."

"Yeah, Amber's just being a bitch." Ozuma agreed before taking the ball from Enrique and dribbling it.

"I just wish they wouldn't drag us into this shit."

Just as the boys stepped out into the rain on their way to the sports hall, their eyes fell on a dark brooding figure striding through the sheets of rain. He too looked forbidding and furious as he tilted his head to regard them.

"Hey Kai, what's up?" Enrique greeted while Kane just groaned and Michael slapped his forehead. Enrique would never learn. Idiot.

"Is she back?" Kai demanded, looking directly at Ozuma for an answer and ignoring his companions.

"Who Amber? Yeah we just saw her head up to her room. She said that she needed to talk to you."

Kai swiped his bangs out of his eyes and glowered at the blond. "Oh, did she?" He murmured silkily before he shoved through them and strode towards the school.

"What did I do?" Enrique demanded baffled at Kai's treatment of him. He hadn't done anything wrong, he'd delivered Amber's message just as she had wanted.

"Enrique, next time just hold your tongue."

The other four laughed while the blond tried to figure out just what was meant by that comment.

* * *

With a flick of her wrist, Amber upped the volume of her mixed CD and something punchy and loud blasted out, causing her foul mood to bump up a few notches. Fury was bubbling just under her skin, ready to explode out on the next person to encounter it. It was terrible trying to rein it in while talking to the boys down stairs before she came up. The temper clawing at her stomach was painful and violent. Curled up in a putrid roiling mass, ready to lash out when needed.

Her foot whipped out and collided with the chair. It wobbled precariously for a few seconds before it toppled over and hit the ground with a hollow thud but it did nothing to calm her frayed nerves.

Kai had known she was with Mystel? Is that what Enrique had been about to say? Was that why he had been in Red Fern? Was he hoping to catch her? Obviously, why else would he be there? But how did he know? Had someone told him? Someone must have, but whom? How else would he have known?

Oh god. She choked back a nervous sob and the strength went out of her legs, causing her to crumble to the ground, a frail hand pressed to her trembling lips. Did he think she was cheating on him? Would he dump her?

Her stomach churned nauseatingly. Oh god, she didn't want him to dump her. She really didn't. Despite everything she'd said to Mystel, she couldn't help but feel an icy cold pit of terror in the bottom of her stomach.

A crunching pain seized her gut and she doubled over, clutching her abdomen and breathing slowly. She bit her lip to distract herself from the pain and concentrating on her breathing, she was able to see through the scarlet haze of pain that crippled her. A coppery tang coated her mouth and she licked it away.

If Kai broke up with her…

She didn't know what she would do. She was sure she would be fine. After all, plenty of people broke up and got new boyfriends. No one stayed with their first boyfriend forever; she just hadn't imagined it ending so badly. After all, he was her captain…

"Oh no." she whispered. Practice was going to be hell.

But why was she blaming herself? She hadn't been cheating on Kai. She had been having lunch with a friend. How grown up did that sound? But none the less, that was all it was. Sure Mystel always seemed to make noises about the two of them being good for each other, maybe being more than friends and the problem was that she could see it if it weren't for Kai.

I really like Kai, she thought sadly.

She liked being around him, talking to him, hearing him talk. Every time she saw him with the boys or laughing with Miyami, it caused a strange warm sensation to fill her to the brim and then when he kissed her…

How could he think she would cheat on him! She'd never given him one reason to think that she wasn't loyal to him. She stood back and let him handle Brooklyn, she had been there for him when he was at Clonmel, -granted the only reason he'd been there was because she'd bribed him into going-; she never ever flirted with any other boys. In fact, she'd never even considered having a boyfriend before Kai, because no one but him had been able to break down the walls she'd erected.

God, Kai was an idiot.

No, she was, she realized grimly.

She was selfish; she wasn't even a good girlfriend. He did loads of things for her, put up with her whims and pathetic needs and he never complained and all she did was take or ask him to take her places. She was a sad, pathetic excuse for a girlfriend and certainly not good enough to be Kai's.

She'd have to make it up to him. After she convinced him that she was in no way interested in Mystel. And she wasn't. He was just a nice boy but he didn't make her all… well, excited the way Kai did. Kai got her all churned up inside, made her heart race and her stomach swoop and caused heat to pool in unfamiliar places and then there was the strange yearning she felt whenever he was around. There were times when all she wanted to do was brush a hand over his cheek or stroke a strand of hair away from those eyes. And she was perfectly content to look at those eyes too.

There was no other guy that even compared with Kai, she thought with a soft sigh as she picked up Joe from the bottom of her bed.

A square white envelope caught her attention. On the front, in the centre was her name printed in small, capital letters.

MISS AMBER BENSON (SENIOR)

PRESTON ACADEMY

PRESTON

With a frown, she lifted it. She vaguely recognized the script but she just couldn't place it. No one ever referred to her as Miss on her letters, it was always just Amber Benson and since there were no other Amber Benson's in Preston, there was also no need to put the 'senior' in brackets. Whoever this person was, they were used to writing formal letters and hadn't taken any time to write to her before. However, she thought again, it wasn't a very formal letter because it had her name, not her initials.

"Who the heck is sending me letters?" She grumbled; dropping down onto her bed and slitting the envelope open with her finger.

She pulled out the letter and unfolded it, noting with some interest that the letter was from her father. It had her father's law firm letter head and printed address which she would never in her life ever want because she knew where her father worked. She was seventeen after all, all important numbers and address had been drilled into her mind at the age of two so that she'd be able to call for help should she ever need it. Which was a good thing, since her mother could never remember their phone number after they had to change it when she was five, due to numerous prank calls.

The letter wasn't typed though, but scrawled in her father's usual messy script. However, she was dismayed to see that it was more illegible than it usually tended to be. Almost as though he'd been in a rash hurry to write the letter. And her father never really hurried things such as letters; he liked words, that was partially why he was a lawyer, because he understood how to use his words to his best advantage.

She scanned the letter quickly, her eyes scrolling from left to right in order to glean as much information as possible.

_Hey Sweetheart, _

_How is school? I heard from your mother that you're doing well. I hope you're studying hard? The college exams will be coming up soon; can't have you ignoring them in favor of playing hockey. _

Amber rolled her eyes. For a man who studied law and who knew how to put his words to good use, this letter was just amateurish. It was sloppy and forced; almost as though he was trying to be hip but there were a few subtle jabs. Such as the mention of her mother telling him that she was doing well in school. Then there was the comment about her concentrating more on playing hockey than on her studies, which was more than likely a dig at her spending time with Kai. Which was really making her want to get up and go see Kai and indulge in some hanky-panky. She could just imagine her fathers' reaction to the fact that just a couple of weeks ago, Kai and she had been on the verge of having sex.

Of course everything was different now.

She sighed heavily and gazed out at the window where the snow had turned to a heavy downpour, like heaven's tears. Turning her attention back to the letter, she tried to get to the gist of just why her father was writing to her. It wasn't something he generally did. They just weren't the small talk type. When she was on the phone to her mother, her mother did most of the talking and that usually inspired Amber to tell her mother tales about her classmates. She only told her father those sorts of stories when she could see his reaction because for the most part, their humor was pretty similar. They could watch the news at dinner and find the same statements funny and they usually liked the same type of films. She figured she probably got most of her personality from her dad, but her heart came from her mother. She knew it was fragile and could be hurt easily, which is why she tried to protect it as much as possible.

She skimmed the rest of the letter, making noises as she read her fathers lame attempts at making jokes -a sure sign he was nervous since they weren't at all funny- and his mentioning of Pricilla just served to irritate her.

And there, lost in the heap of mumbo-jumbo was a phrase that made her heart stop and her blood run cold.

* * *

Kai was already steaming by the time he headed up the stairs to the senior girls dormitory. He had just wasted a good afternoon running after his girlfriend and he was still no closer to finding out if she was cheating on him or not. But he certainly didn't like being summoned as though he was nothing but a servant placed here to do her bidding. Not after finding out that she was stealing away to see someone else, and a shark at that. A shark she had claimed she wasn't interested in, except that her exact words had been more to do with her not being interested while Kai was in the picture. If Kai wasn't there, then she had said she would have no problems dating Mystel.

And where had he been this past week? Avoiding her like the plague. No wonder she had turned to the perky blond. And who was that perky all the time, anyway? Obviously the boy had to be on drugs. He went to Clonmel, being depressed was a religion there.

And if she was going to replace him, she probably shouldn't have picked someone that Kai could beat senseless the first moment her back was turned. And he'd do it even if they weren't carrying on behind his back. That blond needed the shit kicked out of him for even talking to his girlfriend. Just because they were going through a bad patch didn't mean that twerp had to go and prey on her. And that's probably was just what he was planning. That cheerful act was just a front.

How did she know that he hadn't some sycophantic reason for asking her out? What if he was pumping her for information? Or what if she went to meet him and she didn't tell her friends and he hurt her? Or abducted her? Stranger things had happened and that was always on the news where a girl met a boy somewhere without telling anyone who she was meeting and where she was going. Then the next night her parents would be on the news making a plea for her safe return only for her to turn up dead in some alley way.

Didn't Amber understand how stupid she was being? Probably not because it was so typical that she would trust someone without them even giving her a reason to do so. And yet that was part of the reason he cared so much about her. She was willing to give people that chance, of course, should they destroy that chance it took a lot for them to regain it. I.e. Tala, but Kai knew he was a special case.

He blew out a breath and shoved his hands into the pockets of his jeans as he stalked towards her bedroom door, only for the one opposite hers to open and a familiar figure stepped out. She glanced up at his movement and her eyes widened in surprised before a small smile graced her lips in greeting.

"Hey Kai."

Kai bit back a gruff retort. He wasn't sure how to treat Mariam. He knew she was a good person and he had genuinely cared about her while they were together and yet, she had humiliated Amber. He settled for being civil. There was no point in being blatantly rude to her. She was only human after all and they all made mistakes.

"Hey." He replied. There was no warmth in the tone and no frigidity, he was simply greeting her the way he would anyone who passed him on the street and yet her face lit up in pleasure at being acknowledged.

"So how are you?" She wondered, turning so she could face him properly, a hand laying on her lip while the other tucked a strand of royal blue hair behind her ear. The green gem in her ear caught the light and twinkled merrily while the one at her throat gleamed dully, almost the same shade as her bright eyes. She really was stunning.

"Fine."

"That's good. Listen, did Mrs. Anton talk to you yet?"

He nodded firmly. The French teacher had approached him earlier that week to ask him to tutor Mariam but he hadn't given a definite answer.

"Look, I know you and I aren't on great terms after the Valentine thing, and I really am sorry about that. I just wasn't myself, blame it on my time of the month, if you like." She offered a half laugh at her stupidity. "But I really am struggling to pass French and I really need some help."

"Why not ask Emily or Salima?"

"Emily's not great with languages and she's hard to understand and Salima doesn't take French."

"Miyami does."

Mariam quirked a brow at that, the same smile on her lips. "You think Miyami would even bother speaking to me? I think it takes all of her will power to be civil to me when we meet in the corridor and not scratch my eyes out. Miyami's incredibly protective of her friends, most especially Amber. They are best friends after all."

Kai nodded. He knew that. Which was why Miyami had dogged his heels for the past week, threatening to cut off his balls and claiming he didn't need them since he was being such a coward. And yet he knew that if he and Amber did break up, -which they wouldn't because he was fully intending to make his minx of a girlfriend see what a shit Devine was- Miyami would still continue to be his friend because that was just the sort of girl she was. She was loyal right down to the bone.

"Well I suppose I can always ask her." Mariam murmured. "Thanks anyway, Kai."

"No problem."

"Oh and I'm sorry about you and Amber."

He froze, his hand raised to knock on his girlfriends door. "What do you mean?"

Mariam stared at him. "I thought you knew…" Then she shook her head. "Of course you don't; other wise you wouldn't be up here knocking on her door. Oh boy. I thought he would have told you, but I should have known better."

"What do you mean Mariam?"

"I told Bryan to tell you, I thought if it came from him there would be more chance of you believing it than if I told you. However, I should have known he'd be more loyal to her. Me and him only spent a small amount of time together, I guess it didn't really matter that much." She looked down at the ground before raising her gaze to meet Kai's burning mahogany eyes. "Look, I saw Amber out with a guy one day at the mall; I probably wouldn't have thought much of it except that I'm sure he's a shark. One of those guys at the open day but I could be wrong. Maybe he's a cousin of hers or something."

Before Kai could say anything, the door before him swung open and Amber stood in the doorway, her eyes blazing and her chest heaving with every breath she took. Her eyes focused on Mariam with supreme loathing and also… betrayal? He frowned but she opened her mouth before he could think of anything to say.

"Why don't you cut out that vile tongue of your Mariam before I do it for you?"

"Amber?" Mariam questioned in surprise.

"Amber!" Kai snapped, grabbing his girlfriends arm with the intention of shoving her back into her dorm.

"Fuck off!" Amber hissed venomously. "You know nothing Mariam and this whole sweet routine you've got going is bogus and everyone can see through it to just how desperate you are. You're pathetic, so piss off and stay out of my business!"

"Amber." Kai bit out, roughly grabbing her and tossing her into her room. He glanced back at the stunned girl behind him. "She didn't mean it."

"Yes I did. I'm fed up of her interfering and sticking her plastic nose into everyone's business."

"You shut up!" Kai shouted back. "I'll talk to you later." He added to a shocked Mariam before he shut the door and rounded on his seething girlfriend. "What the fuck-"

"Oh, shut up. You have no right to speak to me or for me."

Kai stilled, there was something very cold in her eyes that made his stomach sink. "What do you mean?"

"What do I mean?" she mocked bitterly before tossing herself onto her bed. "You know what I'm talking about. Did you have a nice drive today? See anything interesting?"

His face closed down, going carefully blank as he tried to figure out what exactly was fuelling her temper. Slowly, he sat down on the bed and waited for this spew to end. He knew her, he knew that her passions came hot and fast before cooling, unless… He shook his head, now wasn't the time to be thinking about making out with her. But her temper tantrums usually passed the same way as tornados did, fast and tempestuously, leaving nothing but devastation behind.

"Oh gee, Kai, cat got your tongue? Well that's no change, is it?"

He directed his gaze towards the carpet that could be seen amongst the electrical chords, CD's, books, shoes, cosmetic bottles, bags and DVD's. No one could say that this room wasn't lived in. Everything was just cluttered. The study desks had everything but school books on them, clothes hung out of the chest of drawers and the closet doors lay open. It was a strange place to have a fight, he supposed but then again, where was the best place to have a fight. Besides the rain pounding at the closed windows seemed apt enough.

"You had no right to speak to Mariam like that."

"Why not? Ever since you came on the scene, she's been nothing but a bitch. She can't accept you're with me…" she snorted then and her eyes went blank. "Not that anyone would realize that from your treatment of me this past week. What is it, Kai? You bored now? Don't you want a psychotic girlfriend anymore?"

He averted his gaze and curbed the urge to sigh heavily. She was being melodramatic and when she was like this, he honestly could learn to dislike her. "You're not psychotic, you're neurotic. There's a tiny difference."

"Oh you made a funny, hold on while I die with-"

"Stop it!" he snapped getting to his feet. "Stop striking out at me. You're the one who was going behind my back, sneaking out to see that Shark."

"His name is Mystel and he's a friend. I doubt you would like me to bring him to the school to hang out."

"Don't you realize how stupid you're being?"

"I'm not cheating on you if that's what you think!"

He bit his tongue and sucked in a breath, raking a hand through his hair. "You don't know anything about him; you go out to meet him without any of us knowing where you are or who you're with. Don't you realize anything could happen to you? And we wouldn't know because you won't tell us."

"I- I-" She broke off, unsure what exactly to say because he wasn't accusing her of cheating on him, he was raising a genuine concern that she knew her friends would say and that pissed her off further. "I'm a big girl Kai and I don't have to answer to you."

"I never said you had to tell me, you could tell Tala or Bryan. Or maybe Bryan knows."

Her eyes blazed at that. "I never told Bryan either so don't even go down that road and that bitch saying that Bryan would even listen to her poisonous twisted lies over me is fucked up. Bryan trusts me; he cares about me, which is more than I can say for you."

His face closed down, his eyes going cold as though a thin film had coated them, turning the blistering mahogany to dull brown. The fact that she would dare question his feelings for her, to actually push him into telling her things he wasn't ready to acknowledge infuriated him. His thoughts and actions were his own; she should know how he felt. He showed her every time they were together but the one time he wants some time to himself, she goes to another. How typically female. How goddamn demanding.

"I can't talk to you when you're like this."

"You've never seen me like this but if you can't accept it, then piss off because this is me. If you wanted a simpering girlfriend then you chose the wrong girl, so go run back to Mariam." She turned away from him and stalked to her bed, grabbing her green hooded coat off the bed and pulling it on with jerky, stiff movements.

He raked a hand through his short spiky hair and sighed. "What's really wrong?"

"It's nothing." she bit out, over her shoulder to him. "At least, nothing to do with you."

Something was hurting her; it was in the way she snarled at him, in her glares, her wounded pride and most especially lurking behind the temper in her eyes. Something soft and vulnerable. And despite how furious he was with her, with her complete and utter immaturity, the lurking fear appealed to him. It made him want to soothe, a feeling he wasn't accustomed to.

"Just go away, Kai." She snapped.

"Why're you being so bitchy?"

"Because I am one." She snarled, almost spitting out the words as though they were foul on her tongue.

"No you're not." He replied quietly.

"Why do you care anyway? Just go Kai; just ignore me like you've been doing for the past week. I don't need you, I don't need anyone. So fuck off." With that, she shoved past him and yanked open the door startling an obviously uncomfortable Spencer.

He coughed awkwardly when confronted by a furious Amber; her hand placed on her hip that was cocked slightly. "Uh, Coach wants to see you in his office."

Amber nodded. "Right." Without any words, no witty comment or a cheery remark, she strode out of the door and stormed down the hallway leaving Kai and Spencer standing uneasily in her room and doorway.

"What's wrong with her?"

Kai jerked a shoulder, dark bangs falling into his eyes. "She's pissed off and taking it out on me."

Spencer frowned darkly. He knew Amber for many years, he knew it took a lot to get her into that sort of shape and it was never from temper but from heartbreak. She had been like that when Tala had left and come back or when she was fighting with a family member but never because she was angry. When she was angry she ranted and it was usually kind of humorous. Then again, she was fighting with Kai so maybe that was what was hurting her.

"You ever think you might deserve it?"

Kai raised a brow, his expression remaining carefully blank, giving no clue as to how he was feeling. "Not really."

"You've been ignoring her all week. Everyone's noticed."

"I had my reasons."

"Maybe you should let her in on them." Spencer replied dully before turning and walking down the corridor, vaguely aware of how some of the younger girls carefully moved out of his way as though they were afraid he would squash them.

Kai watched him go then snorted. Spencer didn't understand. He wasn't involved with a neurotic girl who had more mood swings than anything else. But still, something was off with her reaction to him.

His eyes fell on a letter lying on the bed; it had been covered by her coat while they had been fighting. Curiously, he lifted it up and pulled out the letter. Sure he was invading her privacy but she climbed into his bed, he figured it was a fair trade. He unfolded it and scanned the contents. It was from James and seemed like any random letter, just a little jumpy as though James had been nervous when he wrote it and the writing was sloppy and it had a certain formality to it, as though it were between two strangers, not father and daughter. Maybe this was the reason Amber had been upset.

Then the words leapt out at him.

_I want you to be the first to know. _

_Pricilla's pregnant. _

Kai froze and cursed. Folding up the letter and shoving it back into the envelope, he headed out of the room, forgetting to shut the door behind him in his haste to get down to his father's office.

* * *

During the trip to the Sports centre, Amber's thoughts were filled with images from her show down with Kai. How could he be so goddamn calm all of the time. Apart from the time he'd yelled at her to stop picking on Kai, he'd barely showed her any reaction. She could have told him that she never wanted to see him again and he probably wouldn't have even quirked a brow. It infuriated her. Who wanted to fight with someone who wouldn't fight back?

It just showed that he didn't care about her. He'd moved on and she should too, she decided. She hadn't expected their relationship to last forever, they were teenagers; they were hardly going to grow old together and yet…

She sighed and tossed her head to get her hair out of her face. Her hands were shoved into the shallow pockets of her coat and she wasn't willing to take them out because her hands were shaking violently.

Scowling, she scuffed her foot against the ground. Kai was a bastard! A mean fucking bastard. Why didn't he just say he wanted to break up? Then she wouldn't be stuck in this stupid limbo and she could just start hating him for breaking her heart. Sure she wasn't in LOVE with him but she did care an awful lot about him and so he was in a ways, breaking her heart.

She sniffed miserably as the lump in her throat formed, but she swallowed it thickly. She wasn't going to cry over him, if he thought he could get some entertainment out of her tears he could think again. She wouldn't cry. He was probably just with her because he thought he wanted her but then when he realized that she really wasn't that special, he decided to go back to Mariam. After all, Mariam was experienced and stunning and everything Amber wasn't.

Maybe her relationship with Kai was a cruel joke. What was to say that he wasn't just proving a point that she was just like every other girl, vulnerable to the opposite sex when they flashed a smile and told her that they wanted her.

_EARTH TO AMBER!_

She stopped mid-step and took a breath. There she went again, Kai hadn't even broken up with her and she was already in self pity mode criticizing herself. Fine, if Kai didn't want her, big deal. Mystel liked her. Her friends liked her, her mother loved her and she had a sport she loved.

What was the big deal if one guy wasn't attracted to her anymore? She was good at pretending people didn't exist. It worked fine with Mariam; it could work just as well if not better with Kai. She didn't need him. She had her solid base, her family and friends. They were all she needed. As long as she had them, she could go on with her life. She wouldn't shrivel up and die.

She gave a decisive nod and shoved her hands into her pockets. The Sports centre towered over her as she tilted her head back to observe the grey cotton candy wisps of cloud floating over the thicker silvery blanket. Large flakes of snow were slowly fluttering down again from the heavens to land on her eye lashes and the tip of her nose, melting as they came into contact with her warm skin. She looked around at the wet lawn and at the clumps of snow that slid off the rooftops to drift to the ground like mini avalanches. The naked limbs of the trees stretched towards the sky, a stark contrast against the light sky but soon they would be lush and filled with green life and birds would be building their nests within them.

Life went on all around her, so why did it have to stop for her because Kai didn't want her anymore. She could probably be his friend, sometime. She didn't have to completely break ties with him; he was the captain of her team after all and she'd have to deal with him. And yet the thought made her stomach churn nauseatingly.

A low gurgle followed by a gnawing ache had her clutching her stomach for a long moment before it slowly cleared enough for her to enter the sports stadium.

Pushing open the PVC door, she stepped into the air conditioned hall out of the frigid wind and rain. The carpet, a dark one speckled with red, muffled her footsteps while the white washed stone walls reflected the light. The doors were a bright, vivid yellow and at the end of the hall, was a wall of windows that let the white light spear into the hall.

She moved to Nicolai's office and knocked formally on the door, not comfortable with walking in after having just fought with his son. She felt guilty almost, as though he would be able to tell that she and Kai had fought.

"Come in."

Opening the door cautiously, she peeked in and looked for him. She found him standing by his filing cabinet, his back to her. He glanced over as she stepped in and smiled, his eyes warming.

"Amber, come in, sit down. Would you like something to drink?" He motioned to the coffee pot and the small fridge by the corner. "I have some day old coffee, water, soda; take your pick."

She managed a weak smile as she eased herself into the armchair in front of his desk. "No thanks."

He nodded and refilled his mug before settling into his seat, steepling his fingers before him. "So how're you?"

She jerked a shoulder and refused to meet his gaze, instead focusing on a picture of himself, Jean and Kai on a cliff over looking a sparkling blue ocean. Kai looked to have been about ten, moody eyes hidden behind sunglasses and his arms folded, obviously not pleased about posing for a picture with his parents. It probably was pretty uncool for him. She thought it was cute. Then she averted her gaze to the window.

"Amber?" He probed; eyes gentle.

"I'm fine."

"And how're your classes? What with the exams coming up, you must be finding it tough going."

"I'm ok. I'm learning all the time." She muttered trying to be bright but she just couldn't muster up the energy to pretend to care.

"And your social life? You're having one, spending time with your friends?"

"Yeah, I guess."

"That's good to know. Sometimes students get so caught up in doing well with their exams that they forget to just take time off to ease the stress."

"Well, no worries there."

"No tension headaches? No stomach problems?"

Amber's eyes narrowed. "I'm fine." She repeated steadily, willing him to drop the subject. Did he know about her father? Did he know that she was going to be a 'big sister' to some bastard? Was that why he was probing her about how she was? "What's this about?"

"So you have nothing to tell me?"

"No. Why, should I?"

Nicolai sighed heavily, as though he were disappointed in her. "I had hoped you would." He murmured, before pulling open a drawer and tossing a small clear zip bag onto the table. It slid then settled between them, gleaming in the wane light. Inside was a white box, one flap open with bold blue script informing the readers of its name.

Amber swallowed thickly, her heart suddenly fluttering in her chest and her pulse was leaping in her throat.

"What are these?" Nicolai demanded in a flat voice; his eyes suddenly serious, no longer showing any warmth and the casual manner was gone.

"They look like medicine."

"Indeed they do and they are. Yours, to be precise, prescribed to you by your doctor for a possible stomach ulcer. Do you want to tell me what's going on?"

"I might not have one. I've just been having stomach aches; that's all. I went to the doc," she shuddered on the word, "and he's going to do some tests."

"The tests came back negative but the fact that you had to go at all says something."

"What? I don't have a stomach ulcer, that's a good thing."

"It says you haven't been taking care of yourself. I have had reports that you don't eat breakfast, you skip meals, you nibble on snacks, you complain of stomach pains and headaches and you exhaust yourself with taking on too much."

"I'm fine!"

"You were anorexic!" Nicolai accused and her eyes widened.

"Did Kai tell you that?" She demanded furiously. How dare he? How dare he tell Nicolai something that had nothing to do with him! She was fine. For gods' sake, she wasn't anorexic. God, that was just a fashionable illness. If someone is thin, they're anorexic. It was just a way for fat people to insult thin ones and get away with it. You call someone obese and they take offense, she scowled heatedly.

"He knew?" Nicolai wondered then cursed himself. Of course Kai would know, he was dating the girl and he had integrated himself in her life so much that he would know pretty much everything about her. "You aren't looking after yourself and you're going to hurt yourself if you continue this."

Amber gaped at him. "What are you trying to say?"

"I think it would be best if you gave up hockey for a while." At the look of sheer horror on her face, he quickly added. "Just until you get back on your feet. You're ill Amber, and this could become serious."

She couldn't hear what he was saying. There was a strange buzzing in her ears and she couldn't gasp in enough air. What was he saying? Was he dropping her from the team? Until, she got on her feet again, he said. However, the thing was, she didn't think she'd ever get back on her feet. She was fine, she was healthy and she could keep up with the others. How could she get any better?

"You're dropping me?" she whispered brokenly.

"No, just suspending you for a while until your fit again."

"But what if I'm never fit enough to live up to your expectations? This is who I am, I'm playing my best game ever and you're getting rid of me? Who'll replace me?"

Nicolai looked awkward at that, before calming himself with a breath. He was a coach first and a godfather after. "Russia's a good player and she's at a loose end. I've talked to her and she-"

"You've what? You told her you've given her my place, before even talking to me?"

"She understands that you're ill and you need to get better Amber before you end up in hospital being fed through a tube. How would your mother react if you collapse some day from malnutrition?"

She scowled at him, her eyes becoming dark and cold and her face tightened in an attempt to rein in the emotion. "I'm fine."

"You're not and you're going to take some time off from the team. It won't be for long and with the right diet, you'll be back on your feet in no time. You're problem is that you have too much on and you can't cut back on your school work, so I'm cutting your team time down."

"But why? Everyone else can cope, so can I!"

"But you can't!" Nicolai snapped. He didn't like tantrums and he didn't like whining especially when he was right and she knew it. "You're making yourself ill in an effort to do everything. Your school work is suffering too. In a few weeks you would have been dropped due to your Math grade. Hasn't Tala been tutoring you or will I have to assign someone else to you?"

"Leave me alone." Amber choked out, desperately wanting to curl into herself. He was dropping her from the team and with only a few games left. She wouldn't even be able to play in the final; didn't he know how much this meant to her? She wanted to beat the Sharks; she wanted to play in a final with Tala at her side. She wanted to play against the Rejects and show them just how good they were and he was stopping her. It wasn't fair. These next few months would be her last in Preston and he was denying her the chance to play with her friends. It just wasn't fair. Didn't he understand how important this was to her?

Of course he didn't. No one ever understood how important it was for her to be with her team. She couldn't hang out with them if she wasn't playing, it wouldn't be the same. Why was everything going to hell now?

Why was everyone letting her down? Her father let her down, her friends let her down, and her boyfriend let her down; even her godfather let her down because they always hurt her. Why wasn't she ever enough? Why did everyone always want more? Why were they never satisfied? Why did they always have to change? Why did they always want to replace her?

"It'll only be for a few weeks Amber, and then you can come back and practice with the team again. But you have to concentrate on getting better. You're much more important than a scorer. Your health and studies must come first." Nicolai spoke softly, sympathizing with the crestfallen girl.

"Like hell." She seethed, pushing to her feet. "You're all the same. When I become too much hassle, you all get rid of me and replace me with someone else. Well fuck it."

The door opened behind them and Nicolai looked up to see Kai stepping in, sweeping the room with a worried gaze. His eyes landed on Amber prone form and his mouth curved downwards while his eyes narrowed.

"Ember?"

Her head snapped to him and her mouth curled in a sneer. "Oh look who showed up."

"Amber, it's only for a short time."

"No it's forever-" She snapped back.

"You're-"

"Because, I quit. I don't wanna belong to a team that doesn't stand by me, so shove your offer of a suspension until I get better-"

"Ember!"

She whirled on her outraged boyfriend, ignoring the look of utter confusion in his eyes as she growled at him. "And you might as well stop calling me that, because I quit you too."

He froze; his hand, which he had been lifting to touch her shoulder, dropped limply to his side. "What do you mean?"

"We're over. I don't ever want to be near you again." She snapped before she kicked the chair out of her way and strode out the door leaving behind a shocked Nicolai and a broken Kai.

* * *

**Well there you go. Check out my blog for review replies and the reason this took so long on my bebo page, the link is in my bio. **


	25. Anxiety Problems

* * *

Chapter Twenty Four: Anxiety Problems

Amber stepped off the bus into the Bakuten station, heaving a bag over her shoulder and offering a brief smile to the driver. The weather was calming down, no longer raining or snowing but water dripped in big fat drops from the roof edges as she stepped out of the bus station and looked around the town she grew up in. People were strolling along the pavement, enjoying the brief glimmer of the sunshine as it tried to push its way through the thick velvet clouds. She recognized a few people but she pulled her hood over her head in an effort to cover her face. No one would be expecting her home so if anyone did glimpse her, they would think they had mistaken someone else for her.

Clutching her coat tighter, she stepped out onto the main road. Sparks of water spattered from her feet as she walked along the wet surface; listening to the soft rush as cars rolled past her. She stepped onto the pavement and strode through the square where the a gazebo was glistening in the weak sunshine, abandoned due to the foul weather though usually some sort of musical band played each weekend. A small food cart had been rolled into the picnic area where a vendor tried to sell his food to the hungry strollers but she passed by him, briskly striding towards the edge of the park.

A few figures caught her attention as walked out of the square. Two were easily recognizable as Foxy and King, both boys were soaked through and carrying surf boards close to their sides. The other she vaguely recognized; probably someone she went to school with but never really saw. The waves would be good today, she decided, casting a curious glance down between two buildings where she could see the roiling grey ocean that was echoing the tumultuous clouds above it. Rushes shivered in the breeze that was kicking up, sprinkling her tongue with salt.

God, she missed home, so much. She hated being away so much. She loved the way everything was so cozy and comfortable. It was nice to walk into a shop and have people know you and say hello in a friendly manner.

A lump gathered in her throat and she swallowed it, fighting against the hitching breath that was clogging against her throat. She was trying so desperately not to break down but the tears were threatening to flood her if she wasn't careful. Which was why she had been carefully keeping her mind blank ever since she had strode out of Mr. Hiwatari's office just over an hour ago.

She hadn't even said goodbye to her friends, it didn't matter anyway. She was an adult and she was only going home. She'd head back tomorrow but right now, she couldn't be at that school. So she had gathered a few essentials, her pj's and Joe; threw them into her sports bag -not that she'd need it anymore- and had grabbed the bus to Bakuten.

Idly a part of her wondered how Kai…

"Goddamn it!" she snapped to herself. Did she honestly have to be so feminine?

Shutting down her mind, she pulled out her CD player from her bag and plugging the earphones into her ears, she blasted the music loud enough to block out her thoughts.

She moved down a stairway to where the sea met the bank. A small pathway was built for pedestrians to get around the strand quickly; a railing was lined along the wall in order to keep people from falling in. Despite the fact that the rolling waves splashed their spray on her, she preferred to walk along this path. It was tranquil and on days like today, not many people liked to walk along it for fear of being washed out to sea or getting wet.

It didn't take her long to follow the path, occasionally her gaze would turn out onto the ocean to pick out the figures that were bobbing on the waves while she noted the dogs on the beach and the old couples strolling along the dunes. It was a sweet scene, something that would be seen on a postcard but seeing the couples pierced Amber's heart. She had once been part of a couple.

She winced. She had to stop thinking about this. She just wanted to go home. It was getting hard to breathe. Why was she dropped from the team? She wasn't sick. It was just a protective measure in case she came down with a stomach ulcer. She didn't have one. The doctor said she didn't have one and yet Nicolai had dropped her and replaced her with his niece. Well screw him. Screw his team.

She had better things to do with her time. She had loads of things that she had to put off because of practice and because she had a boyfriend. Now she'd be free to pursue them.

She turned up a steep stone stairway. The wind whipped at her hair and she blew a strand out of her mouth. Why had Nicolai dropped her? She wasn't missing practices. She was playing just as well as she always did. There was nothing to show him that she wasn't living up to his expectations. It would be different if her playing was suffering but it wasn't. There was nothing wrong so why had Nicolai suspended her? Why hadn't he just coached her if he didn't think she was doing as well as she could be? Wasn't that what he was paid to do?

A strange sensation buzzed through her thigh and she jolted before reaching down and plucking her phone from her pocket. A glance at the caller ID told her who the caller was.

"Yeah?"

"Where are you? I just came up to the dorm, and Joe's gone."

Amber blew out a breath and shifted so that she was resting on the metal rail that lined the stair well. "I've gone home. I needed some time alone."

"Well that's pretty pointless, Ams. You're going to have to come back tomorrow anyways. Why did you go home?" Miyami demanded.

"Just, it doesn't matter-"

"Well it does if you've gone home. Does Kai know?"

"No!" Amber snapped.

"Oh, did you two fight? Look, all couples fight, it's no big deal. I know it seems like it's the end of the world but once you get your first big fight out of the way, things become easier. Don't just quit at the first hurdle Ams. If I did that, Johnny and I wouldn't even be together." Miyami waited a breath for Amber's reply but it didn't come. She sighed heavily. "Look, Amber come back to school. Sort things out. You know the saying; don't go to bed on an argument."

Amber sniffled miserably. Miyami made it sound all so easy. She just went home, told Kai she was sorry and everything worked out but it didn't. Miyami didn't know how it felt to be replaced. Miyami wasn't second best to anyone. Miyami may have been the youngest but sometimes it seemed as though she was the centre of the world. She had a charm that endeared her to people. People wanted to know her, to be around her. Amber just wasn't like that. She was just the person who tried to lighten the atmosphere with sarcastic quips so that no one felt bad or scared. She was a good hockey player but she wasn't the star.

She just existed; there was no real reasoning for it. She wasn't going to do anything amazing with her life. She was just going to live and watch everyone else make a life for themselves. Miyami would become a famous designer or actress or model. Shahero could become an Olympic karate champion (if there was one). Sonia would no doubt become a track star. Kai and Tala would rock the hockey scene with no trouble. Arista wanted to design computer games which Amber had no doubt she could do. Aspin and Kane would no doubt grow old together and with her looks, she could become a model or with her smarts she could just about do anything. Russia had this amazing voice, if she was heard by a talent scout she'd be on tour in a heartbeat. And Ruin, she just didn't really care. It didn't matter what she did in her life because she had the money to do whatever she wanted.

"I just need some time alone, Mimi."

"Why? Do you think you're the only one who's ever fought with their boyfriend?"

"Miyami, you don't understand." Amber snapped, running a hand through her hair. "It's not just Kai, alright. There's other stuff."

"Like?"

"Look, Mimi, I have to go. I'll call you later, ok?" She didn't bother to wait for a reply, she simply hung up and, putting her phone away, she dragged her feet up the stairs.

It wasn't just Kai. It was everything. She was about to finish school and what was she supposed to do after? She didn't have a life plan the way Sonia did and she didn't really know what sort of work she'd be suited for. Going to college, well she was just going because everyone else was. But what college would be best for her? She had good enough grades so she could just about get in anywhere and maybe that was a problem too. Too much diversity, so many choices but what would be the best? She didn't have a talent with art like Miyami or Ruin so she wouldn't be going to a college that catered for art. She didn't have smarts like Sonia and Ozuma so she couldn't go to a really good college. She wasn't going to be scouted for a hockey team and she didn't want to work with computers so what did that leave her? Her friends knew what they wanted from being a sales advertiser to being a teacher and that was great for them. But the end of school was fast approaching and she was going to be cut loose.

Everyone else had their lives to live and she was just baggage. Her mother would soon have a new baby to take care off and Amber would be forced to look after herself. Shahero had Hitoshi and she wouldn't want Amber being a third wheel. And now her father had his own family to look after too. He would have a baby and be a good father to it and he would forget he even had a daughter. People would be moving on and she would be left behind. As per usual.

Everything was just falling apart. She had broken up with Kai and why? Because he was seeing Mariam behind her back? Of course not. She'd broken up with him because she had been in a bad mood and like always, she had lashed out at the nearest person. It was always smarter to lash out at someone who wasn't a teacher.

"Oh shit." She moaned pitifully.

Why did she open her goddamn mouth? Why did she never think first and act later? Now she had broken up with the one guy she really cared about in a purely physical way. He wouldn't want her back; that was for sure. Who would want a girlfriend who broke up with you whenever something bad happened to her? She certainly wouldn't want a boyfriend like that. Though fair enough, Kai had been a pretty shitty boyfriend for the past week but he was allowed to have a bad week. She had one every month and he put up with it.

Why hadn't he chased after her? They always did it in the movies and yet, she probably would have slapped him for doing it. Kai wasn't one to chase after anything anyways. He had his own way of dealing with things. He wasn't her. She always had to remind herself that not everyone acted and reacted the way she did. Kai didn't have tantrums and he didn't lose his temper.

God, if only she had read that letter when she wasn't in such an anxious mood. It only heightened her emotions. If Kai had just stayed away for an hour or so, she could have totally calmed down and had a few rational thoughts. Or she could have phoned her mum and talked to her but no, Kai came up at the worst possible moment and had to stop and talk to Mariam! Mariam of all people! Didn't he get that she didn't like that bitch. Ever since Valentines Day she had started bringing extra pairs of underwear to the locker room with her. Well she supposed she wouldn't have to worry about that anymore either.

It was almost as though the whole world had been stacked against her, pushing her to break up with Kai. Maybe-

She plucked her vibrating phone from her pocket as she crossed the main road at the top of the steps and began to shuffle along the cracked pavement. "What?"

"Miyami says you left." Ruin told her in as little words possible.

Well, duh! "Well if I'm not at the school, then she's obviously right." Amber rolled her eyes and walked up the small paved path between the Cartwright home and the Burtons.

"Where the hell are you, Runt?"

"Look, I just went home, alright. I needed to get away from that school. Now please, just leave me alone. I'll see you tomorrow."

"What happened? You sound like crap."

"Nothing happened; I just want to be-"

"BULLSHIT!"

Amber raised a brow and rubbed her ears. "Goodbye Ruin."

She hung up and then switched off her phone. She didn't care if they were worried about her. She was a big girl and she wanted some time alone. If they had questions then they could go annoy Kai for the answers because he'd at least be able to explain why his father dropped her from the team and maybe he could come up with a reason as to why he had been avoiding her.

He wasn't cheating on her with Mariam. She knew that much. Kai wasn't like that and she never really got any vibes from him. He had just been avoiding her for his own reasons. Besides Tala said they weren't. She trusted Tala. He would know what Kai was up to. If Kai was doing anything that would hurt her, Tala would kill him, just like he tried to do at her house at Christmas. There were certain things that could be hidden from a boyfriend/girlfriend but there was nothing that could be hidden from a best friend.

Kai was probably just trying to sort things out in his head but she felt horrible for just lashing out at him.

Shoving her hands into her pockets began the walk up the hill towards her house. It loomed over them at the top of the hill, stuck between the Kinomiya's and the… Oh, the Hiwatari's. She kept forgetting that little aspect. Of course when she thought of Jean, she knew that she had moved next door but it was hard to think of them being her neighbors when she was constantly at school. To her, Kai lived in the dorm with Tala and Bryan. Well this was awkward. She'd come home to get away from the Hiwatari's. Why hadn't she been thinking straight?

"Hello Miss Amber?"

She sniffled and looked across the street to see a young man in his late twenties shuffling down the street with his shoulders hunched. He raised his hand in greeting and she waved back, a smile curving her lips involuntarily.

"Hey Albert."

The man blushed before shuffling down the path into his house. She watched him go then continued up the hill. It didn't take her long to reach her house but still, when she finally walked up her drive, the back of her legs screamed with each movement. For some reason she always seemed to strain her leg muscles when walking up that slope, it was too steep. She had to learn how to drive, that way her legs wouldn't suffer so much.

She slowly made her way around the back of the house to the backdoor, her eyes shifting warily to the house next door but it didn't look as though anyone was around. Fishing out her keys, she slipped the house key into the lock and bumped the door open with her hip. The door shuddered open and the wind chimes situated above it tinkled merrily.

Everything inside the house was quiet. The clock ticked, the fridge buzzed mutely but other than that, there seemed to be no life in the house. A door upstairs banged and she jumped. Her eyes turning to the stairwell nestled between the walls.

"Hello? Mom, is that you?"

The stairs creaked and feet began to appear as a figure slowly descended. Suddenly her mother dipped and her head appeared beneath the ceiling to stare at her daughter. "Amber? What are you doing here?"

She shrugged awkwardly. "Well, um, I just wanted to come home."

Treasa frowned, her mother's instinct kicking in and telling her that something wasn't right with her little girl. She waddled down the stairs, minding the kicking of the baby against the wall of her swollen stomach. It was almost as though the baby was picking up on the distress of his/her older sister as he/she began to move restlessly within the womb.

"Amber, what's wrong?" She asked softly as her daughter dropped her duffle bag

"Mom." Was all the young girl moaned before she stepped into her mother's embrace and clung for dear life.

* * *

"Ok… that's fine. Thanks… Goodbye." Nicolai put down the phone and turned to his son who sat lounged out on the armchair before him, eyes unfocused and expression carefully blank.

"That was Treasa; she says Amber's just shown up."

Life snapped back into Kai's features as his gaze locked upon his father's and his brows narrowed. "How is she?"

"Treasa wouldn't say. All she told me was that Amber will be staying there tonight."

Kai digested that with a slow nod. It wouldn't take him but an hour to drive back home… He shook away the rogue thought. Amber obviously wanted some time alone, so he'd give her that. Besides, he wasn't going to run after her like some lovesick pup. Amber had to learn that her actions had consequences. That she couldn't just lash out at him and expect him to always be there to put right her mistakes. She'd hurt him with her cruel and careless words.

"Do you know why she reacted so violently?" Nicolai finally asked; placing the folder he had been studying before Treasa had phoned and Kai had arrived, into a drawer.

"You dropped her from the team." Kai growled, eyes flashing.

"I didn't drop her. I merely suspended her."

"Yeah and replaced her before you even told her."

Nicolai rolled his eyes at his sons' accusations. Despite Amber dumping him, it seemed obvious that Kai was going to continue to stand up for her. "I did not replace her. Amber is very important to the team. She can't be replaced. Russia understands this is only on a temporary basis and if it were to have been more, she would have rejected the idea."

"Why are you suspending her?" Kai demanded.

Nicolai shifted in his seat and leaned over the table. "You don't know? But you gave me the medicine."

"Yeah but what's it for?" The younger man asked, his tone laced with weariness as he raked a hand through his short spiky hair and turned his gaze towards the grumbling clouds out the window.

"It's to neutralize stomach acid. Amber contacted her doctor with stomach pains. He ran a few tests and discovered that due to her eating habits or lack of, she had a high content of hydrochloric acid in the stomach. He gave her the pills to take care of that problem while he did tests to make sure that she wasn't developing a stomach ulcer. Which she's not."

Far from being relieved, Kai was more confused. "Isn't there such thing as a Hippocratic oath? You know doctor-patient confidentiality?"

Nicolai nodded. "Yes and most of the time I would observe that but this is serious. This affects the health of my student and more so, she's refusing to take care of herself and, as her coach that is part of my obligation."

"So you bullied the doctor into telling you what was wrong with her?"

"I had a right to know, she's my goddaughter." Nicolai pointed out reasonably. He didn't like being accused of bulling. He hadn't bullied the man, just persuaded him. "Besides, she was ordered to take time off from the team. She didn't tell me that and in doing so, she put herself at risk."

"So, she's got high stomach acid. What does that mean? Will it hurt her?"

Nicolai drew in a breath. "She'll be fine Kai if she eats right and often. You've said yourself that she has gone days where she's only had one main meal a day and survived on snacks here and there. That's not good for her and her body is giving her a wake up call. If she continues like she is, she'll end up in the hospital being fed through a tube. That's why I wanted her to take a break." He added.

"If she takes a break, how will that help? She lives for the team."

"And she puts off food for the team. She gets so wrapped up in practices and games that she'll forget to eat."

"Still doesn't explain why she dumped me." He growled bitterly.

Nicolai waved it off. "She needed someone to lash out at. She was hurt so she decided to hurt you too. It's a natural human reaction." He got to his feet and moved to the coffee pot. "Do you want some?"

Kai shook his head. "No thanks. So she's recuperating at home?"

"Probably licking her wounds as we speak. She'll be back tomorrow. You can talk to her then, when she's calmed down… If you want to, that is. You haven't really said how you feel about her breaking up with you."

Kai shrugged. "I don't feel much. Like you said, she'll have calmed down by tomorrow. I'll let her come to me then."

"You don't think she was being serious?"

His son paused and massaged his forehead. "About quitting, yeah, she's too hardheaded to come crawling back to you and you won't take her back until she's back on her feet. But, about breaking up?" He shook his head. "No I don't think she meant that."

"You seem awfully sure about that." Nicolai noted, sipping his coffee and studying his son.

"I'm not sure, it's just a feeling. She was just, as you said, lashing out. Once she's cooled off, she'll come back and try to justify her actions."

"And will you take her back?"

Kai smirked, lazily leaning back in his chair and crossing his feet at his ankles. He eyes were mirthful underneath the dark lashes. An image flashed into his mind of the last time she had apologized for hurting him, the night after they had arrived back from Clonmel. She had been very apologetic that night. He'd have to make sure that when she apologized this time, that they didn't spend too much time alone. He had no plans of taking her virginity after a particularly large fight. There was a time and a place for everything. "What do you think?"

Nicolai chuckled softly. "I think you will."

Kai nodded. "Yeah probably. She may be a pain in the ass but what happened today wasn't her fault. I'm as much to blame as well as the third party." Besides, she was very persuasive. However there would be things that would need to be talked through. But they'd get through it.

"Third party? You?" Nicolai queried, setting his mug down.

Outside the heavens had reopened and students were running helter-skelter towards the shelter of the school. The window panes took the brunt of the beating from the large fat drops that the wind blew at the building. The lighting dimmed causing the fluorescent light on the ceiling to brighten the room further and made the small office seem cozier and more private. The sheet of rain that was falling was obscuring the outside world so that it was harder to see the main building.

"James wrote her a letter. Priscilla's pregnant."

Nicolai closed his eyes and absorbed the jolt of shock. He didn't know whether to be happy for his sister and old friend, worried for his friend for what he was getting himself into or upset for Amber. Obviously she hadn't taken the news well. And to hear it by letter without being afforded the chance to respond to her father's news, well that wouldn't have gone down well either. Not with a young girl who liked to have a say in things.

"How did she take that?"

"Well, I don't know for sure. But I do know that shortly after, she came out of her dorm and shouted at Mariam-"

"Why?" Nicolai wasn't sure he wanted to know why but he wanted a clear view of things for when Jean phoned as she naturally would to find out what her men had done to her goddaughter.

"Mariam was asking me for tutoring in French." At his father's direct look, Kai flinched. "Not that kind of French, I hope. But then she implied that Amber was cheating on me. Amber didn't take that too well and threatened to rip Mariam's "poisonous tongue" from her mouth."

Nicolai cringed at the vision that inflicted on his brain; then his mind flickered to something Kai had said. "Cheating on you? With whom, may I ask?"

Kai blew out a breath and raked a hand through his hair. "Mystel Devine."

"The Shark?"

"Yeah." He confirmed grimly, not liking where this was going to inevitably lead.

"How did she meet him?" Nicolai wondered. Amber had never encountered the new scorer for the Shark team. The only time the boy had been at their school had been for the Open Day and Amber hadn't spoken to him. Even if she had, Nicolai doubted that she would see much of him to make people think she was cheating on Kai. If Mariam was going to insinuate someone, wouldn't a student or an old friend have made for a more believable anecdote?

There it was, Kai thought with a grimace. His father had a tendency to latch onto the most acute of phrases. It was annoying because it meant that no matter what Kai lied about or how well he did lie; the truth would always come out eventually. His father should have been in the police force. See some prick try to pull the wool over his fathers' eyes in interrogations.

"We went to a game." Kai muttered under his breath, keeping his eyes averted and his head down to muffle the words further. "She met him there and…"

Nicolai paused and stared at his son. "You went to a game, after I strictly forbid you to go anywhere near that school?"

Kai flinched. "Look, it wasn't my idea. I was all set to agree with you. It was _her_!"

"And if she told you to stick your hand in the fire, would you do it? Come on Kai, it'll be fun. Your skin will turn black and blister and peel off! It'll be oodles of fun!"

Kai snorted and tried to smother the bubble of laughter at his father's words but the fun thing was that there was a little Amber figure dancing about in his head saying those words now with a great big roaring fire in front of her. She kind of resembled those African dancers who did sacrifices to ancient gods.

"Oh I'm glad you find it funny." Nicolai bit out. "This is serious. Can I not trust you at all? I expect you to keep a leash on that team while I'm not around. You're the captain Kai, show some self control."

Kai sobered at that and his eyes whipped up to lance through his fathers. Had he been able to shoot daggers with his eyes, his father would be blind in both of his. "I do my job and part of it is to strategize against certain teams. With the new players, I needed to see how the Sharks played together."

"But to bring Amber with you, what sort of date was that? You know the type of people that go to that school. They treat everything as though they own it."

"She didn't sit with me," Kai growled; then he could have laughed as his father almost exploded, quickly he added. "She sat with the warrior captain. He had an ankle injury, couldn't play so he was there watching. If anyone saw her, they'd think she was a warrior. Not my girlfriend. Look, I can look after her."

Nicolai rubbed his brow and sighed. "So she met this Mystel person there?"

"Yeah and without telling anyone, she began to meet up with him outside school. You know how she is, she's always befriending people."

"And you're ok with that?"

Of course, he wasn't. But Kai wouldn't show that to anyone. That was his own private pain. That he wasn't enough for her. However it had been his own fault for ignoring her. Usually Saturdays were spent together, going to the local town to hunt for CD's or playing one-on-one hockey, going for drives to watch the waves or watching movies. They were days that were spent together but he had been the one who wanted to be on his own. And all because he had been too afraid of his feelings.

"You know this wouldn't have happened if you hadn't ignored her this week." Nicolai pointed out, gesturing with his mug before taking a sip.

Kai's eyes blazed. "Don't you think I don't know that?" He demanded, shifting in his chair.

"Maybe this is your chance," Nicolai continued as though he hadn't heard. "You were worried about Amber messing up your chances of playing pro; then maybe you should just let her bre-"

"Don't finish that sentence, father."

The words were delivered in a low, dark tone that threatened violence with their intensity and the word 'father' made a shiver shoot down Nicolais' spine. He shifted his shoulder and grimaced. He hated the way Kai did that. It was so cold.

"Then sort out what you want from the relationship before she gets back. If you get back with her only to decide later on that you're just going to break up with her, then you'll only end up hurting each other. And she's not in the right frame of mind at the moment. Anything could be a set back for her recovery." He warned; then sighed. "At least if you break up with her, you won't be hurting the team dynamics and when she gets back, you'll probably be able to be in the same room."

Kai simply glared at his father before getting to his feet and walking to the door. "Look Dad, thanks for the advice but I can handle this."

"Yes, and I'll stick with working out my team."

His son nodded abruptly before opening the door and leaving.

Outside the door, Kai blew out a breath and walked down the street. Why the hell had she ran? Didn't she know that the longer they left things, the more they would fester? He needed to talk to her, explain things to her.

He rested his forehead against the wall and slumped. He felt run down and there was a headache brewing at his temples. Back at Clonmel he never had to deal with these sort problems. All he had to do was ignore his teammates unless he was on the ice and if he remained aloof and detached from them, he never really felt very many emotions. And now a barrage of them was battering his already bruised heart. He couldn't deal with all of this. These cursed emotions that pushed at him, telling him to react, to do something.

He turned to the wall and slammed his fist into it. Pain exploded, fiery red causing him to suck in a quick sharp breath. "Damn you to hell, Ember."

Nursing his bruised knuckles by closing his other hand over them, he headed out of the sports centre before his father could come out and catch him with bloody, raw knuckles. He had to remain positive or blank out the thoughts that maybe Amber had really meant what she said. He needed to believe that she'd just been indulging in that Benson melodrama.

The best way to con yourself into believing that everything was a-ok was to just continue doing things as normal and that was what he intended to do. First he would go up to his dorm, sleep everything off and then he would wake up as though none of it had happened. If Amber wanted him, she would come for him because he was damned if he'd go to her. She was the one that had cut him loose, making everything they had together seem so meaningless with her cruel and careless words.

All that time he had spent trying to make her understand how he felt about her, how he saw her. He had thought that she understood that this relationship meant something to him, possibly everything to him. She wasn't just his girlfriend, she was his friend and he didn't have many of them. Not like her.

He shoved his hands into the pockets of his jeans and scuffed his shoes off the ground as he slowly made his way out into the cold evening. The rain had died down but he could see the dark clouds gathering overhead causing the horizon to turn a sickening yellow, the color of bile. The street lamps which had been placed strategically along the tarmaced path were beginning to glow orange. The school was lit up, squares of light amongst the brick work. In some he could see shadows of figures moving while others were blacked out due to curtains.

The whole school was getting on with their normal Saturday business. They were doing their usual things, coming back from town, lounging in the common rooms watching TV, playing games, doing homework. The same old, same old. And yet everything was different. No matter how he tried to pretend it wasn't. Amber wasn't there. Didn't they notice? Didn't they question it? How couldn't they fail to realize she was missing? Was it that she hadn't made such a big impact in their lives as she had in his?

A row of lights drew his attention and he slowly approached them, carelessly wondering who would be in the art room today of all days. The question was soon answered when he saw the figure sitting on a stool with her back to the windows, her shoulders hunched as she furiously scribbled over the page. The bright fluorescent lights gleamed of her hair, causing it to look coarse and harsh in its glare but she didn't seem to notice, so wrapped up in the music from the stereo and the way her hand was moving over the white page with the charcoal squeezed between her fingers.

Part of him didn't want to interrupt her flow but another part of him didn't want to face his dorm at the moment. Not with who all lived in it.

Walking to the fire exit, he rapped on the glass pane. The figure startled and narrowed eyes glared at him before the fog of concentration cleared and she blew a strand of hair out of her face, wiping the back of her hand over her forehead. Leaving her charcoal down, she slid off the stool and approached the door. She gave the fire exit door a good yank, before leaning out as it swung open and allowing him inside before she shut it behind him.

The air hit him, sweltering hot compared to the lukewarm office and frigid night. Immediately his skin prickled uncomfortably and his sweater felt heavy and awkward. Blowing out a breath, feeling the need to pant in an effort to cool his body temperature, he cracked open and window and felt relieved by the cool air.

"Aren't you warm in here?"

Miyami looked at him blankly before sliding onto the stood again, shoving up the sleeves of her loose poet shirt that was spattered with paint and designs she'd carefully imprinted on it to personalize it.

"What are you doing, Silver?" He questioned as he walked over to the stereo and turned the volume down a few notches.

His eyes roamed to the charcoal sketch and he tried to make sense of the shapes and emotions that poured from each sweeping line. He recognized the distress easily. Weeks of hanging out with her around the art room told him all he needed to know. Miyami was dealing with some pent up emotions the only way she felt she could, by drawing them out of her system.

Miyami inched her bra strap back up over her shoulder and lay down the small black stub. "I tried calling her. She said she wanted to be alone and now her phone's switched off." Silver eyes swung up to his and glimmered red. "What did you do to her?"

Kai averted his gaze and sighed. "You think I did something?" He asked, easing a hip onto the corner of the walnut art table, scored with names and hearts with arrows piercing their cores. "Is that what she said?"

She frowned and shook her head, unable to look at him. Leaning back, she ran a hand through her hair then tsked at the weight of it. She felt so… blah! "She didn't say much. She said it wasn't just down to you but…" She trailed off. She just had a hunch that something had happened between the pair. Something big that had made her friend flee.

"She broke up with me." Kai blurted out, his stormy gaze centered on the navy twilight setting in.

Miyami stared at him. "She…" A hand moved to rake through her hair before she caught it and covered her mouth instead. "Why?"

"What do you mean, why?" Kai demanded bitterly before flinching at how pathetic he sounded.

"I mean, why did she break up, Kai? Amber… She likes you too much to just break up with you for no reason." Then she studied him shrewdly. "You haven't been cheating on her, have you?"

"With who?" He demanded in a tone that almost implied that there was no one for him to cheat on Amber with.

"Mariam?" Miyami tossed in. It seemed like a logical assumption.

"No." He sighed and leaned his head back against the wall. "Mariam and I are through. There's never going to be a 'Mariam and I' again."

At the solid conviction in his tone, she stared at him. "You really believe that. Is that because you're not attracted to her anymore or because of Amber…" She trailed off, not quite comfortable on how to put it. Kai had never really said how he felt about Amber but you could see it in the way he treated her, the tender way he looked at her no matter how neurotic she was being.

"Both." He confirmed quietly. Blowing out a breath, he dragged up the futon that someone had brought in and dropped down onto it suddenly feeling as though he'd entered a psychologists' office. "I found out something today, about Amber and Mystel."

Miyami suddenly turned fully to him with narrowed eyes. "Yeah, I heard about that and you're way off base. Amber and _him_, she barely knows the guy and she doesn't like blonds. Nor does she like guys with blue eyes. Do you pay any attention to her wild notions?"

"You can't help who you fall in love with Miyami. It doesn't matter what they look like, it's about how you feel about them. She sure as hell isn't my type." He muttered, sweeping a hand over his hair before moving to fiddle with the watch on his wrist.

"So you think she's cheating on you?"

His eyes fell to the floor. "A part of me did. I thought if she was then… I've been ignoring her all week, why shouldn't see go somewhere else?"

"Because it's Amber and she's not a hoe?" Miyami offered sarcastically. "Just because you barely say two words to her all week doesn't mean that she's going to jump the next guy she sees. She's not a sex addict. I'd see through it if you were with Kennedie or Clover but Amber, Kai. She's just not like that. Honestly, she was pissed with you but hey, she just blamed it on your man period."

Kai snorted and his lips quirked before the dead look reappeared in his eyes again. "Still, I wanted it to be true so I wouldn't feel like such a fucking prick."

"You are a prick, but everyone is at some stage."

"I went to the café to catch them together-"

"And did you?" She wondered; inching off the stool and moving to sit beside him, stretching out her legs and leaning back her head, idly inhaling the scent of Hugo Boss that his mother had bought him for Christmas.

"No, but she must have seen me." He rubbed a hand over his face and groaned. "I was an idiot. I was furious with her so I went to give her a piece of my mind and got side tracked by Mariam looking for a tutor."

"Yeah, she asked me about that too. Can't figure where she got the idea that _I_ would help her. I might have before the Valentine thing but after that, sorry but the girl can go take a run and jump."

Kai wisely held his tongue. It would do no good to tell Miyami that he had been the one to implant the idea in Mariam's head. He already had one pissed off Octopussy on his ass, he didn't need another. "Amber must have heard us; she came out of the dorm screaming all sorts of things. I've never seen her like that, she surprised me."

"More like she frightened you." Miyami sympathized. "What did she say?"

"She threatened to cut Mariam's tongue from her mouth. I don't know what got into her but I wasn't going to let her spew anymore venom so I pretty much shoved her into her dorm."

"Ouch." Miyami cringed. "She would have hated you for that, taking Mariam's side over her… Bad idea Kai."

"Yeah and Mariam could have reported her to the faculty for abusive attitude or a student could have overheard and told someone. Besides, I didn't want Amber to say something she'd later regret." He shook his head and rubbed his forehead. "So she lets loose on me and I know something's bothering her apart from the accusations. It's just her reaction's too OTT for it to have been brought on by me thinking she had been cheating on me. She wasn't just angry, she was distraught. I've never seen her like that."

"So she broke up with you?"

He shook his head and plucked at a loose thread on his jeans while Miyami shifted so that she was now curled up beside him, with her cheek on her palm, elbow on the back of the futon by his head. "No, Spencer showed up and told her that Dad wanted to see her, so she left and I saw the letter."

He paused and wondered if he really had a right to tell Miyami all of this but he needed to talk to someone because he needed to know what to do. When he was on the ice, he knew the decisions to make; he knew what he had to do. Hockey was clean cut to him but social etiquette and relationships were a whole new game to him. He didn't know the rules, the strategies or the play. All he knew was that he had a team of people and he had to work out what roles they fitted into in his life. Amber was, so far, the most important role and if didn't use her talents properly then she might just walk out. For good. And in any situation, he had always had a coach and a vice captain to help him out on the really tough decisions. Right now, Miyami was his vice.

"What letter?" Miyami coaxed, shrugging out of her shirt and sighing in relief when her heated skin was caressed by the cooler air.

"From her Dad." Kai muttered. "His girlfriends pregnant and he didn't bother to talk to Amber about it first hand. No one ever seems to ask her what she thinks. They just expect her to go along with their decisions because naturally if she's happy for her mother, she'll just be as happy for her father."

Miyami raised a brow. It was strange hearing Kai talk like this but she supposed it shouldn't really. He had spent enough time with Amber to know how she felt about things, even if she didn't say anything. "So that was what had pissed her off?"

"Yeah, I think that's what got to her. You know her, Miyami. You're her best friend; she comes to you when she's upset. But before she could even talk to you, I've busted in and Mariam… It had to get on top of her, right?"

Miyami nodded. "Usually if she talks about it, she can be rational but if it's bottled up and shaken, it spews out like soda and splashes all over the sidewalk."

"That's how it felt to me. Like she was just pushing for a fight to relieve the pressure."

"That sounds like our beloved Amber." She winced as a cramp formed in her lower limb and she slid down onto her ass. "So she didn't dump you then, when did she?"

"After Dad talked to her. I went down to… I don't know why I went down but when I opened the door, she was in a fine snit and she, very dramatically quit the team and me."

"She quit?" The silver haired Japanese girl demanded, jumping to her feet and shoving her multicolored bangs out of her eyes. Fed up with her hair at the moment, she began to wrap the cascade of silver strands tightly around her hands. Looking around, she found two paintbrushes and strategically shoved them into her hair, carefully releasing her hands and dropping back down onto the futon. "Why did she quit?"

Kai blinked out of his stupor that he'd sunken into when she began to fix her hair. He had a strange fetish for how girls tamed their hair. Amber always seemed to get fed up with hers and when she wasn't threatening to chop it all off; she was finding unique and rather resourceful ways to keep it out of her eyes. And it had to admit, every time she gathered it into a messy disarray to contain it, he found her more attractive than when she had carefully brushed it back and tied it with the proper implements.

"Oh, dad suspended her."

"He what!" Miyami didn't notice Kai's wince as her voice whipped out sharply like a bark, slashing at his ears. "Why did he suspend her? What did she do?"

"Nothing… Dad thinks Amber may be anorexic again."

Miyami rolled her eyes. "Amber isn't anorexic. What is with everyone thinking that?"

"She doesn't eat, Miyami. Not properly and she's got an eating disorder, you can't deny that." He challenged, angry that Amber's friends could be so bloody blind towards her problems. If they really cared, they'd want her to get better.

"That doesn't mean she's anorexic. God, you're all so simple." The girl snapped jumping to her feet and beginning to pace. "For you, an eating disorder comes in two ways. One bulimia but Amber's not throwing up so it must be door number two, anorexia. But it's neither. And you've even made her think that she's anorexic. She doesn't eat so that she'll be thinner, or because she doesn't have any self esteem. She has an anxiety problem and it shows itself through an eating disorder. When she's particularly worried about things, she looses all appetite and that's why when we're approaching matches, she eats less. It's not anorexia. It can't be labeled because if you label it, you don't really treat it. You have to find out what's worrying her and treat that. You don't force her to eat or make her quit something she loves so that she'll miraculously get better."

Kai simply stared at her as she wore a crease into the floor, all the while the words moved through his head. Amber wasn't anorexic, she had anxiety issues. "How do you know this?"

Miyami sighed. "I saw it on a talk show one week and it suddenly made sense. Some days Amber eats like a horse. Place some Mediterranean dish in front of her and she'll gobble it up and she doesn't care if she's thin or fat or any of that. She only cares when someone blatantly points it out but she doesn't do diets. She just forgets about meals or puts them off because she's doing something else because she doesn't have an appetite the way I or Tyson do. And this has been going on so long that, her stomach is so small now. But if this continues, she'll be down to one meal a day maybe less. And I don't want to see that."

Kai's face sank into his hands. "How did I not notice?"

"Because you weren't looking." She soothed. "Tala never noticed either and Bryan… well Bryan isn't sure what to do. This isn't something simple to solve. We just have to make sure that Amber doesn't let the stress get to her and keep her eating. But threats only make it worse."

He squeezed his eyes shut and blew out an anguished breath. What was he supposed to do? How was he supposed to make things better? "I-I could talk to Dad, explain things. Maybe get her back on the team."

Miyami shook her head. "Amber's too stubborn to just come back like that. Besides, I think she already knows she has to eat more; this'll be like a wake up call for her. Leave the suspension as it is, it'll be less stress for her. She worries about playing badly more than we do because she doesn't think she's that good."

"She is good."

"Compared to you and Tala? Or Shahero, who can play so many spots that she's almost indispensable?" Miyami shook her head. "Amber and I, we're just average good players. We're better than most, but we're not the type that'll rock the world with our skills. We're no Martin St. Louis."

Kai raised a brow derisively. "Martin St. Louis isn't that great."

"Don't let Amber hear you say that; she'll hit you, hard."

Kai rubbed his shoulder feeling the phantom throb of his girlfriend's fist from the time that he had accidentally badmouthed the Tampa Bay/Canadian player.

"What about me? How do I get her back?"

Miyami laughed and Kai felt affronted until she smiled at him. "Amber won't give you up, you mean too much to her."

"So much she dumped me?" He drawled mockingly but it was laced with something more.

Miyami gave a soft sigh and rubbed her neck. "I can't speak for Amber, but I know that she cares so much about you. She was just hurt and she reacted the only way she knew how, to push you away. But when her head clears, she's going to realize that she's a moron and will probably give you a really sheepish apology tomorrow. She can give up the team because deep down, she knows it's the right thing to do but to give up what she has with you, that's something she can't do. She can't let go of her father no matter how much he lets her down, she can't let go of Tala even though he left her and you haven't done anything but be there for her, she won't let you go either." _Because I think she's in love with you_, Miyami added silently but still, she hoped she got her message across.

"But, still, it's a pity Nicolai had to put his foot down like that. She'd just been told her father's having another child and then to find out that Nicolai, who's been like a second father to her, is suspending her from the team. That's got to be harsh."

"If she had been in any other state of mind, Dad would have been able to discuss things rationally with her but she went into that office in a crappy mood. She was still spoiling for a fight."

"It was just bad timing all round." Miyami murmured, rubbing her arms to heat them with friction. "Look, I have to get going. Do you mind if I tell the others? I think they'll want to know and Amber would prefer it if she didn't have to explain everything several times over. I know she likes being centre of attention but with this sort of thing, she'd rather it all be out in the open so things can get back to normal." Or so Amber had told her when they'd had that discussion on tragedies shortly after Aspin's grandfather had died.

"If you want to tell them, go ahead. I'd rather not have everyone coming up and asking me what happened."

Kai rose with her shirt and helped her into it just as the door burst open and Johnny strode in. The three figures froze in their positions before Miyami continued to struggle with her shirt as Johnny flicked a glance from the futon, to his girlfriends' mussed appearance and to his bedraggled captain. He opened his mouth to say something, then simply strode forward and seized Miyami up into his strong arms, resting his cheek on her hair and pressing a kiss to the silver strands.

"I thought you had done an Amber." He muttered, leaning back to give her space to breathe.

She looked up at him with startled metallic eyes. "Sorry, I just needed to get some stuff out of my system."

Johnny's gaze lifted to his captain and he frowned. "You don't look so hot."

"I'll live." Kai replied curtly, turning off the inspiration music Miyami had been listening too. "I'm heading up to the dorm to catch some shut eye; I'll see you two later."

Miyami watched him go with a sigh before turning into Johnny and nuzzling his throat causing the Scot to grumble his approval. "Thank you." She murmured, pressing a kiss to the spot behind his ear that had him trembling.

His grip tightened on her. "What for?"

"For not flying off the handle." She replied, knowing how much her boyfriend had a tendency to read the worst in situations so it always gave her a nice feeling when he didn't because it showed he trusted her. Though recently the hot head had been surprisingly good whenever he found her cuddling with a friend. She knew he had nothing to worry about; she loved him wholly and passionately. He was the only one who made her toes curl in that delightful way and made her heart beat violently but he was very possessive about her despite claiming to be an easy going fellow -his words not hers.

"He looks to be in pretty bad shape, what happened with him and Amber?" He wondered; eyes narrowed beneath the black bandana that had the arduous task of keeping his hair from his face. His broad frame was decked out in a black t-shirt -despite the cold weather- worn jeans, a black wrist band and a chunky black watch. He looked every bit the callous rebel.

"I'll tell you on the way up to the dining hall."

"Maybe someone should bring him something to eat." Johnny murmured quietly.

"Who are you?" Miyami demanded as she gathered up her supplies and took them to the art cupboard.

"What? Ah, shit, you think just because I make a vaguely nice comment that I've suddenly turned gay or some shit?"

"I'd like to point out that you're the one who brought up the gay thing." Miyami replied, slamming a door shut before beginning to wash her hands, only for a thrill to go down her spine when Johnny's arms slid around her and he laid his lips softly against the nape of her neck.

"He's your friend." Johnny replied simply. "Plus, he's not that bad."

"Yes, but you don't usually care about others." She pointed out as she turned to face him, tapping his nose lightly. He had such a cute face, despite the fact that it was more ruggedly handsome than boyishly cute.

"I care about you." He responded easily enough, kissing her on the lips before drawing away. "And because I do, I'll refrain from distracting you because you're going to be very hungry in about five minutes."

Miyami raised a brow and was about to make a comment about him insinuating she was fat when she felt an emptiness in the pit of her stomach and she sighed. "You're right, I'm starving. Come on, let's go or there'll be no food because Tyson'll have taken it all."

"No need to worry about Tyson," Johnny said. "Jim and Goki tied him to the second floor banisters for some reason. Last time I checked, he was bellowing 'Please release me' at the top of his lungs."

Miyami faltered and stared at him. "Seriously? Hell, quick let's go before some releases him."

Johnny chuckled and watched his girlfriend hurry out of the art room almost forgetting to the switch off the lights. But at least now her mind was on food, it wouldn't be dwelling on Amber and Kai and that had to be a good thing for her sanity. "Gotta love a one track mind on a woman."

* * *

Kirby stood in the line behind her cousins as they waited to get food. All around them the sound of cutlery hitting the plate and the bubble of conversation could be heard as the soundtrack to the dining hall. Pushing her tray along, she glanced around the hall for a place to sit. She could see Miguel sitting with Tala and Shahero, so she would probably sit there since there were plenty of seats. Her eyes fell on Aspin and Kane, moving towards the table, Kane's arm loosely wrapped around Aspins' waist as he guided her through the cluster of people and tables.

A light towards the back was flickering casting strange shadows over the couple of girls and a boy sitting there. There was a crash and she looked over to see a group of freshmen staring at their friend who had just dropped their plate of dessert. Immediately the women who worked in the kitchen area moved out from behind the food to clean up the mess before any student slipped on it.

A figure brushed up against her and she looked round startled to see Hillary with Mariam at her side.

"Did you hear?" Mariam was saying. "About Kai and Amber?"

Hillary shook her head as she picked out a plate with a slice of cheesecake on it. She caught Kirby's eye and offered a smile while nudging Mariam to shut up. However, Mariam didn't seem to take the hint or she didn't care.

"They broke up today."

Kirby blew out a breath and tuned out Mariam's words as she moved closer to Daichi, taking his hand in her own. He shot her a surprised look but his eyes moved over the line and because he understood, he squeezed her hand to comfort her.

"Mariam, I don't want to hear about it." Hillary muttered looking around for an escape route. She caught sight of the two Benson cousins and wished she had someone, a cousin, family that she could turn to but she was here on her own. Most of her cousins were in Japan and she had family in Maryland but none that went to school with her. And she yearned for that sort of companionship.

A body bumped into hers and she turned to give the person a telling off when she found herself in close proximity to Tyson Kinomiya who was leaning over her, his body heat pressing against hers. She gulped audibly.

"What are you doing?" She squeaked.

His eyes dipped to hers and something flickered before he offered her a wolfish grin. "Need more ketchup!"

"Oh." She whispered faintly, turning back to the food that was sitting on the shelves before her.

"Hey, Tyson, is it true that Amber and Kai broke up?" Mariam wondered curiously.

Tyson glowered at her and shrugged. "How would I know?"

Mariam rolled her eyes and picked up a slice of apple pie before carefully placing it on her tray. "I heard they did. I heard Amber dumped him and then went home."

The navy haired boy just gave a disturbed expression at her line of questioning and plucking a few sachets from the counter, he turned to leave. A hand grabbed his arm and he turned to find Hillary staring at him with imploring brandy eyes. "Something wrong?" he wondered. She wasn't going to slap him again was she? A quick glance at her fingers assured him that she wasn't wearing a ring but still, it had stung. How did Hitoshi cope with it?

"Can I please sit with you guys, please?" She whispered frantically.

He blinked a few times before nodding uncertainly but seeing the way she kept shooting glances back at Mariam, he figured he could understand what was bothering her. Mariam was becoming irritating to everyone.

"Yeah, sure."

Her smile became awkward but no less genuine. "Thanks."

She spun back to her tray, flustered but no more baffled than Tyson who merely scratched his head, shot Kirby and Daichi a bewildered look and headed back to his table.

Kirby stifled a chuckle with the folds of Daichi's shirt before she lifted her tray and moved towards the cashier to pay for it. After handing over the money, she headed to the kiosk that held the cutlery and grabbed what she needed as well as a couple of napkins.

"So why did she dump him?"

Kirby bit her tongue to prevent herself from saying anything as she grabbed another set of cutlery for Daichi while he kept a seat for her.

"Kirbs?"

"Mariam, I'm saying this once and once only. Stay out of my face."

"Oh come off it, Kirby, why are you being like this?"

Kirby exhaled loudly and turned, eyes blazing crimson to face the royal blue haired girl. "Why? Because I love Amber like a sister and you're purposely taking pleasure out of her pain."

"She broke up with him, if anyone's in pain, it'll be him."

"Maybe, but how would he feel if he heard you were going around making his business public?" Kirby demanded with a winged brow.

Mariam braced herself, drawing herself to her full impressive height and met Kirby's look coolly. "Well, he won't find out, will he?"

Kirby simply sneered before she walked off to join the seniors who seemed to have multiplied since she had been in line as Miyami and Johnny had now joined them.

Mariam watched her go and rolled her eyes. She wasn't taking pleasure in Amber and Kai breaking up but she did want to know if it was true, and if it was, how it had happened. Was it because Amber had been cheating on him? Or had she been jealous that Kai and she had been talking? Besides, how was she supposed to find anything out if she didn't ask questions? Teachers were always telling them that if they didn't know something or didn't understand it, they were to just ask.

She turned around with a smug smile and almost walked into the boy standing behind her. Sweeping her gaze up, the smile froze on her face.

"Bryan." She greeted pleasantly despite the chills racing down her spine. This boy just unnerved her and she doubted it was all to do with just his height and broad shoulders.

"I don't like you messing with my cousins heads. If I find out you've been winding up any of them, and I mean any of them, I'll make you pay." He growled.

Her eyes rose defiantly to his, glimmering with emerald fire. "There's nothing you can do to me, Bryan, you don't scare me."

He leaned close so that his breath wafted against her ear and she tensed. "You forget who I bunk with, who I train with. One slip of the tongue and everything you've been doing comes to the attention of one, Kai Hiwatari. Now you wouldn't want that, would you?"

She swallowed hard, refusing to be intimidated. "He wouldn't believe you."

"Now I know you're not that naïve, Mariam." He purred before straightening and walking off.

Mariam blew out a trembling breath and found herself staring up into the grinning eyes of Daichi Benson who was standing before her with a handful of salt. "Hey, don't you think Ozuma and Sonia make such a good couple?"

She snarled at him, before taking her tray and stomping off to find a table to sit down.

* * *

Bryan slid onto the bench beside Johnny and plucked a salt sachet from Daichi as he threw them onto the centre of the table. Tearing it open, he sprinkled the sodium substance over his potatoes and gravy while tuning out the buzz of conversation continuing all around him. He noticed that Kai wasn't any where to be seen and he pondered that before dismissing it. He had vaguely gleaned that Amber and Kai had broken up, it was making the rounds of the schools rumor mill and there were many theories on how it had happened and whether they would get back together. Most of the opinions on the latter were quite positive which he didn't know how he should feel about.

It was true that while Amber and Kai were together, that she had paid little attention to him. She'd talk to him and they'd sit together but they didn't have their usual alone time and he missed her coming to him for a cuddle -though he'd never admit it. But he had also acknowledged that while she was with Kai, she was a happier person. She would fuss and fight with everyone as per usual but when Kai walked into a room, she lit up. It was painful to watch his cousin being stolen away but it was obvious that she had Hiwatari wrapped around her little finger. He cared about her and that was what mattered.

Bryan could admit that all through his life, he had worked hard to keep certain types of boys away from his cousin. Ones who would hurt her, take advantage of her nature and use her to inflate their own egos. He protected her as an older brother would. It was important to him that she was happy because she had made his life better than it could ever have possibly been. She had given him life and before he could make a life for himself, he had to make sure that she was taken care of. She would never be happy to be looked after by Bryan, no child wanted to live with their parents for the rest of their lives and that was sometimes how Bryan saw himself, as Amber's guardian. She would want someone for herself just as he wanted someone for him.

He knew they'd always have each other no matter what happened, but he wanted her happy before he moved on. Kai made her happy. And now that plan was floating in the water. If Amber came back, he was sure that the plan could be given a little CPR to get it back on track but the longer it lay, the less of a chance it had.

So he wanted Kai and Amber to get back together and he wanted Mariam to just give up and move on. Where was the girl he remembered? The sexy, funny girl whose throaty laugh filled a room when she was flirting with a group of boys. She had been able to stand up for herself and her friends. She would give a saucy smile and then twist your balls before you had a clue what was happening. He had seen her do it, had heard Amber's delighted cheer when she did. They had been friends and now they were enemies and all because of a boy. It was pathetic. Life was short and Mariam was doing herself no favors.

A giggle caught his attention and he frowned at Sonia who was sitting opposite him. "You ok?"

She blushed furiously and nodded, turning back to her meal which she was pushing around with her fork. Her blue eyes peeked up through her bangs to the person sitting opposite her.

Bryan looked at his cousin then a brow winged up as something brushed his leg. A sock clad foot was trying to… "Sonia, move your foot."

Her eyes widened and beside him Ozuma snorted into his meal. With a sigh Bryan swatted his cousin. "Play footsie later." He ordered while Sonia buried her face and Ozuma chuckled. "When did you two…?" He wondered.

"Who?" Miyami asked as she presented a tray to Johnny having just come down from the food line.

"No one." Bryan muttered.

Ozuma and Sonia gave soft relieved sighs and the older cousin rolled his eyes. Amber would love this, he could be sure of it. Leaning over, he pitched his voice just loud enough for his cousin to hear but not loud enough for anyone else. "If you don't want anyone to find out, I suggest you keep your feet to yourself."

Ozuma choked on his food before swallowing with a brief nod. He picked up his OJ and began to gulp it down as Sonia, still flushed with color, sipped on her carton of juice. Their eyes met and they shared a secret smile to which Bryan just raised his eyes to heaven.

"…Isn't that right Bryan?"

"What?" He inquired, noticing a select amount of gazes from around the table settling on him and Daichi.

"That you said that you'll make Mariam pay if you find out she's been messing with your families' heads?" Daichi shot a grin around the table. "She was quaking but hey, that's the kind of cousin I want. He's never stood up for me before."

Kirby, Ozuma and Bryan stared at the loudmouthed red head with open mouths before they all glowered.

"What are you blathering about?" Kirby demanded, with a tiny line between her brows.

"Bryan's stood up for you loads of times." Ozuma snapped. "What about Martin Mulcachy?"

Daichi frowned then his expression cleared. "Oh that jock from the beach? The one who's ball I punctured?" When the trio nodded, he grinned widely. "Oh yeah, and then came the infamous line from Bryan that if he came near me again, Bryan would puncture _his_ balls." Throwing his head back, the boy laughed like a loon while Tyson snickered. "I've never heard a man squeak before."

Bryan suppressed a chuckle remembering the bug-eyed look on the man's face, as his hands automatically moved down to defend himself, then he shook it away and continued to eat.

A tray landed with a bang on the table as Mariah thumped into a vacant seat with a disgruntled expression on her face. "Mariam is becoming unbearable." She declared as a reason for her sitting with them.

"I'm going to kill Amber." Kirby suddenly declared. "I mean, if they've really broken up like you said Miyami, then… Ugh, what is she thinking? He's the best thing that's ever happened to her. They were so solid!"

Miguel sighed and ran a hand over her hair, looping an arm around her waist to keep her pressed to his side as though that would comfort her. When she turned into him, he simply pressed a kiss to her hair and rested his chin on her head. Ignoring his food in order to hold her in his arms.

"So they're really broken up?" Mariah asked with startled eyes.

Miyami sighed but Aspin jumped in. "We'll explain everything later."

"So why quit the team? Did she not want to play with Kai?"

"No she was being suspended by Nicolai for a while."

"Why?" The pink haired Chinese girl gasped.

Tala growled and dropped his cutlery. "Because she's anorexic and she never told me."

Miyami tsked in disgust and shoved away from the table leaving the group to watch her go with some interest at her reaction.

"What's her problem?" Hillary wondered.

She'd been careful to remain quiet so that no one would notice her and order her to leave them alone at what was obviously a private moment. They had spoken about things she didn't know anything about and when she did voice her opinion, some would give her bizarre looks as if to wonder what she knew about it while others would agree. It was strange to say the least but it was also nice to feel like she belonged even though these weren't her friends. These were Tyson's friends and Kirby and Daichi's family. She'd never have something like this though she had longed for it, whenever she had dreamt of high school she had dreamt of having loads of friends who would listen to her talk and laugh at her jokes. Instead she was just the annoying tagalong who was tolerated.

"Miyami doesn't think Amber's anorexic; she thinks it's something else." Aspin explained in a tone that said she didn't quite believe it.

"Well she doesn't act anorexic. She eats and she never watches her weight or complains about her size. Usually she's upset that she's so thin." Hillary murmured. Maybe Miyami was on to something.

"Then why is she eating so little? She's always skipping out on meals and Coach says she's not to get back onto the team until she's an acceptable healthy weight and eating properly." Aspin pointed out.

"Still…" Hillary sighed softly. "You're right; I don't really know Amber anyway. But I have to go; thanks for letting me sit here."

"Anytime." Kirby replied watching the brunette leave to clear her dish; then she turned to Tyson. "She's really not that bad, you could do so much worse."

The navy haired teen groaned. "I don't like her like that."

"That's not what Hitoshi says." Shahero taunted in a sing-song tone.

"I'm surprised Hitoshi even says anything whenever you're around." Tyson retorted; making a face and leaving the table before any more implications could be made.

* * *

The tension in the dorm was thick and heavy when Arista finally walked in. Russia was lying on her bed, her eyes on the ceiling as she listened to something loud and obnoxious, completely ignoring everyone around her. Her blood red hair was in disarray but there was some color in her cheeks and she looked healthier than she had in a long time, to Arista's eyes.

On the floor, Shahero was going through her photo collection for a school project. The shiny squares were scattered around her, with the girl in the middle running a hand through her hair and chewing on her lower lip.

Miyami was opening her drawers and slamming them shut as she put away her laundry while Sonia was leafing through a thick text book. Ruin was missing as was Amber and Aspin was lying on her side, reading a book.

"Hey, guys."

Miyami flicked a glance at her and immediately Arista went on edge. There was no cheerful smile of greeting or a teasing demand for where she had been; instead her cousin looked dull and angry.

"Hey." Shahero replied, offering her a brief smile before turning back to her photos.

Sonia waved but there was nothing from Russia or Aspin. Both were lost in their own little worlds.

"No Amber, tonight? Or is she out with lover boy?"

"Which lova boy?" Russia wondered caustically as she removed her earphones and began to wind them around her MP3 player.

Miyami threw her an acidic look. "No, Amber's gone home for the night."

Arista frowned moving to her side of the room to pull open her drawer to find a pair of PJ's. She wasn't ready to come down from her high the date she had been on had put her in. It had been fun. She and Brooklyn had gone to an amusement park and had pretty much exhausted all the rides. And despite it being a cliché, it was fun to kiss on the top of the Ferris wheel and snuggle up to someone even if the ghost ride was completely lame. Of course, it had been just as much fun to get out of the cart to poke the "creepy creatures" and take photos' of each other on Brooklyn's camera phone. They'd received a telling off for that one but they'd just run from the security guard whose diet probably consisted of doughnuts as it hadn't taken long to loose him in the crowds. And it was just as much fun to get scolded by an old prude for necking in a quiet corner near an ice-cream stand.

She sighed softly and plucked up a shirt, holding it close to her chest as she relived the memories from that day.

"I take it you had a good day." Miyami accused. She didn't know why she was so angry with her cousin, Arista hadn't done anything but she was just so fed up! Why did it fall on her to clear up people's messes? Why did everyone come to her with their problems? Why did no one burden Arista or Shahero? Why was it always her?

Arista flinched as she turned to regard her silver haired cousin. "Yes, I did actually. Have you got a problem with that?"

Aspin rolled over and sat up, groaning with sheer emotional exhaustion. "Look, ignore her. Amber and Kai broke up and she's pissed off."

A punch wouldn't have stunned Arista as much. "Kai and Amber broke up? But why?"

"Oh, who knows." Russia muttered. "Some shit 'bout Da's who're preggers an', och aye, Ams was cheatin' on 'im, or so 'e tought."

"Amber? Cheating on Kai? Well he's so wrong on that." Arista growled. Amber wouldn't have. She had plenty of opportunity with Mystel and she was always making it a point to make it clear to the blonde that she was taken and happily so.

"Well supposedly Mariam saw her out with the blond shark; you know the one that came with that dickass Adams. So Kai went searching for her and she saw him. So she comes back to the school, all fired up to give him a telling off and gets a letter from that wanker James saying she's going to be a father and she finds Kai talking to Mariam and all hell kicked off. She quit the team and broke up with Kai."

Arista's legs turned to jelly, and pale, she fell down onto her bed. "Say that again?"

So Miyami explained everything she knew with Aspin injecting her point of view on how Kai should have trusted her and other things that showed she was definitely supporting her friend and not the boyfriend.

With each word, Arista could feel hers collapsing as her heart pounded audibly and the room began to spin. It was her fault. Oh god, she was the reason Kai and Amber broke up. If she hadn't been dating Brooklyn, then Amber and Mystel wouldn't have hung out and no one would have accused Amber of cheating. Oh god, oh god, oh god. This was all her fault.

"It's my entire fault." She blurted out in the middle of another argument that was brewing between Aspin and Miyami.

"What?" Aspin demanded.

"Oh don't be fucking melodramatic; I'm not in the mood." Miyami grumbled rubbing her throbbing head.

"What do you mean?" Shahero wondered, crawling over to her friend, placing a hand on each knee. There was something in Arista's tone that told her that she wasn't being melodramatic, that she knew something.

"I… I…" Oh how did she tell them that she was dating the enemy? How did she explain how she felt about him? How important he was to her? How important it was that she'd have his support and attention when she felt so suffocated amongst the team. She wanted to have something to herself, instead of having to share everything with the girls and the team. She had been losing her identity and Brooklyn helped her find it again.

"Look, it's not your fault Arista. It's just bad timing and bad choices on Amber's behalf. I still don't see how she could have met him."

"Me." Arista blurted out.

"You?" Shahero questioned confused. Now Sonia and Russia were beginning to pay particular attention to the navy eyed girl at the other end of the room.

"I introduced them." She said and then everything spewed out. How she and Brooklyn had run into each other a couple of times and how they met in Russia. How they had become friends and met up outside of the school. How they had become more and eventually, how they had brought Amber and Mystel to act as alibis.

Miyami shook her head dumbly, unable to come up with words to describe how let down and betrayed she felt. God how _stupid _could Arista be?

"How did Amber find out?" Shahero managed to stutter out through the blank canvas in her mind.

"At the Shark game we went to. She saw me and Brooklyn together and I made her promise not to tell anyone. I'm so sorry." She sobbed seeing the absolute disgust in Miyami's eyes as she stepped away from her.

"Sorry? You _stupid_ little fool!" Miyami seethed. "Do you have any _idea_ what you've done? You were with the enemy, Arista. The enemy!"

"I care about him!"

"Who _fucking_ cares what you feel? He certainly doesn't. You're a tool for him Arista. A way for him to get to the Tigers. He's a Shark, they're there to manipulate. It's what they do. God, they're violent and emotionless. Have you forgotten how he sprained Amber's wrist? He's just using you to get info on the Tigers."

Arista shook her head, her vision obscured with fat shiny tears, that had been prompted by Miyami's vicious and callous words. "We don't talk about the Tigers. He likes me for me!"

"Sure he does." The silver haired Japanese woman drawled bitterly. "And he didn't use you for an excuse to come to the open day, did he? He didn't even go see you, did he?"

Arista squeezed her eyes shut and the tears fell to slide down her once glowing cheeks. Each word stabbed at her heart, a separate slash each. "He did. He said he wanted to see me."

"See? He's using you! God, how could you be so blind? You're just like Hitoshi!"

Shahero jumped to her feet, her stupor immediately broken by that one name. "DON'T!" The order was expelled from her mouth with enough force to have Miyami stumble back. "You don't know everything so back off!"

Aspin and Russia exchanged looks before the purple haired girl moved to put an arm around the now trembling Arista to comfort her while Miyami let out a scream of frustration before whirling round to continue her tirade.

"Do you have any idea what you've done Arista?" She squeezed her eyes shut and shoved her hair out her face while a small part of her screamed at her to stop attacking her cousin. But she squashed it, this needed to be said. "He'll only hurt you, just like he's done to Amber! You bring Amber along and he brings Mystel and you think nothing's going to happen?"

"Leave her alone Miyami, she made a mistake but everyone does." Aspin implored, pulling Arista into her as though to shield her from the brunt of the Asian woman's temper.

"NO, she has to hear this. You didn't see Kai!"

"They'll be back together before Monday, god sake it's not the end of the world. Besides, Kai was just as much in the wrong for not trusting her. Big deal, so they're hanging out with the enemy. You heard her; she doesn't talk about the Tigers. Leave her alone!"

"Amber was lying to Kai every time she went out, she was lying to us. Do you know how much stress that probably put on her, hiding everything?"

"Oh not dis anxiety ting again!" Russia groaned.

"She made Amber sick with her stupid little schemes!" Miyami screamed, tears falling down her face and her breath hitching in her throat.

"Amber's sick?" Arista questioned frailly.

"It's not your fault." Aspin soothed. "It's just Miyami being melodramatic."

"Fuck you." She growled, low and dark before she stomped over to the bed and crawled into it, drawing the curtain around her.

Aspin shook her head before doing the same thing, violently yanking her curtain along the rail. Arista hurled herself onto her bed, tears streaming down her face and the bed creaked as Sonia climbed onto it behind her, murmuring soothing words as she stroked her hair.

* * *

The school was quiet as Maye did her rounds before she retired. The white light from the wall of television screens lit up her face as she casually sipped her coffee and scanned the various screens. Everything seemed tranquil but she knew there was an undertone of distress in the school. The pupils were restless and that led to boisterousness that was unacceptable to her. This kind of activity led to the students becoming loud and disrespectful and with the upcoming exams, it could not be allowed.

At least her shift was coming to an end and she could curl up in her bed and sleep. She was just so tired that her eyes were beginning to burn with the effort of keeping them open. Or this was the excuse she used to explain why she hadn't noticed the student wandering the floors immediately. But she noticed her now; a young girl was wandering down the staff corridor in a long white t-shirt. The monochrome lens told her nothing apart from the fact that the student had black hair and since it was pointing at the girls back, it would see nothing unless she turned to face it.

She watched as the student stopped at a door and knocked. Counting the doors, Maye identified the room as Hitoshi Kinomiya's and with a startled smirk, she watched the student enter. Putting down her mug, the vice principal quickly hurried out of the room intent of catching the student.

She was well aware of the girls' infatuations with the young coach. It was natural that during their teenage years, they'd invent all sorts of fantasies involving him and them but this was taking it a bit far and Maye was sure that he would appreciate her help.

Her plimsoles slapped against the lino as she hurried down the corridor and yanked open the door into the next hall. She hurried down the steps, her heart beating a mile a minute with triumph swimming through her veins. She had always suspected this sort of thing happened when she had been at the school herself but of course, she had never partook in it, nor did she have any sort of evidence but now she did. Whoever the student was, they were in for a big surprise.

She counted the doors as she passed by and noted the light on beneath the assistant coach's door. Was he aware of the student? Was he detaining her until help arrived? Or was he… No, she dared not think that he would be involved with a student. That would be against all rules and would surely get him thrown out. He wouldn't risk that, nor would he humiliate his family in such a way.

She rapped sharply against the door and waited, listening quietly the shuffles and the weak cough that came before it opened. Hitoshi stood in opening, sleepy eyed, ruffled and in a red t-shirt and tartan boxers. He muffled a yawn as he reached under his top to scratch his chest before he blinked blearily down at her.

"Maye?" His brow crinkled in confusion. "What are you doing here?"

"Where is she?" She asked sharply to disguise the frantic flutter of her pulse at the appearance of him in all his rugged masculinity.

"Who?"

"The student I saw come in here, surely you must have noticed her."

"What student?"

"The student." She hissed, and pointed to the small blinking light of the camera above the hall entrance. "I saw her on the camera."

He gave the camera a disturbed look before sighing. "Look there's no one in here, I was asleep."

"Then why was your light on?"

"I heard something at the window, but come in and check if you don't believe me." He muttered, stepping away from the door and allowing her inside. He crossed to the bed and sat down on the edge of it, burying his face in his hands in a weary movement.

Carefully she entered, sweeping the room with her gaze pinpointing places a student could hide. She checked behind the door; the wardrobe; the curtains and under the bed but found no one. She scowled and turned to Hitoshi.

"Well?" He questioned tiredly.

"I did see someone."

"Yes well, if someone was here, they're gone now. Maybe they went out the window."

She glowered at him. She didn't like to be made a fool of. Turning on her heel, she stormed out of the door and Hitoshi got up to watch her through his peephole. When she was finally out of sight, he walked over to his duffle bag and tugged down the zipper. A flushed head popped out and blew out a breath before a body followed, struggling to unfold itself from the confines of the bag.

Pushing her hair out of her face, Shahero turned to regard him. "I forgot about the cameras."

"Yeah you might want to be more aware of them." He muttered, reaching out a hand to help her to her feet.

She stepped out of the bag and sighed, suddenly feeling awkward and unsure what to do with herself.

He watched the lost expression play over her cute Asian features and he was in front of her a heartbeat, his arms around her, his cheek on her hair. "What's bothering you, Hero?"

"I'm fed up with them fighting." She said finally, pulling away so that she could look up into his heartbreakingly handsome face. "We use to have so much fun and play stupid pranks and now everything's crumbling. Miyami just snapped at Arista. Just completely blew her top."

"Why?"

Shahero froze and then shook her head stepping away. "I can't tell you, I'm sorry. And I know you out of everyone might understand but I can't." She babbled nervously, pacing away from him. Finally she turned back to him. "So I just need a place to crash without… I just need to be away from them all. They're bringing me down with them."

She scowled and turned to him, eyes blazing with fury. "It's not fair. This is Amber and Kai's stupid problem, why is everyone letting it affect them? I didn't expect anyone to fight my battles when you and I broke up!"

"You couldn't afford to let anyone know." He pointed out sagely, sitting down and pulling her between his legs.

She sighed heavily and then a brow winged up in interest. "You know, I agree massages are great stress relievers but they're generally not performed on people's butts."

He offered her a wolfish grin before nudging her back so that he could stand up. His eyes flickered to the clock and then back to his girlfriend. "Come on, let's get you to sleep."

"Maybe I should head back," She murmured, her eyes traveling nervously to the door. "What if Maye comes back…?"

"I'll lock the door." He reassured, propelling her towards the bed before he turned back to the door so he could flick the lock.

Heading back to the bed, he shed his t-shirt and lifted the quilt to slide underneath, shifting so that he was intimately pressed to Shahero's back. He heard her groan of protest, but he soothed her with a chaste kiss to her neck. "Just go to sleep Hero."

She sighed softly into the darkness, pulling his arms firmly around her and sinking into his embrace. She could understand Arista's desire for companionship. She felt it every time she was away from Hitoshi for any length of time and she also knew that being with Hitoshi was against the law never mind rules of the school. He was technically a teacher but not one and she couldn't help the way she felt about him, had always felt. The difference was that she had two years away from him to access how she felt. Arista was just feeding off the danger and adrenaline of a secret boyfriend, everyone fantasized about it at some stage but it wasn't always a relationship that could go very far. It was either unacceptable to friends or family which put a strain on the relationship when it came out or it lost the spark when it was no longer a secret. She just hoped that Arista knew what she was doing because Brooklyn was crafty.

Turning in Hitoshi's arms, she studied his face. "Hey, you knew Kai before coming here, didn't you?"

Hitoshi's eyes glimmered in the darkness. "Yeah, I used to help out at the school while I was doing a short course at the local community college. Why?"

"Then you know Adams pretty well?"

He shook his head. "It's hard to know Adams. His parents are psychologists and he tends to pick up a few tricks to keep himself aloof from the rest of the team. Kai was always quiet and unsociable but Brooklyn knew how to manipulate people to do what he wanted but he always stayed emotionally detached. He freaked me out a little. I wanted to reach him but it wasn't possible because he didn't want to be reached."

Shahero swallowed hard. '_Oh Arista, I hope you know what you're messed up with._'

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**Well... I know this wasn't really that long but I didn't want to just overload everyone with all those emotions. We'll be back with Amber next chapter and what exactly will Arista do? All reviews are appreciated, if you have any questions feel free to ask. I should have my review replies posted on bebo soon. I love replying to these ones. Oh and you know the disclaimer, I don't own Beybladeand check back for who owns the octopussy's. **


	26. Misunderstandings

**Disclaimer**: _Same as usual. I don't own Beyblade, Aoki Takao does._

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Chapter Twenty Five- Misunderstandings

The powerpuff girls were zooming across the screen in the Bensons' living room as Amber slouched on the floor, feet in the air and chin propped on her hands. The luminous colors from the TV were reflected in her eyes and the light played over her face but none of it seemed to bother her. She wasn't even inclined to open the curtains to let the morning light in nor did she intend to change out of her ratty old pajamas.

In the kitchen, her mother bustled about in an attempt to get some breakfast made for herself and the baby and every so often, her frustrated sighs floated in to the living room. Still Amber made no move to go help. Why should she? Her mother had already made it clear that she was not in the mood to deal with her daughter's melodrama so why should she go in there and risk igniting another meaningless quarrel. It was that dumb babies fault anyways. If her mother hadn't been pregnant, then she would have been in a better mood and she would have paid some attention to her daughter.

However, so far all Amber was to her mother was another mouth to feed. It was almost enough to make her want to go back to the school but she wouldn't be welcome there either. Everyone had made that clear enough. They were all better off without her. Not one of them had phoned her and no one had even come to visit. Why? Because no one cared.

She flicked over the station as the Powerpuff girls ended and was in time to see the beginning of Winx. It wasn't a particularly good show, wasn't bad just wasn't brilliant. The only high point was a brief glimpse of Riven and even that wasn't very common. She didn't even know why she liked him. He was ok to look at but his attitude sucked. Kind of like a particular Russian she knew. His attitude sucked mainly because he was so fucking full of himself.

She watched without much heart as three of the main characters rushed forward to alert their teacher to the new arrivals. Somewhere in that cluster, she knew Riven stood because she'd seen him leave with them the in the last episode. Which, she remembered with a sinking stomach, Kai had taken the piss out of so she had clobbered him with a pillow before he stopped her with a kiss.

That was two weeks ago -the show skipped a week due to some sporting event or other much to her chagrin- and now look at them. He could barely stand to be around her. He was probably glad she had called things off since he obviously didn't have the guts to do so himself. If he had explained what she had done to offend him, then maybe things between them wouldn't have deteriorated so badly.

Mystel was to blame too. Why did he have to be friends with Dicklyn? If he wasn't friends with Dicklyn, then maybe Kai might have been more approachable concerning their friendship instead of automatically assuming she was cheating.

And what was Kai smoking? How could he even think she was cheating on him? She hadn't even had a boyfriend before and she had been nothing but devoted to Kai. She was the one who did most of the damn chasing. He just enjoyed the benefits of… of what? She certainly had no assets to talk of and she was more a pain in the ass than anything else. Why had he bothered with her?

Because he had actually cared about her. She knew it. If he hadn't, why would he have given her the pendant and the pretty rose? It was a bit strange for a boy she had only been dating a month or so to give her such nice gifts. Yeah he was rich-ish but that wasn't the reason. The reason was that he had wanted to get her something. He wanted to show he cared. Besides, the way he looked at her sometimes, that wasn't the way a person who felt amicably towards someone looked at him or her. There was too much heat and tenderness.

Unless she was just imagining the whole thing… Nah, even she wasn't that good. Kai had cared but maybe she had done something to upset him. Could that have been the reason he had given her the cold shoulder? Nevertheless, didn't he realize that she didn't know how to react to everything? He was her first boyfriend and she was just feeling her way through the relationship.

What if he had expected her to have sex? Well it had never really come up. Sure they had heated make out sessions but what was she supposed to go, just walk up and say "Hey Kai, wanna have sex?" She figured that moment would just happen naturally. She didn't think it had to be planned out in detail. Was she supposed to have gone to his dorm that night…?

EW! Bryan slept in his dorm. And Taly-baba! Besides, Tala would have known and he would have smacked Kai senseless. Tala lived in a world where she didn't have sex just as she lived in a world where he didn't even have any sex organs. Nope, Tala didn't have a penis in the little world of Amber. Of course, if anyone ever asked her, she would say he was hung like a horse because Tala would find that amusing. Besides, she had already told someone that- she couldn't remember whom- and now she kept staring at his pants. It was funny. Especially since he stuffed a sock down his sweatpants during PE one class and all the girls' eyes bugged out.

Therefore, Kai couldn't have wanted to have sex that night. He would have said. He was the one who had been against doing it in the first place and she had to admit, it was a good thing he had. Who wanted to do IT in the school common room with Maye doing the rounds? Ugh. It was enough to make her stomach turn. Besides, he had said he wasn't ready and that she wasn't ready. That didn't change in a week. At least, she didn't think so. She figured she was just about getting used to the make out sessions; she definitely wasn't ready for anything as intimate as sex. That was a whole other ball game than just kissing or having Kai feel her up. They were nice, don't get her wrong, she wouldn't let Kai do it if she wasn't enjoying it but sex involved being seen naked and many other things she simply wasn't ready for. She wanted it to happen naturally, not because they had been all hot and horny for another. However, those two things were definitely pluses for when she actually was ready.

Anyway, Kai just wasn't the type to push her into doing something she wasn't ready for. Out of anyone, he seemed to be just as cautious as she was. Plus his parents had brought him up right and she didn't think that they would condone him breaking up with her just because she wouldn't let him pop her cherry. It just wouldn't be very sportsmanlike and Kai stood for all that was sportsmanlike, when he wasn't messing around with Tala or throwing caramels at people hoping that they would stick to their uniforms. Or when he wasn't threatening people or shoving people into lockers. But that had only happened once. And she knew he was a good person.

He hadn't even been very mean to her when she had started an all out war on him. He had been civil. He had never sniped at her the way she had sniped at him. He let her sleep in his room during that weekend. He had carried her up a cliff, true it had been his fault she had fallen, -indirectly. Still it was his fault. He had broken up with Mariam for her… ok that wasn't a good thing. That was why she was getting in so many messes and was feeling so screwed up. She needed to cut ties with Mariam for the last time. If she did that, she could just forget the fact that they had been friends and she could concentrate on ignoring her and her life would be saner.

She just wished that Kai had cut all his ties to her instead of trying to be friends with her. Kai didn't need Mariam's friendship. Besides, the girl didn't want to be friends. That was painfully obvious by her treatment of Amber but Kai never really noticed. Not until it was shoved in his face and even then, he was willing to let it slide because he felt guilty. Why did he have to feel guilty?

Did he feel guilty about suspecting her of cheating on him?

She sat back and tried to block out the television sound, mildly irritated that Musa hadn't had one reaction to the fact that Riven was back despite the fact that he had left her with the enemy. And those two were supposed to become a couple? There was nothing to show that they would belong together. Ugh.

"OK, what did he say?" She wondered as she tried to remember the argument they had had in her dorm.

She had been angry with him… no with Mariam for trying to poison Kai against her because she was afraid that he was thinking the same thing. That she was cheating on him when she wasn't but she was angry with herself for not telling him. She should have told him that she had made friends with Mystel but Kai wouldn't have liked that. There was no way she could have had that turn out any differently. So then, she had lashed out at Kai because she had been scared that he would dump her and she wanted to get in first.

Moreover, he had yelled at her. That had been a bit scary. Kai never raised his voice to her, unless she was on the ice and that was usually her own fault. She had tried to make him angry but he had remained calm towards her, so she had taken that to mean he didn't care. He hadn't said that he cared about her. He hadn't said anything about being jealous or anything that would show that he wanted to be with her.

She wanted to force him into a declaration, she realized chilled to the bone. She wanted Kai to care, to show that she wasn't the one who was feeling everything. She wanted him to prove that their relationship was worth saving. Therefore, she pushed and prodded and he hadn't reacted. She had wanted some kind of reassurance but she shouldn't have expected something he wasn't willing to give. Especially when she hadn't vocalized how she felt about him. She didn't even know how she felt, so how could he know how he felt? They were both young. Too young to know anything about the world of love and relationships.

She blew out a breath and pressed her lips together as she felt her eyes begin to burn. A hopeless sensation was taking control of her and she didn't like it one bit. She wanted to be angry. She wanted to be emotionless. She didn't want to be depressed. She didn't want to be heartbroken and the scary thing was that was how she was acting. She hadn't changed out of her clothes. She had no appetite. She had no interest in her cartoons. All she wanted to do was sleep and when she slept, she dreamt of him and that only hurt more.

"I can't eat, I can't sleep… Oh man, I'm such a cliché."

"Amber, are you planning on just slouching around all day?" Her mother's voice came from the kitchen and her stomach lurched guiltily for her earlier thoughts.

"That was the idea."

"Why don't you go out and see some of your friends?" Treasa suggested as she walked into through the doorway, drying her hands off on a towel.

"Because they're all at school."

"What about Wyatt and Paddy?"

Amber shrugged. "They're…" She was going to say they weren't really her friends and that was sort of the truth. They weren't the type of friends she was comfortable showing her depressed side to. They expected her to be cheerful and outgoing and she didn't want to spoil that image. Besides, they'd only try to find out what was wrong with her and she wasn't going to go spilling her guts to them. This was her problem and it was private.

Luckily, the phone rang before she could answer and her mother waddled off to answer it. Immediately Amber turned down the volume on the TV to catch who it might be that was phoning. However, as her mother continued talking, she realized that it couldn't be Kai or Tala. Her mother would have called her if it were.

Suddenly her mother popped in the door. "Amber, it's for you."

Scrambling to her feet, Amber took the phone and launched herself onto the armchair, tossing her feet over the armrest.

"Suppity."

"_And what sort of greeting is that?_"

Amber cringed. "Oh sorry, Nana. Good afternoon, how're you?"

"_Hmm._" Her Irish grandmother muttered before answering. "_My gout's playing up due to the cold, but other than that, I'm grand. Now what's this about you skiving off from school?_"

"I never skived off. I came home for the weekend. I'm allowed to do that. I'm not in prison you know."

"_Aye, well you don't come home every other Saturday._"

"So?" She demanded defensively. She was allowed to come home. It was her home after all. God, her Nana could be a right auld biddy when she wanted to be. "Did you know Dad's pregnant?"

"_No, I didn't know that was possible_." Nana Molly responded and Amber could just hear her trying not to laugh.

"You know what I mean. His bitch-"

"_Don't swear._"

"Tsk." She rolled her eyes. Don't swear. Don't take the lords name in vain. Don't talk back to your Nana. Ye gods. "Fine, Pris-cill-a is pregnant and your darling little boy told me in a note."

"_Ah for pity's sake. Right, so you want me to have a word with him?_"

"No! I don't care. He can have a baby if he wants. It doesn't matter."

"_Except that it'll be your little brother or sister._"

"Yeah and what kind of screwed up shit is that-

"_Don't swear!_"

"Aye right!" She bit out irritated before struggling to calm down. "Anyways, his girlfriend is the aunt of my boyfriend and how screwed up is that? It's wrong Nana and I think it's incestuous too! I mean, that kid is going to grow up and hang itself because it doesn't know who its father is and who its sister is or anything like that because it's all messed up!"

"_Well that's a bit of an exaggeration. And sure, there's nothing you can do about it now._"

"Oh well, you're a load of feckin' help to me!"

"_Don't swear! Or I'll be dragging you to church with me when you come to Ireland._"

"Nana, can you keep your mind on the point at hand?" Amber demanded. God her Nana was so bloody obsessed with her potty mouth. It was a good thing she was on the phone or the woman would be beating her senseless for every blasphemous word that spewed from her lips.

"_Well if you had gotten him a packet of condoms for Christmas, you might not be in this situation._"

Amber growled. "Like he can't take care of that himself. She was probably on the pill and probably stopped taking it so she'd get pregnant and trap him. Some dad he'll be."

"_Don't be like that. Your dad's a good man._"

"When he can remember to be one, he is. Fair enough, I'll say that. But he's been piss poor lately. He only does the dad thing when he can be arsed and you know it. I should warn Pissy that he'll not be much better to her child."

"_Then if you feel that way Amber, why don't you tell him? He's your dad. He's got a duty to you._"

"And now he's got a duty to _it_."

"_Well, Amber, you had your chance._"

Again, she rolled her eyes. Her grandmother just didn't understand. She couldn't tell her father to dump Priscilla. That would have made him upset at her and she couldn't bear for that to happen.

"_Your dad loves you. He won't stop being a dad because he has a new baby on the way._"

"Nana, if I'm not under the same roof, he forgets I exist. His secretary is the one who tells him when my birthday-"

"_Don't be melodramatic. Your daddy loves you._"

Yet, despite everything, she knew that was true. She knew he did. He just wasn't a good father but he did genuinely care for her. He wanted to be a good dad, he just didn't know how and she couldn't continue comparing him to how Seth treated his boys, or to how Hiroshi treated Shahero or even to how Nicolai treated Kai. They weren't her dad and her father couldn't change who he was otherwise he wouldn't be James Benson.

"I know Nana. I'm just so… I don't know. I just haven't been feeling the best recently."

"_Something to do with that boyfriend of yours? Are you bringing him to visit me in Ireland so I can give him my seal of approval?"_

"Nana, if I bring him within an inch of the house, you'll be out with a goddamn shotgun on a rocking chair on the porch cackling like an old hag. Poor guy won't stand a chance. Besides, he and I broke up."

"_What? Why?_"

"Well we were never gonna get married Nana. It's just something that happens. It wasn't working out." She picked up a cushion and placed it behind her head when she felt her neck begin to get sore.

"_That's not what your mammy says._"

"Aye, well she doesn't know the full story. So there's no point in giving me grief over it."

"_I heard that you were the one giving him grief._"

"He thought I was cheating on him!"

"_And were you out with another boy?_"

"No!" … "Oh all right I was, but not romantically."

"_Well there's no such thing as platonic relationships between boys and girls._"

"So you're saying me and Tala have been banging each other senseless on the quiet?" She demanded sitting up.

"_Don't be ridiculous. He thinks of you as a sister. Now about this young man? What's he like?_"

"Nana, I don't like him like that. I like Kai but Kai doesn't like me because he thinks I cheated on him and his ex girlfriend is still sniffing around him and she'll have sex with him and I won't."

"_Damn right you won't!_"

"Ah shit, I didn't mean to…" She trailed off on a whimper. Nana had a way of extracting information from her with very little coaxing.

"_You're too young to be having sex._"

Amber bristled. "Nana, I'm seventeen. Loads of people my age are having sex."

"_Not as many as you think._"

"My friend's having sex."

"_Well you shouldn't be hanging around with her then._"

"NANA! You make her sound like a slut and she's not. She's been seeing the guy for years and he really loves her and he never pressured her."

"_Are you saying your man pressured you?_"

"NO! He's not ready either. But that's not the point of the matter, I can have sex if I want to and that's what it comes down to. Whether _I_ want to or not. Not whether you say I can or not. I can't believe I'm having this conversation with my grandmother." She added with a grumble.

"_Why not? You're certainly not having it with your parents._"

"Neither of who are in a position to lecture me about safe sex. I mean both of them at the same time, Nana. That's forcing things I bit. I happen to like being an only child."

"_Your problem is that you're spoilt!_"

Amber scowled darkly at the motes of dust in the air, imagining them each to be her grandmother's head, which would explode under the intensity of her glare. "Aye, well, so what? They didn't give me any siblings when I was young enough to enjoy them. Now I'm going to be about twenty years older and Dad's no spring chicken; what does he think he's doing?"

"_And he's not ancient either. I know men who're around fifty and are getting women pregnant._"

"Well at that age, they should have their zippers sewn shut. We don't need geriatrics have we'uns."

There was silence and then her Nana's rich, full laugh spilt down the line causing Amber's lips to quiver before she began to snicker. Her Nana was great at cheering her up.

After the laughter died down, her grandmother sobered again. "_So he dumped you because he thought you were cheating on him._"

"Oh great Nana, you jump to the conclusion that he dumped me. Well I dumped him, so there."

"_Why? Was he going to dump you?_"

"I dunno!" Amber exclaimed. What was she, a mind reader? "Maybe. Probably not."

"_Well that was smart, wasn't it? You go and dump a boyfriend who wasn't going to dump you._"

"I know!" She snapped frustratedly. "But I was just so angry. Dad's spewing out babies and Kai's bitch of a-" Her grandmother's growl vibrated down the line. "Fine, witch of a girlfriend was telling him that I was cheating, which I wasn't and then my coach dumps me from the team and I just dumped Kai."

"_Well you certainly weren't given the brains of the family._"

"No Ozuma got all of them and he's not even fucking related." She snapped before wincing. "Sorry, ok, sorry I didn't mean to curse. I'm just so pissed off."

"_So I take it you don't want to be broken up._"

"NO! Have you seen Kai? Why the hell would I want to be willingly broken up from him? I like him. He's sexy and smart and such a brilliant hockey player and strategist and he's fun to be around and completely gorgeous with a body to die for and-"

"_I don't think I like this boy._" Her Nana mumbled.

"I'm just telling you the fucking tru-" She slapped a hand over her mouth realizing her slip just too late.

"_You just wait, girl, until you get to Ireland. You'll not be able to taste food or sit down for a week._"

"That's abuse Nana. That's against the law. Besides, I'm just saying Kai's perfect."

"_No man's perfect. Even your granddaddy wasn't perfect. No one's perfect. Everyone makes mistakes and if he's so great, he'll realize that you made one too. So you can just go back to school and tell him so._"

"Aye, Nana, that'll work. I'll just walk up to him and say, I made a mistake and we'll be back together again."

"_Don't be naïve. You have to apologize for being a brat and explain to him why you lashed out. Does he even know about your dad?_"

"Um… hehe… no. I kind of forgot to mention that part."

"_How the hell do you manage at that school?_" Nana muttered before rambling on. "_Well I have dinner to prepare for your uncle Rory, so I must go. You tell that man of yours that you're sorry Amber and I'll see you at Easter._"

"Aye, fine. Bye Nana."

"_Goodbye Dailtín_."

The phone went dead and Amber sighed. Tell Kai she was sorry. He was bound to listen, she did have some reasons and if she apologized really well and he did really care… then they should be ok. Right?

She rolled off the armchair onto her feet. Stretching her body, she reached her fingertips towards the ceiling, rising up onto her tiptoes. Slumping, she popped the phone into her pocket and shuffled towards the kitchen, yanking the door open. She misjudged where she had stood and managed to graze her cheek. Cursing bloody blue murder, she stormed into the kitchen and dumped the phone onto the table.

"Did you have a nice chat with Molly?" Treasa wondered before covering her mouth in surprise. "What have you done to yourself?"

"Walked into that fucking bloody door."

"Amber don't curse so much."

"Sorry and aye, I had a nice chat to Nana. She's bonkers but hey, it's probably genetic. Bryan's heading that way too." Her lips quirked and had Treasa sighing in relief. Her daughter may be heartbroken but she was well on her way to recovery.

"Would you like a cold compress Amber?"

Amber froze and spun to face the woman who had seen fit to keep quiet until the girl was in the room completely. "Oh, ah, yeah, thanks Jean."

Jean smiled and moved to the fridge. "You have an ice pack in here, Treasa?"

"Just inside the door." The dark haired woman replied, sliding into a seat and rubbing her swollen stomach.

Amber dropped into her seat and kicked her feet up onto a vacant chair. "So why did Nana call anyway?"

"She must have heard about your father."

"Bastard."

"Amber." Treasa lamented. Her daughter really needed to stop cursing so much. It really was a filthy habit and wasn't going to get her anywhere in life.

"Sorry mum."

"Here you go, sweetheart." Jean offered her the cold compress covered in a white linen cloth. "Would you like some coffee?"

"No thank you." The younger girl replied meekly. "Uh, look. What I said to Kai… I mean, I didn't really mean it. I mean, I quit the team. I just won't feel comfortable going back to it-"

"Nicolai won't take you back until you're the correct weight anyway, sweetheart." Jean told her sympathetically. "He's worried about you. We all are."

Amber flushed and looked away. There was nothing wrong with her but she'd leave that for the moment. She knew she was fine. She was right weight for her height. Nicolai wanted her to gain weight and with her metabolism, that was never going to happen. She hadn't gained much weight since she hit her teenage years, hence why she hadn't developed much curve wise but she was happy with her weight. Why was Nicolai forcing her to see herself as skinny? It just bugged her. Her gaining weight wasn't going to make her a better player.

"Well what I said to Kai… I didn't mean that."

Jean and Treasa exchanged frustrated looks but Jean simply accepted the girls comment. "Well I'm sure Kai knows that. He's not a complete idiot; he just acts like it from time to time." Jean joked. "Talk to him when you get back to school, he'll probably have just brushed it under the carpet. Put it down to PMS."

Amber smiled, it was watery but it was there and for the first time since the whole fiasco had begun by seeing Kai outside the café, she began to feel better. Her phone buzzed and she started. Flicking a glance at the caller id, she felt her smile fade. "I have to take this."

Both women nodded and watched as she disappeared out the door. Sighing heavily, they wondered what they had done to deserve such stubborn children.

* * *

Arista paced the abandoned classroom where she had met up with Brooklyn just a couple of weeks ago. It felt like months had passed and yet, she knew better. That should have made what she was about to do easier but it didn't. She wished to hell that she hadn't gotten involved with Brooklyn Adams. Things would be so much easier. Amber and Kai would never have broken up. She wouldn't have betrayed her friends and Miyami wouldn't hate her. Everything would be just as it always was. She would be just plain, old, good-for-a-laugh, Arista, the goalie for the Tigers. Nothing more, nothing less. She would be neglected by the team as they forged their own lives, she realized numbly but everyone would be happier. There would be no conflict. She was better off in the background anyway.

"_Hey Belle._"

She pressed her trembling lips together and squeezed her eyes shut. This was hard. Why was it hard? It shouldn't have been hard. Her friends came first. This was the only way that she could solve everything. Well not everything but Miyami said that she wouldn't tell Kai if Arista broke up with Brooklyn and if she didn't tell Kai, then the others wouldn't find out and hate her. Though part of her felt that she should tell Kai, after all, if she told him the truth, he would have no reason to be angry with Amber.

"_Belle?_"

"Um… hi."

"_Is something wrong? I'm just about to head to practice but if you want to meet up-_"

"No!"

"_Belle?_" His voice sounded sharp and slightly worried. "_Has something happened?_"

"No nothing." She whispered, unable to find her voice. She felt choked and her chest throbbed achingly.

"_Do you need me to come over?_"

"No! You can't. Not now, not ever" She blurted out, swallowing the lump that had formed in her throat. She felt constricted and her chest felt tight, as though her ribs were being crushed by iron bands.

"_What's going on? Has someone else found out? Don't tell me that goddamn Benson brat couldn't keep her mouth shut. She blabbed to Hiwatari, didn't she?_"

Brooklyn cursed so viciously it burnt her ears but that was nothing compared to the way her blood was boiling at his accusations. How dare he? Because of Amber keeping quiet, she had lost her boyfriend and because she had kept their secret, she had made herself sick. And he had the nerve to accuse her?

How dare he? He didn't know anything. He didn't care about people. He didn't understand what it was like to do everything for a friend; so that you risked losing something that you valued more than anything. He didn't know what it was like to hurt for a friend, to feel your heart break for them.

And he never would because no one mattered to Brooklyn. Not really. She thought she did, but she couldn't really matter because if she did, that would mean that he would understand how much her friends meant to her. He would never have placed her in this position.

"Amber never told anyone, Dicklyn." She spat with every ounce of disdain she could muster. Her heart might be breaking but that didn't matter because her friends meant the world to her. That was more than he could. She would always be richer than he would be, maybe not in monetary value but she had friends and a team that cared. He would never have that. "She didn't have to. I did."

"_What? Why?_"

"Because I won't stand by and see a friend hurt because of my mistake."

"_Mistake? That's all I am to you?_" He demanded, anger leaking through the pure bafflement that had colored his tone.

"I'm a Tiger. You're a Shark. It was never going to work."

"_It was working just fine._"

She shook her head but knew he couldn't see it. The bitter anger in his voice surprised her. He sounded almost hurt but it was more likely the case that he was about to loose his biggest asset in the Tiger team, that had to piss him off after all the hard work he had put in with her.

"Sooner or later, it would have fallen apart. I can't afford to lay my loyalties elsewhere."

"_So you're dumping me?_" He asked coldly.

Her nose prickled and her jaw clenched. Her eyes felt so warm and when she blinked them, they were the wetter than usual but she kept all that to herself. She had to remain strong and keep her composure because this was for the best. When their two teams played, she couldn't afford to be distracted and neither could he. "Yeah. Don't call me, don't email me or come near me, Brooklyn. I don't want to see you again."

Without letting him say a word in his defense, she put the phone down. Dragging in a long breath, she blindly clutched at the wall as her knees shook before she blew out a breath and blinked back the tears. She had a stash of pixie sticks up in her dorm; they should be good for an energy boost. She turned shakily and then froze, eyes widening as she clapped eyes on the figure standing by the door.

"Kai!" She blurted out, eyes growing impossibly wider. "Hi."

"You broke up with Brooklyn?" He asked conversationally as he entered the classroom. Dressed in a pair of tracksuit bottoms and a t-shirt with a v of sweat indicating he had been out jogging before he had come in. He pulled out a chair and turned it round to straddle it. "I didn't know you two were going out. Didn't know you knew each other, actually."

She flinched and swallowed hard. Expression haggard, she took a seat and waited for the inevitable. He'd surely demand she resigned from the team when he heard she was fraternizing with the enemy.

"So how did it happen?" He asked curiously, as he folded his arms over the back of the chair.

"I guess it happened around New Years. I was visiting some relatives in Russia and he was too."

A brow winged up. "Out of the whole of Russia, he happened to have relatives in the exact same area? What a coincidence."

"No, he did. Our grandparents are friends. Since we were of a similar age and had the same things in common, i.e. Hockey and going to school in the same area, it just seemed natural for our parents to stick us together. I got to know him and he was nice." She glanced up warily through her bangs to gauge his reaction. He was absorbing everything calmly, not even a flicker of emotion moved through his dark eyes so she felt it was safe to continue. Since she had already spilled her story, the second time seemed easier. Every thing just flowed out of her mouth without much thought and Kai listened without comment, only nudging her to continue with a few 'hmm's and 'and's.

"He only wanted to be my friend at first." She stressed. "Then it just progressed and I let it because I wanted it to and because I wanted a life of my own. I've always done things with the team and everything I do revolves around my friends but that won't last forever. The girls all have lives that don't involve me and… I guess I just wanted to have something for myself." She looked down at her fingers, which were wearing a hole in the cuff of her sleeve. "That probably sounds pretty selfish."

"No, I understand. You get swamped in the team, they become your whole life but you're not their's." He replied somberly. "It's like family."

"Yeah, it is. I mean, I love them but sometime I just want to be on my own and do things without them. They all do things without me. Miyami has Johnny, you, Rei and her cousins and Shahero has Hitoshi and Johnny. Aspin has Kane and Johnny. Maybe they are just as trapped as I am but they don't feel it."

"Of course they do. Everyone's searching for somewhere they belong." Hadn't he done the same? Then he decided he didn't really belong anywhere. His parents were a unit that he could never intrude on. He was part of their family but when he was with them, he felt like the odd one out even though he loved them dearly. Then he came here and he began to feel like he belonged. Belonged with Amber, he added. Wasn't that why he had cooled off? Because he had felt that unit forming between them?

Arista processed his words then nodded exuberantly. That's how she felt. She wanted to belong somewhere, to be important to someone.

"And Brooklyn made you feel like you belonged?" Kai asked.

"He wanted to be around me. He would phone up to find out if we could meet up. I know it was wrong to keep it a secret but I just didn't see how any of you would understand. And then Amber found out and she was ok with it-"

"Amber?" Kai's gaze suddenly focused on her with laser precision as he latched onto the most important noun in her tirade. "She knew?"

Arista nodded guiltily. "I made her swear not to tell anyone. She wanted to tell you but… I played on her loyalties. I knew her longer and all that. I know what I did was wrong but I just didn't want to be forced to stop seeing him."

Kai sighed and rubbed his forehead. He looked out at the sun that was blazing high in the sky, luring people out with its false promises of warmth. "When did she find out?"

"During the warrior/Shark game."

"That's why you wanted to go?"

She bit her lip and nodded. "I'm sorry I lied."

"Did she know then?" The thought of her manipulating him into going to that game just so that Arista could be with Adams made his stomach churn. Was that all he was to her? A pawn? To be used and discarded as she saw fit.

"No. She found out when she went to the toilet, she said."

Was that before or after she met Mystel, he wondered. "So she promised not to tell anyone? Then why are you breaking up with him?"

This was the part that she had been dreading. "Because I'm the reason you and Amber broke up."

"What do you mean?"

"I told Brooklyn that Amber knew and since people were getting suspicious about me disappearing all the time, we decided to bring Amber and Mystel with us on our dates. We'd meet up, those two would go look around the shops, and we'd go the cinema or whatever. I was the one who introduced Amber to Mystel."

Kai closed his eyes as his stomach clenched in pain. "Were they- Was she…?" He couldn't bring himself to say the words. He couldn't bring himself to think that she would cheat on him. He knew she wouldn't. Would she? If she did… His expression froze over as everything inside him turned to ice.

"NO!" Arista exclaimed vehemently. "She knew he liked her, that was sort of obvious-

He was going to beat that blond piece of crap to a bloody pulp and then cut his tiny little heart into pieces. To touch what was his, he had no right!

"-but Amber just liked him as a friend and she made that perfectly clear. Brooklyn was really fed up with hearing about you so much. No offence, but he really doesn't like you."

"And you dated this guy? Arista, you know me. If he doesn't like me, what does that say about him? He gets a thrill out of hurting people. You should know that."

"He's had it tough too. He's not as badass as he likes everyone to think. He just hides it really well." She defended. "The point is that Amber treated Mystel like every other boy she's friends with. She never gave him any hint that she felt any other way about him."

"So you broke up with him?"

"Miyami said I had to. I told her. When I heard what she said about you two, I felt like I had to tell them. She said if I broke up with him, she wouldn't tell any of the others. I know it's cowardly, but I don't want them to know. I don't want them to hate me."

"They wouldn't. You can't hate family but you can dislike the decisions they make." Kai caught her gaze and kept his gaze steady on hers. "I am not Adam's biggest fan. I won't even claim to like the bastard because not only is he a sore loser but he's a jerk. He uses whatever method and whatever tools he can to get what he wants."

"You think he was using me?"

"Maybe, maybe not. But would you have been able to remain impartial in a match against him?"

"I'm a professional. My team comes before all else."

"Would he really accept that?" Kai wondered, wanting her to be honest with herself. She was a good girl, funny and friendly with extraordinary talent. Whatever was sent up against her, she would face head on. "If you won, he wouldn't accept the loss graciously. He's not the type."

"Maybe he needs to lose something." She murmured softly, blinking back more tears that threatened to fall.

"Maybe he does. Just stay strong Arista. If he really is interested in just you and not the team, then he'll be waiting come the end of the year. But you both need to be focused. However, it's up to you. I can't tell you what to do with your life." Getting to his feet, he headed towards the door.

"Are you and Amber going to get back together?"

He glanced over his shoulder, taking in the sight she made. Her eyes were damp. Her skin was flushed and her nose was slightly red and her expression was bleak. Nevertheless, she watched him with a certain sense of expectation. "Probably."

"She really likes you."

He accepted that with a soft smile and a nod before he left the room and she slumped, her head dropping onto her crossed arm as she allowed the tears to slip down her cheek.

* * *

Mystel bobbed in the water, shooting his roommate a few anxious glances. For some reason Brooklyn was angry with him. When the orange haired vice captain had stormed into the changing rooms for their weekly Sunday training session in the indoor swimming pool, he had known something was wrong. He had been in a foul mood but Mystel hadn't had a chance to ask him what was wrong. He'd asked both Garland and Moses but both boys had claimed no knowledge of what had put their friend in a foul mood. But something told him that it had something to do with Belle and that bothered the blond greatly.

What if Hiwatari had found out about Amber and him meeting up? Would she have told him about Arista and Brooklyn in order to save her own skin? It didn't sound like something Amber would do but Brooklyn didn't get angry like this over nothing. Plus when he thought Mystel wasn't looking, Brooklyn sent very threatening looks at him. It was almost as though he blamed the blond, which was ridiculous because Mystel hadn't done anything wrong recently. There was that one time he had borrowed Brooklyn's hair gel because he ran out but he had apologized. Besides, if Amber had said anything, wouldn't she have told him?

On that, he wasn't so sure. Yes, he thought Amber was an amazing girl but she had never given any indication that she would turn to him if she had any problems. She always talked about how she turned to her cousin, or Tala Valkov, even Hiwatari. But she never turned to him when she was upset even though he had offered his services to her should she need them. He had never felt remotely needed by her. She had enough men in her life she probably didn't need him. She probably didn't spare him much of a passing thought. After all, she only hung around with him whenever Brooklyn and Arista needed some time alone.

What if something had happened between Arista and Brooklyn? Would that mean he'd never get the chance to see Amber again unless it was on the ice? That was a chilling thought. He had gotten used to the idea of seeing her quite a bit and had never really thought on what would happen if their mutual friends fell apart.

A shrill whistle echoed throughout the room and he went limp, sinking beneath the water and holding his breath. Around him, he could make out the figures of his team in the cyan blue water. Brooklyn's eyes were closed as he sank to the pool floor with tranquility that none of the others could master. It was almost as though the water didn't bother him. Mystel was a water baby. He grew up around water and he enjoyed swimming but that still didn't make him easy in it. He was still wary of the great power it could hold over a person.

Around the remaining group, he could see the legs of those who hadn't been able to hold their breaths long enough. They were swimming laps of the pool because they weren't strong enough mentally so they had to be strong enough physically or so Balkof said. In Mystel's opinion, the man was taking his form of sadism to a completely new level.

A gurgle of bubbles shot up from his left and he turned to see Moses choke and expel another jet of bubbles before he shot up to the surface. Mystel cringed. Poor guy was going to get one heck of a reaming over this. Idly he looked at his watch, still a little longer to go.

His chest felt close to exploding while his head ached. He knew this was an exercise to expand his lungs but he hated it so much. All these exercises were close to torture and they never felt any better. There were the ones that had him linked up to a computer to monitor his heart rate and the ones that checked his breathing and his blood pressure. None of them made him a better player. All he wanted to do was play hockey. What was so wrong with that? It was fun and made him feel good.

All this competition, though it made his blood pump, was blown way out of proportion. Brooklyn's intense hatred of Hiwatari and Hiwatari's hatred of Brooklyn. Balkof's disdain of the Tigers and the other teams, it was all so pathetic. They were a school league. Why was all this being made into a bigger deal than it should be? The matches were supposed to be friendly. They weren't in it to gain money though there was a check that went to the winning school to inspire them to get to the final but it wasn't anything like the money professionals got.

He watched as Brooklyn kicked to the surface and he followed. Garland came up as well, obviously growing bored of just floating around like a balloon. There was a somber mood to the group today. Usually they would make faces under the water, make gestures calling Balkof a wanker and the likes, but today it seemed every one was noticing Brooklyn's disturbing mood.

He broke the surface and gulped in fresh lungful's of air, swallowing the chlorine flavored water that seeped in between his lips. His ears popped and he soon heard the roars of Balkof from the other side of the pool as he yelled at Brooklyn for coming up too early. Slowly, Mystel glided over to Garland's side.

"Why did he come up?"

"Cramp, I think." Garland replied, treading water. His long silvery blue hair was tied back from his face but the products he used to keep the shorter strands back had been washed out so that the short strands were plastered to his brow giving his face a softer look.

"Shit."

Mystel's eyes widened as Brooklyn said something to get Balkof's back up and the man grabbed the orange haired boys head and shoved it under the water. The duo looked on, as did most of the team as they stopped their laps to stare as their vice captain thrashed wildly.

"That's going too far. Surely there's someone we can complain to!" Mystel blurted out angrily.

"Who?" Garland inquired. "All the alumni care about is winning the league. Balkof does that and they don't care how."

"But wasn't Balkof teamed up with Hiwatari for the past couple of years? Didn't Coach Hiwatari coach the teams during the lead up matches? Wasn't Balkof only present for the finals?"

Garland frowned. "I think so. I don't know."

"Well that's what I heard." Arista had said something like that to Brooklyn once.

"That doesn't really matter."

Balkof pulled Brooklyn's head up from the water and allowed the boy to cough out the water and gasp in some much needed oxygen while Balkof growled something to him. The others couldn't hear but they knew that the words would be horrible. They knew that they would cut at Brooklyn, try to undermine his self-esteem and everything Mystel and Arista tried so hard to build would shatter underneath the cruel careless words. Balkof knew how to get right to people's weak spots. It's what he was best at. Mental warfare.

"Man, look at Balkof stick it to him." Carlos snickered as he lounged against the side of the pool. He seemed to like broadcasting the fact that he had more chest hair than any of the other boys. The fact that he had just as much back hair didn't seem to bother him "Any minute now Adams is gonna start bawling his eyes out."

José cackled in that same feminine pitch. He obviously took hormones since his voice hadn't seemed to have broken yet, and he was as hairless as a baby was. Maybe he waxed; he seemed like the type to take pleasure from pain. "Just like you did when Hiwatari backhanded you, remember?"

The short midget of their little group let out a riotous burst of laughter while Carlos snarled and tsked disgustedly. Before Carlos could do anything, Mystel's fist had collided with the hairy ape.

"Mystel!" Garland hissed while Moses lumbered forward in the water from the other side of the pool to aid his friend.

"Get off me, you pussy!" Carlos growled trying to force the blond's head under the water but the blond was more agile and able to dodge each of his fumbled attempts to grab him.

"You're a piece of crap!" Mystel snarled as he managed to clip the boys jaw despite the water that made everything so slippery.

Finally noticing the two of them, Balkof blew his whistle just as Moses grabbed Mystel and pulled him back while Garland grabbed Carlos by the hair and tossed him away like trash. The boy hit the water and slapped at it in an attempt to regain his balance.

"What did you two think you were doing?"

"He attacked me."

"He deserved it." Mystel replied with none of the jovial humor he was known for. At the top of the pool, Brooklyn was slowly drawing himself out of the pool with weak, deliberate movements.

"Pack of ingrates." Balkof hissed venomously. He despised the lot of them. All whining and winging about their problems. Melodramatic children who knew nothing of the real world. They wouldn't last without someone to hold their hand. They sickened him. "Get out!"

Mystel and Carlos quickly scrambled out of the lapping water taking advantage of the fact that Balkof wanted nothing more than the pair of them out of his sight. He'd take care of them later but they'd deal with that then.

"The rest of you, get back under the water. And this time, no one comes up until I blow the whistle or you're going to be sorry!"

Mystel dragged his body into the changing room. His body felt abused and his shorts were water logged, sopping wet and clinging to his legs. He stepped through the disinfectant pool and wandered down the cool corridor to the changing rooms. His wet feet left imprints on the tiled floor, sometimes coming in to contact with Brooklyn's footprints so the two small puddles linked together. He felt the cool air tease over his bronzed skin causing goosebumps to rise as he stepped into the open area of the changing rooms.

He spotted Brooklyn sitting on the bench, head in his hands immediately while Carlos pushed past to head for the showers down a narrow corridor out of sight of the main door.

"Hey." He greeted, sinking down onto the bench and grabbing his towel to wipe his face.

"What do you want?" Brooklyn demanded gruffly, not bothering to lift his face from his hands.

Mystel frowned. "I just wanted to check up on you. Balkof was pretty rough on you."

"Yeah and what do you care?"

The blonds frown deepened further. "Excuse me?"

Brooklyn looked up and shot him a dark look. "She broke up with me because of you."

"Arista? But what did I do?"

"You, The plague, it's all linked. You know they were right to call her the plague. She infects everyone she touches." Brooklyn laughed bitterly.

"What did Amber do?" Mystel wondered.

"I don't know. She did something to make Belle tell her friends."

"Oh." Mystel murmured. "So she broke up with you because her friends told her to, huh?"

"Pretty much."

"How can they be so petty? I always thought they were close but they can't be if they're dictating to her how to live her life."

Brooklyn stared at his young roomate in surprise. He hadn't been expecting this. He had been expecting a smirk, a sneer, not righteous anger on his behalf. He still didn't understand this whole friendship thing. He didn't see how Mystel could feel angry for him. Nor did he truly understand why he had told the blond. It had something to do with the fact that he wanted to blame someone and it seemed easy to pick on the bright boy who wouldn't fight back but somewhere, he felt more magnaimous towards his friend. He had a way of listening without making him feel like a bleeding heart.

"Seriously, Brook, you two really like each other. Shouldn't they be supportive of her instead of berating her?" The blond demanded irately. A fire had ignited within his blue eyes at the injustice his friend was facing. How couldn't Arista see how much Brooklyn needed her? He was becoming a different person. Someone who was actually beginning to care about people and now she had stabbed him in the back.

"I'm the enemy in their eyes."

"Yeah, well they don't know you. If that's the way she feels, she doesn't deserve you. You're a good person."

The ginger haired boy snorted. "No I'm not. I don't want to be a good person either. Leave that shit to someone else. I'm away to get a shower." Brooklyn stated as he got to his feet, grabbing a towel. He paused, awkwardly. "Thanks man."

Mystel grinned getting to his own feet. "No problem."

* * *

Miyami stared unseeingly at the photo album resting on her lap, lost in memories that assaulted her with each glimpse of a smiling face. There was rarely a photo in which someone wasn't smiling; even those who didn't like the camera were often caught grinning, either by a sneaky person or by the urgings of friends.

Lifting the remote lying on her bed, she skipped the track on the mixed CD and was about to skip through the _Lost Prophets 'Shinobi_' when something compelled her to let it play out. It wasn't her type of song but there were plenty of times she had entered her dorm to see Amber or Shahero bouncing about on the bed, singing their hearts out to it.

Glumly, she turned another page and smiled softly at a picture of herself and Arista sticking their tongue out at the camera during a family get-together. She had been so harsh to Arista. It was the only thing plaguing at the numbness of her mind. She kept replaying the scene in her head and each time she felt worse and worse.

What right had she to tell Arista what to do? Granted Arista was getting herself into dangerous waters. Adams was a jerk and Arista was often naïve but she wasn't a fool. Maybe she saw something in him that none of them could and yet Miyami just had this overwhelming feeling that he was using Arista to his own ends. And that pissed her off. She couldn't stand the thought of someone as experienced as Adams could be using her cousin.

_But what if he wasn't_? A sly voice demanded. What if he did actually like Arista? She was a smart, funny and pretty girl. Why shouldn't he like her? But there was just something that she couldn't put her finger on. A feeling of dread that told her that he wasn't to be trusted. She had to trust her instincts. She just had to. She had dated more guys than Arista had, she had more experience and she felt it was her duty to watch out for Arista. She didn't want Arista to make any of the mistakes she or other girls had. If she could spare Arista the pain of heartbreak, she would do whatever necessary.

First, she had to apologize to her cousin. She may not like Adams and she thought Arista was well shot of him but the others things she had said had been out of line. The only person making Amber sick was herself and that was another person who was going to get a piece of her mind. If she had worries, why didn't she just say so instead of starving herself for attention?

Closing the album with a slap, she rolled off the bed and fumbled around for her shoes. Besides, that would all be done later. She had plans to meet Johnny. His behavior lately had been nothing but exceptional so he deserved a bonus. She still couldn't get over how he had reacted the night before when he caught her with Kai. Not that there was anything going on. She felt nothing but fraternal affection for the bluenette. There was just something about him, a connection she felt. And Johnny knew that. She wasn't remotely attracted to Kai and she knew Kai felt the same.

But still, she figured Johnny needed a reward. It certainly wasn't easy for him to take a few steps back especially being such a passionate person. He needed to show things physically. When he was angry, he punched someone -usually Enrique who would just scrap back if the mood was on him. When he was upset, he trashed his room. When he lost a game, he trashed the locker room. When he was happy, he hugged the nearest female -usually one of the team who would try to escape without a broken rib. And when he wanted to show he cared, he kissed her. He couldn't talk about his emotions so telling him to take things slow was making him hold back his emotions. Nevertheless, she loved him deeply. She didn't want to take him for granted or have him do the same.

However, he deserved his reward. So thinking that, she grabbed a light jacket and headed for the door.

* * *

No one knew who started the fight but Ruin was having a grand old time watching it rumble. She had her bets on Johnny because he was just plain vicious but Enrique had an agility on his side and an ability to see through the temper to get his jabs in. It had been a long time since the two of them had laid into each other. Johnny had been distracted by Miyami for the past couple of months but now that he wasn't getting laid, he was bound to take out his extra energy and the best person to fight with was always Enrique. He was just as quick to get pissed off as Johnny was since he hated to be told what to do and he loathed being questioned. He may be goofy but Johnny knew exactly how to get under his skin. The two had grown up together after all.

Besides Johnny wasn't going to get in a fight with Tala since he was a very cold fighter and Kai didn't rile very easily. Ruin figured that if you were going to fight someone, Enrique was the obvious choice. He was the youngest of them and that's what brothers did. They fought the closest one to their age -generally the younger one- that they could fight.

"That's going to hurt in the morning." Kane commented idly from where he was half sitting on the banister that lined the landing in the boy's dormitory. A white plastic pipe from a lollipop was shaking its end about the place as his tongue pushed it around. It was almost entrancing. Almost.

"Wait until Hitoshi comes and sees this." Ruin replied grimly. Not a flicker of expression shifted the plains of her face as she continued to watch the fight with dead eyes. However, if someone looked closer, they would notice the light that was begging to dance. Despite her outward appearance, she was definitely enjoying the sight.

"What started it?" Spencer wondered. He had been sleeping peacefully until they had rolled right into his door, causing the coats to fall from the hangers, which woke him rudely from his dreams.

"Johnny started on Enrique about something or other. And Enrique replied with some comment about him getting some when Johnny wasn't even with a steady girlfriend and Johnny lamped him."

"God those two are so immature." Ruin commented boredly.

"What about your sulking boyfriend? I saw him in the attic with a Bud."

Her bitter chocolate eyes rolled. He was sulking again. "For god's sake. He's such a child." When the boys chuckled, she rounded on them. "Don't start with me. Because I won't hit you, I'll just twist your balls."

Both boys winced and swallowed hard before mentally agreeing not to say anything more on the sulking red head in the attic. A door opened and Mariah stepped out, lips swollen, hair, and uniform in disarray with an equally ruffled and flushed Rei behind her.

"What's…? Wow, we opened the door to the past." Rei commented dryly while Mariah nodded with a frown marring her pretty features.

"I thought they outgrew that stage."

"Someone should get some ice."

"And salt for their mouths." Amber blurted out as she approached them, her ochre eyes fixed on the spectacle with absolute glee. "God they're really going at it, aren't they?"

The group stared at her before exchanging looks. Finally, Kane got over his stupor. "So you're back, are you? Well you can just turn that skinny ass around and go marching up to your dorm and fix those damn friends of yours."

Amber blinked at him before a petulant frown began to darken her expression. Ruin groaned sensing the temper that was about to spew from the irate Irish girl.

"What's your problem Pain?"

Kane's eyes narrowed. "My problem is you drawing everyone into your pathetic little situations. You wanna break up with Kai, go ahead. You wanna quit the team, fine! But don't make Aspin fight your battles."

Amber's honey eyes flared and her fists bunched as she regarded him. There was something intimidating about him as he slid off his perch and rounded to stand over her. She didn't like being intimidated. Not by her own teammates. Especially not by the Pain!

"I never asked Aspin to fight my fights!" She hissed.

But what did Pain mean by that? Why was Aspin fighting with someone? Who was she fighting with? Gods' sake, she goes away for twenty-four hours -not even- and blood is spilling quite literally over the floor.

"You did something. Ever since you went, she's been prickly and standoffish and I'm betting it's your fault."

"Couldn't possibly be you, could it?" Amber retorted bitchily. She was in a bad mood as it was. Seeing things as normal as always had eased the hot pit of dread in her stomach but if Pain wanted a fight. She would damn well give him one!

"Amber, Kane give it a rest." Rei ordered.

The two froze, spiteful words halted on the tip of their tongue as they fell into the old routine of listening to their old captain. As he was silencing them, Mariah had marched over to the tussling boys and had begun to ream them. As the two quit sniping, Mariah's rant could be clearly heard while Enrique and Johnny sat on the floor looking up at her as she stood fuming over them.

"…lunatics. You're seniors for gods' sake and teammates to boot. You're supposed to set a good example. Not pound the shit out of each other. If that's what you're going to do, then Johnny you go to Bryan's dorm and Enrique, you go to Tysons' and you sit in there until you're ready to act your age!"

Kane tucked his tongue in his cheek to prevent the laughter that had bubbled up his throat from bursting out. He didn't think Mariah would take too kindly to having him laugh at her. Especially since Johnny and Enrique looked close to losing their cool.

As the two used the wall to help themselves to their feet, their eyes landed on the group that had assembled to watch them. Johnny grinned and bowed causing his teammates to clap and cheer while the others looked on flabbergasted.

Just as he approached, amethyst eyes caught a glimpse of the petite figure squaring up to Kane and his expression darkened. All the amusement leaked out of him and he frowned.

"Hey Benson, what are you doing back here?" He asked, as the noise died down. He didn't look like he was kidding either when he said that, she noted with some disturbance.

"Well I had to come back sometime." And her mother had offered her a lift in before she went to work.

"You were gone?" Enrique asked; looking around for a place to spit out his mouthful of blood and saliva and finding nowhere, he was forced to swallow it. His cheek was pounding; there would be a bruise just below his ribs and on his knee, where he'd smacked it off the wall. There was a graze on his jaw and he was pretty sure Johnny had hit his head off the floor for good measure. It might do him some good to go down to the nurse and claim a concussion. That was always fun. He had about seventeen of them in his files over the past couple of years.

He looked up baffled by the silence that had fallen on the corridor. And his bafflement only grew as his team gawked at him. "What?"

"Enrique, you're a moron." Johnny snickered almost affectionately as he smacked his friend on the back.

"No, really where did you go?"

Amber simply shook her head, her bangs falling over her eyes. "Well at least I'm not the centre of his world," She turned on Kane. "Unlike a certain someone."

Kane sneered but instead of giving her the satisfaction of a reply, he just turned away and headed back to his dorm as the crowd began to disperse now the entertainment was over.

Bewildered by their reaction to them, Amber watched as her so-called friends pushed past her without much of a comment.

"What is your problem?" She demanded softly.

"Just leave it Amber." Johnny bit off before limping down the stairs followed by Enrique who was still wondering where she had gone.

Stunned and slightly hurt by their dismissal, she watched the group leave. Each word, each cold tone and cool look slashed at her already battered heart. They had been so distant to her. Treating her as though she was nothing more than a pest to be swatted away with a few careless words.

Rei and Mariah lingered for a moment.

"Don't mind them, they're just grumpy. It's that time of year, Ams." Rei told her with a kindly smile.

Amber mustered up a smile. It was weak and watery and had none of the voltage her usual smiles did but it was there -sort of. "Yeah, I'm sure you're right."

As they headed down the stairs, she slid down onto the ground to sit on the top step. The cold lino seeped through her jeans and moved straight to her bones, chilling her from the inside out. Why had they been so abrupt with her? Usually they just let her comments slide by but not this time. What was so different? Were the girls really fighting? Why? Was this all because of her breaking up with Kai?

Surely, they had to know that she hadn't meant it. She'd just said it in the heat of the moment. She was going to find him now and talk to him, explain that she hadn't meant anything by it. It would take a lot of groveling but she was prepared to do so. Right at that moment, she would pretty much do anything to get him to forgive her. If her team hated her and Kai hated her… She shuddered at the prospect. The rest of the year wouldn't be worth participating in.

Suddenly cold and scarily empty, she got to her feet and shuffled down the stairs. She needed to talk to Kai. She needed to explain things because she didn't want to lose him. That was the last thing she wanted. She didn't care how much of a cliché it was or how pathetic it made her; she just couldn't see herself caring about anyone as much as she cared for him even if he was aloof and superior at times.

However, he was passionate about his beliefs and when he cared; he really cared. He couldn't switch on and off his emotions. That was a precious thing in anyone and if you were the recipient of those feelings, you shouldn't just throw them away. She told herself squarely. Therefore, if she had to get down on her hands and knees and beg for forgiveness… well she'd give him a day or so to get rid of that notion but she wasn't going to let him go without a damn good fight.

* * *

Ruin stomped up the steps to the attic with a grim purpose. Why was it that if someone left Tala with a bud, he would always end up sulking. He said he brooded but it was sulking. And it was always alcohol induced nonsensical sulking. He would sulk about the stupidest of things that didn't remotely concern him and it seriously had her doubting his genius.

She looked over the wall that was built around the stairs to provide a guard against people falling in. No one seemed to be up in the gloomy attic but she knew better.

"Oy, Valkov, where are you?" She demanded gruffly. She wasn't in the mood to go chasing after her drunk as a skunk boyfriend. She had a plan but unfortunately, Sir Mopes-a-lot was vital to it. Other wise she would have no problem leaving him to his doom and gloom fest.

Who cared if Amber and Kai broke up? It was high school. People broke up all the time. No relationship was supposed to actually last long. It was almost a rule. She was slightly more concerned by the fact that her friend was supposedly under weight and had an anxiety problem. She had to admit, Miyami knew what she was talking. Out of the whole group of them, she was closest to Amber. The two were almost the same being. Miyami felt Amber's pain and Amber felt Miyami's. They just showed it differently. However, they were incredibly close. It was no wonder that Miyami had flew off the handle. Everyone was dumping their baggage on her. The girl needed to get laid and Johnny needed to get laid before he beat Enrique to a pulp.

She probably needed to get laid too, she thought disgustedly as she scanned the dusky shadows of the attic. It was more of a loft than an attic. Vague light came in from the small windows on the short walls. It caught the dust motes that floated in the air before disappearing into the darkness near the back of the room. She felt along the wall and flicked on the switch. The lone light bulb that swung from the middle rafter illuminated the squashed room in a dull glow. In amongst the ratty, moth eaten furniture at the back of the attic by the chimney, she could make out the slouched figure of her boyfriend.

"So they were right." She muttered in a dark monotone.

Tala looked up and his turquoise lit up just a little as he saluted her with his half-empty bottle before taking a swig from it. "Yo."

"Yo? You taking elocution lessons from Miyami?" She wondered before taking a seat opposite him. She laid her elbows on her knees and cupped her chin as she steadily watched him gaze dispassionately at the shadows. Even bored out of his mind and dulled with liquor, he was still the most striking man she had ever come across. Wearing a burry charcoal turtleneck and faded black jeans, gone white at the stress points, he looked edible. His long, lean frame seemed longer in the casual attire. The devil-may-care attitude that darkened his turquoise eyes and tightened his jaw made him look dangerous and just a little rough around the edges. His usual wisps of vivid red fell over his face highlighted just how pale and flawless his skin was and accentuated the thick, lush sooty lashes that fluttered with each movement of his eyes under his hooded lids.

His eyes lifted to her and a red slashing brow arched in question. "Like what you see?"

She rolled her own eyes. "Not at the moment, no. You figuring on getting drunk on one bottle of bud, Valkov? I don't think I've seen you this pathetic since that time I punched you."

He glared at her, lips curling in a sneer. "You have no fucki-"

"Curb the profanity. You wanna sulk because Amber didn't come crying to you, then fine. But just remember who you got that beer for Valkov."

He snorted and looked away with a bitterness that also suited him. He had the looks of a model and the expressions that would strike envy in any actor's heart. "He's upset too."

"Yeah, he's her boyfriend. He has a reason to be upset but he's not sulking in the shadows." She drawled sardonically. "You might want to give the pity-me act a rest until you find someone who cares."

He raised a brow and then smirked. "You care."

"I just like your body."

"That's fine. I like yours too."

She snorted and leaned back. "I've got something that'll cheer you up."

His gaze raked over her, his eyes darkening to a phosphorous blue. "Oh I bet you do."

A smirk played over her full surprisingly naked lips before she shook her head. "Not right now. Maye's out and I need you to work your chemist skills."

He placed the bottle on the floor and wiped it with his sleeve. You never knew what the school would do if they found a bottle of beer before he lifted it -with the sleeve covering his hand- to place it up inside the chimney. "What do you need my chemist skills for?"

"You think you can mix up a permanent dye and mix it with facial hair bleach?"

He turned to her with an amused look as she got to her feet, the short sleeve of her black cotton top slipping down her pearly shoulder, which looked paler against the blood red of the top underneath. "How did you get Maye's bleach?"

"Ask me no questions and I'll tell you no lies. But Shahero played a big part in convincing Hitoshi to retrieve a set of spare keys."

He grinned impressed. "She in?"

"Of course. So will you be able to do it?" She wondered as she watched him approach. The predatory glint she was used to seeing in his eyes was back and still didn't fail to make her pulse jolt accordingly. When his long fingers gripped her hips tightly and jerked her flush against him, she swallowed but her gaze didn't leave his. She refused to let him intimidate her despite the thrill of anticipation that danced down her spine at the knowledge that he was stronger than her.

"Maye will be back soon. I have no time for this." She told him pointedly.

"We'll make time."

"With what? You suddenly an expert in alchemy and witchcraft?"

He flinched. "No. You're ruining the moment."

"Hence the name." She returned coolly and watched the amusement flicker through those stunning eyes.

"Amber always says that." Tala murmured, lowering his brow to hers.

She sighed and laced her fingers against the nape of his neck. "I know." She gave him a hard smacking kiss on the mouth before she stepped out of the circle of his arms. "Come on. We'll make time later."

He rolled his eyes and giving her ass a friendly slap, he headed down the stairs after her. As they stepped out into the bright light of the corridor, he was instantly aware of two figures leaning against the wall. Both lifted their heads at the same time, annoyance, and impatience flashed through their eyes.

"D'ya 'ave t' 'ave a fuck fest while y' were up dar?" Russia demanded with a growl, flashing a look at her watch. Her emerald eyes were narrowed on the pair before her as she tapped her foot in agitation.

"Yeah, Maye'll be back in an hour and we have to get this gunk colored without her knowing it." Shahero added. "Is that even possible?"

Tala smirked with simple bemusement. "Of course it is. How do you suppose hair color works? Not everyone is going to dye their hair white."

"What about the liquid stuff that comes with it which is the same color?" Shahero wondered.

Tala rolled his eyes. "Just shut up. I know what I'm doing. I'm a genius."

Russia paused. "Ders some creepy bad guy in some crappy film dat says dat all da time but fu… oh yeah, dat Russian dweeb in Golden Eye… Right before 'e gets covered wit liquid nitrogen. Aye, y' keep sayin' dat."

"We might get lucky." Ruin smirked.

"Science lab, here we come." Shahero exclaimed cheerfully despite the joy not reaching her eyes. It was clear she was keeping her emotions locked up tight.

"Girls… why must you gang up on me?"

"You're a man, that's kind of obvious."

"We're da Octopussies, it's a life choice."

"We're men bashers when together. Separated, we can be tamed."

"Which is why y' should be hangin' round wit me more often!" Russia drawled to her dark haired friend. "Y' wouldn't be getting caught on camera goin' t' Hitoshi's dorm."

Tala chuckled. "Naughty, naughty Shahero."

"Valkov, get your hand off my ass."

"Naughty, naughty, Tala." The terrible duo chorused with sadistic chuckles as the red head simply shook his head and refused to be drawn into their cruel men bashing tortures.

* * *

Mariam sat at a mahogany table in the library hidden amongst the stacks in the research department. It was hard to breathe in the dust motes scented with lemon furniture polish. It was a heady aroma and in the stifling room, it was probably the cause of the headache hovering around her temples. Ad if that wasn't enough the fact that she was hunched over the desk, straining her neck was probably the final nail in that coffin.

She lifted her head, and removing her reading glasses, she began to knead the tense muscles at her nape. The exams were fast approaching and as preparation, the teacher felt that this was the perfect time to spring tests and pop quizzes on their students. The studying and the extra curricular activities she was involved with weren't fitting together very well.

Maybe it was a good thing she didn't have a boyfriend. She wouldn't be able to give him much of her time. She had Kai to thank for that. If he hadn't shown up, she would probably be hatching a plan to lure a new boy into her web. God she had been such a man-eater before Kai. At least he had forced her to grow up. Had probably done the same with Amber though she didn't seem very different to Mariam.

Her eyes jumped to her cell as it vibrated against the wood and lit up a cool neon blue. With a few deft finger movements, she accessed the message.

**WER R U?**

She sighed. Joseph checking up on her again. It seemed to be his profession these days. Once it had been vice versa but things had changed. Or she had, she admitted. She needed to let Kai go. Even if he and Amber were over, there was no indication that he would turn to her. And it wasn't right for her to waste her life waiting for him.

She gave a sad smile as she felt herself letting go.

A figure caught her eyes and stomach gave that tell tale lurch. She didn't even need to see him that clearly for her body to recognize him. Just a glimpse of his lean figure through the slanted books and she knew. Her lips twisted bitterly. Just as she was preparing to let him go, he walked back in. Maybe fate was trying to tell her something.

She replied to her brother's message and turned up the volume on her Katie Melua album. Idly, she wondered where Kai might be. Maybe she could move to a better position to see him. Then she thought better of it. She wasn't that pathetic besides Amber might be with him. She'd seen them making out a few times in the quiet, dark corners of the library that offered the most privacy. She'd once heard Amber telling Miyami that Kai let them make out for ten minutes before they buckled down to get some study done.

Kai let, Mariam thought derisively. It sounded so orderly, not at all impulsive like she and Kai had been. She could clearly remember being tugged into broom cupboards without any warning, only to be interrupted by Amber.

Had she liked him even then when she had been pretending not to? If so, that was creepy. Why pretend not to like a guy? How was he supposed to know you were interested if you didn't let him know? Was he supposed to mind read?

Well no one claimed that Amber was sane.

Footsteps closing in on her had her snapping out of her thoughts and looking up hopefully only to frown at her brother. "Joe, what are you doing here?"

Joe raked a hand through his green spiked hair and looked around uneasily at the stacks that towered over him. He didn't like the library. It was a place of study, which was like extra schoolwork. He couldn't understand why people would voluntarily come into a place as creepy as this. It smelled. It was dark. It was cold. It was old.

"I… Can we talk?"

She raised a brow. "Well that sounds serious." Clearing her books, she motioned for him to take a seat while she gave him her complete attention. "What's up? And if you're looking for money, forget it. I got the same amount as you and I still have a decent amount left. You should too if you didn't blow it on all that prank stuff."

Joe rolled his eyes at the lecture he had come to know as well as his own name ever since he had joined the school. Older sisters were such sanctimonious twits. Especially Mariam. She always had to point out just how she was better at budgeting than him. It was just plain annoying. Especially since, it wasn't true. One look at the shoe factory in her wardrobe showed that.

"Have you heard from Dad this week?"

Mariam's lips curved in a bemused grin. "You know we only hear from Dad during the holidays when it comes up to the "custody" time."

Joe squirmed a little. He knew that despite how casual and cool she acted, that she still was testy about her parent's separation. Neither had the guts to just end it and it pissed them off. Especially when they tried to use the children to score points off each other.

"Why?" Mariam asked shrewdly. Her eyes had suddenly sharpened and the smirk was gone. She now looked serious and just a little ready to rip into whichever parent that was bothering him.

"Dad phoned me. Yesterday."

A blue brow quirked in surprise. "What does he want?"

Joe's eye twitched. He hated this. He hated it so much. Why couldn't his parents just be normal? Why did they constantly have to put them in the middle? Why did his dad have to be such a chauvinist? "He's moving to France."

"France? Dad hates French food." Mariam rolled her eyes. She crossed her legs and leaned back in the chair.

"He likes French women though." Her brother said simply. There was no lecherous grin, no innuendo. It was simply a fact.

Mariam sniffed disdainfully. "Another affair. Why doesn't he just get a divorce instead of playing with his Barbie's?"

Joseph didn't have an answer for that. Not one that Mariam wanted to hear. It would do no good to point out that their father didn't get a divorce because he liked to toy with their mother. Each time he got a new model, she went and got drunk and had a one-night stand. And when she came back, she took everything out on Mariam because Mariam had been a mistake. A mistake that tied her to her husband who didn't want her. A mistake that made her fat -even though she was the skinniest woman alive and worked out every morning with her personal trainer. A mistake that stopped her from getting the career she wanted.

"So he's moving to France. How does that affect us visiting him? It'd be pretty cool to visit France. The fashion there is so classy and I wouldn't mind trying some French cuisine. Anything that makes Dad sick is bound to be good. That man doesn't have any taste buds." She muttered, lifting her pen and doodling on her notepad idly as she tried to figure out how she should feel about her father moving to France. She didn't necessarily dislike her father. If it were a choice between her easygoing father and her uptight mother, she'd choose her father. He didn't really care but at least he wasn't always on her case, not like her mother who hated her.

"Actually, he was phoning to…" Joseph trailed off and wondered how to put the words he was searching for. "You know how Kirby and Miguel are a couple now?"

Mariam didn't really see how this had anything to do with her father moving to France but she recognized the pain that strangled her brother's tone. He had really liked Kirby, had always believed that someday she would begin to see him as someone who was more than a friend. However, it never happened because Kirby had turned to Miguel. "Yeah, I saw. I'm sorry bro but you can do better."

Joe glared at her and she sighed. "I'm sorry. I was trying to make you feel better. I like Kirby. We may not be on good terms at the moment, but I know you really like her and I know she cares about you too."

"Just not enough to see me as a potential boyfriend."

"She's still young yet. She'll get over it."

"Yeah like you got over Kai." Joe bit out and Mariam seared him with a dark look.

"Back off, little brother. I thought you at least would understand."

Joe winced. The problem was that he did understand. It was hard to get over someone when your heart was stuck solidly on them, no matter how much your brain protested. "At least I'm doing something about it." He told her promptly.

"What?" Mariam snapped not believing him one bit. "Throwing yourself into another relationship isn't going to help."

"How would you know? You never tried." He growled bitterly before rubbing his face hard enough to cause his cheeks to redden. "Besides, I'm not. Dad asked me to move to France with him. Permanently."

Mariam's eyes widened. "What? You're moving to France? But that's… It's so far away, Joe."

"Yeah. I just figured that some time away from here might be good." He averted his gaze.

"But France? They speak another language there, brother dearest, you do know that don't you? You can barely string English words together." She chuckled but it was weak.

Joseph rolled his eyes. "I'll get the hang of it sis. I just need to get away."

"When?"

"End of the school year."

"Oh, wow." Then she frowned. Why hadn't her father asked her to move over to France? "Why didn't Dad… Didn't he say anything about me?"

This was the part he had been dreading. It wasn't fair. Not to her. She strived so hard for her parents to love her but they always treated her like a problem to be solved so they could get rid of her. He just didn't understand how they could treat him, one way and her, another. Sure, their mother was strict on both of them and since he was a young age, he had come to see Mariam as his mother. But his mother was always more lenient to him and his father let him away with anything and everything. Mariam was always the one who had to work to get their attention and they never get it willingly. It was no surprise to him that his sister had turned into a man-eater. She needed love from somewhere. She took it from boys when she could. In addition, Kai had been the one boy who she really had to work for so when he had shown her any attention, it would feel better than any boy who had ever been devoted to her.

Joseph shook his head and green bangs fell over his eyes. "But I'm sure he'll phone you."

"Yeah of course he will. He wouldn't separate us. Right?"

Joseph cringed. "I really want to go Mariam."

Pressing her lips together to rein in her emotions, she nodded. "I know. And I can't leave anyway. I'm doing my senior year next year and then I'll be off to college and I'll be visiting countries all on my own."

"Right. And we can keep in touch and visit."

"Yeah email is the way to go. Besides, I probably talk to you more on the internet than I do face to face anyway."

A pained smile crossed his lips as he detected the tremor underneath her voice. Feeling awkward, he decided to make a quick getaway. It wasn't like he was leaving forever and he wasn't going straight away. Yet, he felt he was abandoning her but he just couldn't stay and watch Miguel with Kirby. It was just too hard.

"Well, I'll chat to you later. Good luck doing whatever you're doing."

Mariam watched him back out of the library and all but throw himself around the stack towards the exit and she tried to smile. She really did but how could she, knowing that her father didn't love her enough to ask her to live with him. It had been easy when she and Joseph had both just gone for the holidays. Yes, they often left her in the house alone but she knew that it would be just her and Joseph when they got back. They had always had each other. Her father had never wanted any of them more than the other but now, to ask Joseph to live with him and to not even discuss it with her. It was just a little hard to deal with. She would always be the inferior sex to her father. She was never going to be daddies little girl. She was just going to be a stranger to him because he didn't want her.

And it was another reason she envied Amber. Because despite her parents being divorced and her father being absent, he at least cared enough to come to open days and the finals to watch her play and he wanted her to go live with him. Benson was a selfish brat. She should be glad her father loved her. Mariam's didn't.

* * *

His hand hovered over the phone. He wanted to pick it up. Wanted to dial in the number and just phone her, find out what she was doing. He squeezed his hand into a fist and snapped it away as though burned.

He wasn't going to degrade himself by phoning her. He had some self-respect, he had never chased after anyone in his life, and he wasn't going to start now. Especially not after a hardheaded, stubborn brat who had dumped him in the middle of a temper tantrum. It was her damn mess; she could clean it up herself.

When would she learn that his father's decisions and ideas weren't necessarily his? He wasn't his father. He liked his father but they didn't agree on everything. Just as the Octopussies weren't like-minded on all issues. She just wouldn't see him as her friend. He could be her captain and she'd respect him as a player. She could desire him as her boyfriend but she couldn't treat him as a friend. She wouldn't confide in him, wouldn't turn to him or let him be there for her. She just hadn't opened herself up to him. She was still keeping a part of herself back from him and it drove him insane.

She had worked her way into his life. She had become such a central figure in it and she just didn't feel the same about him. It wasn't fair. Why did he have to be the vulnerable one? No wonder he had backed off from her. He was considering falling in love with her and she felt nothing but lust, that wasn't a relationship. He wasn't interested in a one-sided relationship. He didn't want to be more dependant on her than she was on him. This obviously was the case if she could dump him so callously.

He had spent his whole life watching his parents, knowing that they were a unit. They relied on each other, trusted each other whole-heartedly and he yearned for that. Especially when he had felt like the third wheel. It was hard being an only child to a couple that was so in love. They loved him, he was in no doubt of that, but that didn't stop him from feeling lonely at times and when he did, he either closed himself away and convinced himself that it didn't matter. Nevertheless, he, in the deep recesses of his mind, had always believed he would find that companionship that his parents had. He would settle for nothing less. The fact that he had believed that Amber could be that person, his other half scared the shit out of him. He had dreams and ambitions. He wanted to play pro. He had plenty of time to settle down in later months but to come across Amber now when he was so young was down right frightening.

And it hurt that she obviously didn't feel the same way. Why did he have to do all the running in this relationship? With Mariam, it had never been the problem. With her, he always knew where he stood. If he provided her with the time and the opportunity, he knew she would take it. With Amber, it had just been different.

When she came back they'd have to talk, he decided. When she came back, things were going to be different. If she wanted to spend time with him, she'd have to come find him. He wasn't there just to suit her whims. He had his own life now. He had friends. Good friends and a good team. He wasn't as alone as he had once been.

And even with this mess with Amber, they weren't all on her side. Including Tala, who everyone expected to be on Amber side. He had smuggled in some beer for the two of them to get sloshed up in the attic the previous night and the two had reminisced about their days in Clonmel and about how Amber had a tendency to just go off on one before crawling back with her tail between her legs or act as though everything hadn't happened.

He could well believe that but the idea relieved him. If Tala wasn't taking the whole thing seriously, there was no need for him to, was there.

As for Miyami, well she had listened to him the previous night but she wasn't exactly someone he could confide his frustrations in at the moment. She was fed up and angry with everything herself. She had a right. He shouldn't have just dropped all of his problems into her lap. It was unfair. Maybe if he hadn't, she wouldn't have become extremely angry with Arista.

And dear god, his Ember needed a good fucking shake for that mess. What had she been thinking keeping the fact that Arista and Brooklyn were dating from him? He had a right to know. Christ, hadn't she realized how big of a mess that could become? More than likely Brooklyn was playing Arista. Of course he was. She was pretty, he had admitted his admiration of her looks in the changing rooms after their first match, -which should have alerted Kai-, but he had been in the process of disliking most of the Tigers.

She was also probably the handiest target too. Out of the girls, she was the most vulnerable emotion wise. She wasn't as cynical neither towards males nor as mistrusting. Ruin was far too experienced with men and their manipulations. Aspin and Miyami were in relationships and Brooklyn wouldn't risk getting beaten up by their significant other -too much hassle. Shahero was likely to pound him whenever she saw him. She was after all, the type that struck first and asked questions later. She wouldn't have been swayed with sweet talk; she was too cynical. That left Amber or Arista. Amber didn't trust men. God knows, he knew that. Plus, she was too well guarded by her family and friends. He wouldn't have gotten to her.

Arista was, to Kai's mind, the straggler at the back of the herd. She had no cousins bar Miyami. She had no close relationships because she was the type that befriended many instead of a close few. She had no boyfriends and no ex's that were excessively close to her. And to finalize the deal, she was female. That made her a good prey for Brooklyn.

Why hadn't Amber seen that? Or had she? She had found out only weeks ago… and proceeded to make out with him in the common room after she had. Why hadn't she told him then? She couldn't use the excuse that she had time to. She should have told him instead of coaxing him into sleeping with her. Though, he admitted, that didn't sound nearly as appealing to him.

So say Amber had confronted Arista about Brooklyn, how would Arista have acted? If she were like any of the other Octopussies, he'd guess that she would rebel and defend him. He was hers to protect of course. So confronting Arista would have driven her friend more into the boy's arms. So instead, maybe Amber had just decided to go as a chaperone to keep an eye on him.

But would that have occurred to Amber? Contrary to popular belief, his beautiful little Imp had a damn good brain in that pretty head. If she ever bothered to switch it on. He'd followed her surprisingly clever thought processes during many a history and English class, not to mention when they worked on their project. She was empathic and compassionate. She didn't just see the facts and the dates, she saw the emotions, and she felt for the people of that time. And due to this, it was a very big possibility that she could have anticipated Arista's reaction and have chosen the necessary action.

But that didn't explain why the hell she had met with Mystel without Arista and Brooklyn around. Not unless she actually enjoyed his company. There was no other reason for it. She said she wanted him as a friend but he was a Shark. A Shark she admitted to liking if he wasn't in the picture. He had every right to believe she was cheating on him. She disappears to meet a boy without telling anyone, that's a clear sign that she could be cheating. He hadn't overreacted. He was just responding to the very big risk of losing someone he cared deeply for. And especially to a blond wanker. He was not losing Amber to a blond and not that blond who constantly wore a smile on his face as though he had nothing going on between the ears. Probably didn't.

He scowled darkly. Where the hell was she? He wanted to get this all out in the open and sorted. This tension that was lingering over the school was doing his head in and the fact that it was a Sunday and he had no classes to take his mind of his wallowing was pissing him off. He could very well learn to hate her for this.

His hand moved to the phone again. He'd just phone his mother, casually ask if she was on her way back because they had homework to work on. His mother would be none the wiser and his mind would be eased.

And he would be running after her, yet again.

With a snarl, he shoved the phone into his jean pocket and strode out of the little corner he and Amber had always used to study in. The whole school, he thought grimly, held reminders of her. Each corridor held an impression of her for him, a doorway where she had stood, a room she had debated in, a hallway she had ran from Ian down, a chair she had fallen off laughing at Miyami. Little things like that were going to drive him insane.

He needed to find something to occupy himself. Maybe he'd taunt someone into playing a little one on one with him. Bryan would be a good idea. He wouldn't talk much but he wasn't that great of a player. He was an impressive enforcer, Kai would never deny that but Kai needed some one who would force him to stay on his toes. Besides, without a conversation, he'd be left with time to think.

Shahero was pissed off with him, Amber, and the whole damn crew so he was staying out of her way. Tala and Hitoshi were the type that drew out his innermost thoughts. So did Rei, he added but Ozuma. Ozuma could keep his mouth shut and they could discuss plays since he was his VC. Yeah that would work. He'd lure Ozuma out…, which would probably draw, out his entire dorm. But that wouldn't be so bad. A group of boys beating the shit out of each other, what better for shoving a girl out of his mind. Especially an irritating, prickly, tomboy with a petty attitude.

He was just passing a bookshelf when he heard the sniffling behind it. He rolled his eyes. Who came to the library to cry? Didn't they know that books lost their value if they became waterlogged? He shrugged. He intended to ignore the silent weeping, only like Lots wife, he looked back to sate his curiosity.

"Mariam?" The word was blurted out before he had a chance to stop it.

Her head whipped up and she stared at him in sheer shock and horror. Her lips trembled open and she immediately shut them as she dashed away the tears at her eyes before smiling at him.

"Hey." The word was weak and hoarse, probably because she had just been crying.

"Were you crying?" He winced at the dumb question. It was obvious that she had been.

"No, no." She shook her head and rolled her eyes. "I just got dust in my eye, that's all."

Yeah and that was why they looked puffed up and there were tear streaks down her beige skin. Completely natural and dust related. "Most people get dust up their nose and sneeze." He deadpanned.

"I'm not most people. What are you doing here?"

He held up his book. "Looking for passages for my history project."

She looked interested. "What's it on?"

"Battle of the Somme." He replied.

He and Amber had decided on it after watching a documentary on the legendary battle that took place during the First World War Due to all the people who had died because they had rushed up over the trenches only to be gunned down by Germans. Friend fell beside friend, brother beside brother, Irish man beside English man (this happening shortly after the 1916 rising during which Ireland tried to regain their country from the English), Catholic beside Protestant. Over a million people had lost their lives, the youngest being a fourteen year old boy who had pretended to be nineteen. On hearing this, they both felt they needed to show what had happened to the people who had given their lives so that he and she could have theirs.

"Interesting."

"It is." He confirmed. "So why were you crying?"

"You care?" She smirked, cocking a brow and he could see why he had dated her. She was stunning but that unfortunately wasn't enough for him. It was really a pity.

"Usually not really." He replied honestly. "But you don't cry usually, there must be a reason."

She averted her gaze from his probing one before sighing. "My Dad is moving to France."

"Your father? Just your father?" He asked. He hadn't ever really heard much about her family. But she had always seemed to mention him on his own that he wondered if she had a mother or were her parents divorced like Amber's?

She nodded. "Yeah. My parents are separated. They haven't gotten a divorce, I doubt they ever will."

And before she knew it, she was spilling everything out to him. How her parents used her and her brother as pawns to score points. How her mother despised her and was never happy with her. How she could never live up to her fathers expectations because she was a girl. And how he was taking Joseph away and leaving her with her mother without even considering her feelings on the matter.

Kai listened silently. For some reason he seemed to accumulate his fair share of dysfunctional family stories. At least for all of his loneliness, he knew his parents loved each other and him. He was lucky there. Some, as he had seen with Amber, Bryan, Miyami and now Mariam just weren't. At least the former all had people to care about them. Miyami's parents may have been divorced and her father may travel a little, but they still cared about her, as did her siblings. Bryan had Treasa and though Amber and her father had their differences, James loved Amber dearly which was why she was able to abuse him so much. It was easier to be horrible to those you knew loved you because you didn't have to worry about pushing them away.

For Mariam, it wasn't so easy. She didn't have the love of her parents. Now it made sense why Mariam was always so excited to get just a short email from her father. It wasn't just because she really loved him, or not all of it, but to her that was a sign that he remembered her and cared. She was desperate for his affection in any form.

Now other things made more sense to him. Why she had so many boyfriends and why she seemed to change for each of them. She was trying to find someone who would love her, a replacement for the man in her life that was supposed to be devoted to her. Amber didn't need that security. She had her fathers love and even if she didn't, she had her mothers, her cousin and her families love. Mariam didn't seem to have that.

He sighed heavily. Why did he get himself involved with these messes? He seemed to end up being a reluctant shoulder to cry on for most of the females in this school and he used to be one of the coldest bastards in Clonmel. Things were certainly changing and not for the better.

However, when Mariam suddenly began to sob quietly, -crumbling under the pressure of her father's abandonment, her mothers neglect and then her brothers eminent departure- there was nothing he could do but reluctantly fold her into his arms. He wasn't heartless. He couldn't just walk away from her when she was so obviously devastated. Therefore, he held her and let her cry out her pain and sorrow and all the while, he wished Amber would hurry up and come back to him.

And so intent was he in his thoughts that he didn't hear Mariam's sobs diminish into sniffles as she contented herself to hug him back. Nor did he see the figure that had glided around the stacks of books only to stop short on seeing him, eyes wide and wounded before she quietly backed away with a soft disbelieving shake of her head.

* * *

She sat down on a metal chair in the courtyard and looked around at the array of different ferns and bushes that created the strange rockery the school had put in place for some sort of eco award. It was a nice quiet corner of the school. A wall and big, slender trees that were beginning to show hints of new life sheltered it. The cracked pavement and uneven stones were overgrown with yellowy green moss. Amber didn't mind. She liked the smell of the damp earth mixing with that of the ferns. There was a scent of rain in the air and the sky was a dull blank sheet of grey that spread as far as the eye could see.

It was a calming environment for her tumultuous mind. Words and thoughts were whirling in her mind, mixed in with the image of her boyfriend and that heinous bitch! What did she think she was doing hugging him like that? She had no right to. They weren't even friends. That wasn't friendly.

She scowled violently and her face darkened ominously. And why hadn't he pushed her away? Why had he held her? Moreover, why was he holding her in the first place? Had he just forgotten about her, his girlfriend? Did she not mean anything to him? Obviously not, because if he had, he wouldn't have been holding that slut.

Her stomach churned nauseatingly. She had gone down to the library because Emily had said she had seen him down there and when she had walked through the stacks on the way to their place, she had seen them. The sight had been like a physical punch to the gut and she suddenly knew how Mariam had felt walking in on her and Kai kissing. However, the difference was that she had Kai had been broken up a whole week before Amber and Kai got together and they had only been broken up one day!

ONE DAY!

Not even that, she thought furiously. Well that explained why he didn't call her if he was cozying up to that psycho slut. How long had it been going on anyways? She wondered. Was it something new or had she been the reason that he had been so distant lately? Had he been planning to break up with her? Did she give him a get out of jail free card? Don't pass go, don't collect 200 dollars?

"THAT PRICK!" She snarled violently because anger was so much better than any other emotion that was bubbling up inside of her right now. Of course, when the anger died away, she'd have no defense against the prickling sensation so she had to find more to be angry about.

Such as Mariam! Why out of all the girls in the school did it always have to be Mariam? Why couldn't he have dated Kennedie or even Clover? At least she could really hate them and not feel guilty for doing so. She had never been friends with them. She had never wanted to be friends with them. She never would be friends with them. But, Mariam had been a friend. Was that what this was all about? Was this his revenge? Sure, she had been horrible to him and she'd tried to make his life hell but she didn't deserve this. Turn her against her friend; make her despise Mariam because she wanted Kai. So he could return to Mariam and leave her feeling alone?

Or, was this his way of getting in with the Tigers? Dicklyn had said that, hadn't he? She thought. Maybe he had been more on the ball than she had previously thought. Kai's interest in her had been sudden and as soon as they became a couple, people started warming up to him, including Bryan. So maybe she had just been a pawn in the grand scheme of things.

Except that she _knew_, she just knew that he wasn't like that. But maybe that was because she didn't want him to be like that. Maybe she had created fantasies about who he was or should be.

No. She hadn't. She knew him and she respected him far too much to believe he would use her in such a cruel and callous manner. So maybe he hadn't used her. Maybe he hadn't been able to help going back to Mariam. She was everything Amber wasn't. She was smart, sophisticated, and certainly more experienced.

_Just wait until she finds out Kais' a virgin!_ The sly thought laced with vicious pleasure slid into her mental tirade before she could stop it but as soon as she thought it, she felt guilty. She wouldn't tell anyone that. It was their secret, well Kai's and she was just someone who knew but would never tell anyone.

Maybe Kai would tell Mariam himself but, secretly, she hoped he wouldn't. It wasn't as if he'd have to tell her. It wasn't as if he had a dead giveaway in his body that would scream 'I'm a virgin'. All he had to do was go through the motions, and voila, instant deflowering without anyone being the wiser. And she knew that he knew the motions. He could master foreplay easily. After all, he'd gotten to second base with her; he could get to third base with Mariam easily since she wasn't a prude. Then he could get his home run.

However, since he was her first boyfriend and she didn't have any experience, how could she really compare him? Mariam had other boyfriends, what if something Kai did alerted her to him being a virgin.

_He would have been better off staying with me! _She thought possessively. At least she could never say anything about his innocence.

Nevertheless, if he wanted to be with Mariam… Fuck that. He could have bloody well told her instead of just going around behind her back, the bastard. It wasn't fair. How could he just pretend to care about her, get jealous over her meeting with Mystel, accuse her of cheating when all the time he was with _her_.

That skinny bitch had to pay.

This was not the best of insults since she was skinner than Mariam, which kind of made her fat. Oh yes, she was a fat bitch. Except that, Amber's skinniness had gotten her chucked from the team. Well isn't that a kick in the head.

She pulled her knees up to her chest and squeezed her eyes shut.

She could have consoled herself if it had just been a kiss, it wouldn't have torn so badly at her heart. If it had been a kiss, then she could tell herself that it was just lust. Lust was hormonal and Kai couldn't really help that but eventually he'd realize that that wasn't what he was after. However, it hadn't been a kiss, it had been much worse. A hug. A hug from Kai was rare and because it was, she knew it meant something. Any affectionate display from someone like Kai was a sign that he cared. Really, truly cared. And if he cared, that meant that it wasn't something that would blow over. Kai had moved on from her. And that killed her, deep down inside her, something died and the pain was acute to being skewered.

God, why had she gone to speak to him? Why hadn't she just waited for him to come to her? Tears pricked at her eyes and she pressed her lips together tightly, bruisingly. Something deep inside her ached sharply but there was no sweet tinge to it like other pains she had felt because of Kai.

She felt so numb and cold. Empty. Why? Because Kai had moved on? Big deal. Plenty of people had decided they didn't want her in their lives anymore. Her grandmother had disowned her for gods' sake; it wasn't a big surprise to her. Somehow, this just hurt more. More than her father choosing to have another child. Maybe because the more she thought about having a sibling to turn against the prissy, the more she was warming to the idea though her father didn't need to know that. Tala had left her and she had fallen out with him more than once, but that had never caused this sharp stabbing pain, this sense of loss inside her. It wasn't as though she cared about Kai more than she cared about Tala. Tala was her best friend. And her dad was her Dad! Kai couldn't break that bond. His DNA wasn't in her… yet.

She frowned. It was just that she was going to miss the kissing and hugging and everything else, she decided. Because she had pretty much figured that she would eventually do It with Kai and now she wouldn't, so she have to wait for someone else. Which might take a while, she admitted because she didn't want anyone else. That may have sounded selfish and probably immature because there was probably somebody better suited for her out there. There was someone for everyone after all, and that someone probably wouldn't find her to be such a pain in the ass. However, right now, she couldn't stand to think of anyone else but Kai.

Which was why it made her sick to the stomach to think of that cow curled all around her boy… No, he wasn't that anymore, was he? He wasn't hers. He wasn't her anything. Not her friend. Not her team mate. Not her anything.

Her nose prickled and her chest felt constricted, as though it were slowly being crushed to death. Her throat clogged and she was finding it harder and harder to breathe. Resting her forehead against her knees, she began to concentrate on getting oxygen in to herself to quench to burning in her lungs.

"So you finally decided to show up."

Her body stiffened, her spine going ramrod straight as the cool words cruised up her spine. Kai. Her stomach jolted; a sweet lurching sensation that was quickly doused with cold water as her brain quickly berated her heart with a certain image. Kai, Mariam, did it need to say more?

"Fuck off." The words came from her lips as familiarly as a greeting.

"And you're in as good a mood as ever."

She didn't bother to look at him. She didn't want to see him gloating about the fact that he was back with Perfect Mariam. She didn't want to see his mussed hair from where her fingers had slid through it. Or his bruised lips or his rumpled clothing. She squeezed her eyes tightly shut. She felt nauseous. Her stomach was queasy and a strange closed feeling was creeping up her esophagus.

She couldn't deal with this. She couldn't be around him. Taking a deep breath, she slowly slid her feet to the ground and stood up, swaying shakily before she turned to head into the school. She kept her head down; made sure her eyes wouldn't meet his. She didn't want to see the betrayal. She didn't want to see the cool aloof look in his eyes.

As she moved closer, she could smell his scent mingling with the scent of rain in the air. Her pulse skipped a beat, her blood warmed. When she caught sight of his shoes, black hi-tops, her heart leapt up to her throat, a flush spread over her cheeks to combat the heat crawling through her system. His legs, long and rangy were clad in jeans made her mouth go dry at the memory of how it felt to be caged between them or to have them tangled with hers.

Her eyes shot to the ground before they could move any higher. She was determined to ignore him. She wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of knowing that he'd hurt her. Not under any circumstances was she letting him know that. As she brushed past him in the narrow confines of the doorway, her skin tingled at the mere touch of their bodies. A heated flush fired through her and she swallowed hard but didn't pause.

His hand locked tightly around her wrist. Electric currents fissured through her and her stomach clenched violently. Surprised, her eyes leapt to his and her breath caught in her throat. How could he still look so impossibly beautiful to her? He wasn't. Not really. Not when he was compared to people like Tala, Mystel and Brooklyn. However, he was more appealing to her because he wasn't so pretty. He wasn't just plain handsome either, something about those molten brown eyes seemed to soften the harsher plains of his face.

Now his eyes weren't soft, they were hard and angry almost. Oh was he upset because she wasn't pleading for him to take her back so he could reveal in the most cruel way that he'd been cheating on her? Was she not playing by the rules? Well screw him!

"What?" She hissed.

His eyes searched her face for something but what? Obviously, he wasn't seeing what he wanted. "When did you get back?" He demanded gruffly.

"None of your business Kai. I broke up with you, remember?" _So even if you were with Mariam, it doesn't fucking matter because _I_ broke up with _you! Tears started to sting her eyes but she battled them back.

"So you're still sticking with that?" He asked coldly, eyes growing blank and face tightening. When his gaze seized hers, butterflies exploded to life in her stomach. She wanted to… Why did she have to react to him? A muscle flickered in his cheek but there was no other indication as to how he was feeling. Why didn't he show some emotion? Why didn't he smirk or brush her off? Why didn't he just tell her that he was with Mariam?

"You-" She was about to say he hurt her, he betrayed her, he… broke her heart. Nevertheless, she stopped herself in time because that would only be giving him more ammunition to use against her. She couldn't leave herself that vulnerable, not if she had any hope of finishing this year. "What do you care? I thought you'd be grateful to get me out of your life. And hey, two birds with one stone. I'm off your precious team and I'm no longer your girlfriend, if I ever was." She added bitterly, coating her pain with a professional shield. She had never told her father he had hurt her. She never told Tala and she certainly wouldn't tell Kai. If they wanted to leave her, then fine. She would just show them that she was fine without them. She didn't need anyone.

Kai dropped her hand as though it had scalded him or maybe he couldn't bear to have her skin infecting his pristine flesh. "Whatever. If you want it to be over, fine."

_If _I_ want it to be over_. He's the one who had been cheating on her with his ex. Oh god and wasn't that such a cliché?

"I have better things to do than _baby-sit_ you."

The hidden meaning hit her like a slap to the face. It wasn't her fault that she'd never had a boyfriend before. He had always been so patient but now… She pressed her lips together and tried to pull her composure together. Nodding slowly, she turned away from him and strode back into the school. It didn't take her long to reach her dorm and when she did, she couldn't help the way the silent tears trailed down her face as she curled up in her bed.

Why did everything have to hurt so much?


	27. Not IN Love

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Beyblade. I do however own Amber Benson and Ruin Mulryan. If you don't know who owns the rest of the Octopussies, I'm not telling!

-

Chapter Twenty Seven- Not _IN_ Love

On Monday Morning, the team gathered in the changing room awaiting Nicolai. He had told them, vaguely, that he wanted a team meeting before they started their practice, though many figured they knew what he wanted to discuss. It was probably something to do with the sudden disappearance of a certain teammate from their group training and the arrival of another.

To say Russia Kennedy wasn't happy with the sudden arrangements would be an understatement. Yes, she was pleased to have a chance to be a member of the Tigers once more but she certainly wasn't happy about how the whole situation came about. To be replacing Amber was cold. Especially since she was sleeping in the same dorm as her friend and had to watch the glimmer of sorrow as her friend woke up to see them change only for her to turn her back on them and pull her covers over her head.

The Octopussies dorm was under a dark cloud. Miyami was refusing to say anything to Amber, almost as though she was afraid to say something she might later regret. Aspin was still angry with Miyami for what she had said to Arista and she was angry with Amber for not telling them about Brooklyn. Arista was treading on thin ice where the other girls, especially Amber, was concerned while nursing her own heartbreak. Ruin didn't seem to give a shit. As far as she was concerned, it was Amber's problem, she could deal with it. Shahero had taken to staying out with Hitoshi longer than usual in an attempt to avoid the room's atmosphere and her sister.

Sonia was disappearing and when she came back, she would try to attempt to liven the mood only for it to backfire when she became the focus of many black looks. Amber was sulking childishly and absorbing herself in her music and books. As for herself, well Russia had decided it wasn't really her problem, so she was staying out of their messes. She'd tag along with Shahero when she wanted to do a prank, such as Maye's facial bleaching which succeeded spectacularly or she'd hang out with Ruin. However, the whole thing was making her miss her old friends, but to get in touch with Hans meant coming face to face with Zareth, which was something she wasn't willing to risk.

Overall, it was a pretty shitty time to be at Preston Academy. It wasn't as though they could escape their school problems at home, because they didn't get to go home. They were just stuck with each other. At times like these, Russia wished she had a separate room or just some semblance of privacy but unfortunately, Preston's dorms were simple affairs that didn't offer that. They offered big rooms packed full of teenage girls hyped up on teenage emotions.

Because she blamed him for all this trouble, she fired another dark, threatening glare at her cousin. If he had just stayed at Clonmel where he belonged, then none of this would have happened. A nagging thought pricked her and she scowled. Ok, so maybe he hadn't really belonged to Clonmel but he only had to stick it out one more year. By coming here, he'd started a chain of events that couldn't be undone. If it continued, it could mean the end of the Tigers.

However, as she studied her cousin, she realized that this was hitting him just as bad. He looked to be suffering from the worst hangover or the strongest withdrawal and having been on the end of both, she could sympathize with the feeling. And part of her resentment towards him eased off. She just wished he hadn't come near her friends.

Didn't he know that Hiwatari's were bad luck? All they ever did was hurt people. Her grandfather was cruel; he spent all his time playing mind games with people, especially with his family. Her mother was ok when she wasn't under pressure but as soon as anything difficult loomed before her, she turned violent and struck out at the nearest person. Usually her daughter. Her aunt Pricilla was spoilt. She liked nothing better than to be centre of attention, to have the world revolve solely around her. Hence, why she couldn't accept Amber, because that meant that James had a life before her; loved someone other than her and Pricilla wouldn't tolerate that.

Nicolai… well he, out of the entire family seemed to be the most rooted. Maybe that had something to do with his wife and the Benson family that had adopted him. More than likely it was because he didn't want to become his father. However, he had been an unruly youth, running out at night creating trouble. It was only natural that she, Kai, and any other grandchildren would follow suit. Sometimes it wasn't even intentional. She didn't mean to hurt her friends but when she got involved with drugs; that's what she did. She hurt the girls, she ended up having to leave them, and that hurt her.

Ian groaned loudly; startling her from her self-criticism of the Hiwatari family. "Where is he?"

Tala shrugged from where he lounged on the bench, eyes closed and expression blank. "He'll be here."

"Well I'm not waiting here forever."

"Fine, leave." Shahero snapped. "No one would miss you."

"Fuck off Kaeto." Came the witty retort that had Russia bowing her head and biting back a groan of disgust. Couldn't they just curb the enthusiastic insults until after the meeting; that way she could go somewhere else. It wouldn't look very good for her to walk out of her first meeting back with the team, no matter how desirable it would be.

Plus by taking part in the team, the better her school report looked. Team work, working well with others, athletics, they all helped counter the fact that she had been stoner during her sophomore year as Shahero put it. They didn't erase the fact but the fact that she could put that past behind her would mean something to the potential colleges. Or so she hoped. She just wanted to get out of her house and away from everything that reminded her of what she had been.

Of course there was that small voice that implied that she wouldn't be strong enough to remain sober without help but she didn't believe that. Hell, she had stayed in Ireland and remained sober without any help. Her mother wasn't any good. Her father was crippled and her friends… well they weren't really much help when they were pretty darn stoned themselves. But she hadn't touched anymore drugs, well except for the social smoke and she curbed the edge with cigarettes; and the drinking, well she pretty much had that under control. Besides, what was the big deal about having a shot of vodka or two every so often? It helped. It made everything disappear for a while and that was good.

But being back in Preston, well that was hard. She wasn't doing drugs but god, the urge to just stick herself. Just once. Everything was so crowded. You were always tripping over someone's bleedin' heart. It was like being trapped.

But she was clean. She had been completely clean -no joints or social smokes, nothing- for three whole months. And despite how goddamn restricting it was, she felt good. Strong. And that was a good feeling. Maybe Preston was like a prison but with so many people counting on her, so many people relying on her, she couldn't let them down. But it would be so easy to relapse. She had done so before ever since she had been released from rehab.

However, she was going to try her best. Even though the urine tests her uncle forced her to take were a great intrusion into her privacy, they also meant that she couldn't lie about whether she was sober or not. She doubted many people in the school would swap their urine with her anyway even if she was to play that prank. Dope and the like just didn't seem to rock their world. Then again, the bunch of pansies that went to Preston all seemed to have great family lives or a different method of self destruction.

Enrique yawned widely and leaned onto a subdued Arista who to everyone's surprise didn't shove him off her or say a word about him being a perverted blond Italian with more balls than brain cells.

God they had entered the twilight zone, Russia thought with disgust. Where was the enthusiasm they use to have? Why weren't they laughing and messing around while they waited for Nicolai? Why… "Oh god, you've all grown up." She sneered.

Ruin snorted while the others looked confused, bored or agitated.

"Well, duh, you did leave for a couple of years. Did you think we were just going to remain the same?" Kane drawled mockingly prompting Shahero to lethargically punch him in the arm.

"You're pathetic."

"We're tired!" Johnny snapped back. "It's five forty-five. I don't wake up till after eleven so fuck the hell off!"

"Yeah the only time he wakes up early is if Miyami pays him a morning visit." Ian jeered lecherously.

"At least I have a woman, what do you have?"

"His hand." Miyami said with a smirk, leaning against Johnny and closing her eyes again. Usually if Amber were here, the two would use each other as pillows but she and Amber still weren't talking. She knew they would have to eventually but she just wasn't ready to talk to her yet. If she did, she might say something she'd regret and lose a good friend through it.

Tala snickered and patted Ian on the back. "She got you that time, little buddy."

"I'm not little."

"No you're tiny." Shahero teased with a vicious grin.

"Effeminate." Ruin added.

"Eff what? Was that a curse word?"

Miyami threw her head back and laughed at the bewildered shouts from the boys. It was almost as good as going to see _The Others_. When she calmed down, which took a while because Shahero had started to chuckle every so often which would only set her off again, she sighed. "Effeminate. It means girly looking, like Tala."

"I'm not girly looking, I'm all man."

"In some parts, yeah." Ruin commented coolly, her gaze sweeping up and down him with a great deal of amusement.

Russia sighed as she listened to the taunts the team had begun to fire around. At last, the storm was beginning to break. Good god, you think the world had crumbled or one of them was going to die the way they had been acting lately. So Amber and Kai had broken up? Big deal. And Arista and Brooklyn, well the way she saw it, Arista had a lucky escape. There were plenty of boys in the world. At least 20 of whom would suit her better than the captain of the rival team but she could sort of see the appeal but he was too pretty in her eyes and sort of slimy but hey, whatever rocked Arista's boat. He did have some sort of badass appeal and every girl was attracted to that at some stage, even smart girls like Arista.

The door swung open and Nicolai walked in, sweeping his exhausted team with his gaze. Dull eyes, drawn complexions, somber expressions. He rolled his eyes and took a sip of his coffee. "You guys look like death."

"Yeah well you were the one who scheduled a meeting before six."

Nicolai dismissed Miyami's muttering with a wave. "I need to explain a few things and we have a match coming up this weekend. Plus a match between you and the JV team to be scheduled. Oh and Maye is calling an emergency assembly. I'm sure a few of you know what that's about." He gave Shahero a pointed look because as far as he knew, she was the prankster of the group though she pulled a few others in so he would guess that a couple of the others were involved but she was a sure thing.

Shahero blinked her blue eyes innocently but the wide eye look lost some appeal with the narrow shape of her eyes. "I didn't do a thing sir."

Nicolai nodded in a 'whatever' manner before setting his mug of coffee on the top of the nearest line of lockers. "Right, first up. Amber."

A few of the team rolled their eyes, Tala frowned at them because despite Amber's flaws she was still his friend no matter what while Kai tensed at the mention of his ex-girlfriend's name so casually.

"As you all probably know by now, Amber's been suspended."

"I heard she quit." Ian blurted out, sitting up a little straighter and fixing Nicolai with a challenging look.

"She's suspended." Nicolai repeated firmly, meeting Ian's gaze until the boy looked away. "Why she's suspended is between Amber and myself. If anyone has any problems with her suspension, they are welcome to remain behind after practice to discuss it with me."

Bryan met the look his coach sent him coolly but said nothing. He understood and had to say he agreed with Nicolai's methods. After all, he took a firm hand with Russia and she seemed to be doing ok. Some people only reacted properly under duress and he figured Amber was one of those. Letting her do something in her own sweet time would only lead to her never achieving her goals.

"Now the JV versus Varsity match." He picked up his clipboard and studied the calendar he had brusquely clipped onto it before he had left. Picking up his schedule, he frowned. Games, games and more games and when there were no games, there were practices and school functions and tours. It was a pain in his ass. Why did they need to go to Ireland anyway? It wouldn't teach them anything more than the books could. It seemed like an idiotic place to go to and the timing was completely screwed up. Then there would be exams and the students minds would be pulled in different directions as they contemplated leaving the school and their friends. He scowled darkly at the page as though it could be blamed for all the distractions.

"When is five weeks from today?"

"Ya're da wan wit' da calendar."

"April." He muttered not seeming to hear Russia's pithy reply or maybe he was just good at ignoring his team and their sarcastic comments. Turning his back to them, he let the buzz of their conversation fade to the background as he tried to work out what day would be good for a showdown. It couldn't be too near the final between the Sharks and the Tigers because he couldn't risk any of his team being injured. This match was too vital to him and his team. The Sharks were vicious and they had the power behind them to take the Tigers out but he knew his team had the strengths needed to go up against that vicious power. He had faith in them but he couldn't do anything to hinder them.

April, April… Trip to Ireland was right there in the middle of the calendar. Just five days. Well three days in Ireland, the other two were spent getting to and getting back. He'd be losing Kai, Shahero, Miyami, Johnny and Ian from the History class. And Rei, Ozuma and Kane from the Geography class. That was quite a number, he decided. They had a few fundraisers lined up for the trip to Ireland which would take a few Saturdays from their training schedule. But that couldn't be helped. He would just have to work around it.

"Five weeks from now." He decided. "You'll face down the JV team. I'll give you more details as the time approaches but I want you to be at the top of your game. The JV team aren't taking any crap from you and they're a good team. You need to show them why you are Varsity, other than just being older than them. You have to give them something to aspire to. This will be them next year."

"Yeah about dat. Why are dere no juniors on dis team?" Russia wondered, leaning back against the metal post and folding her arms, daring them to give her a good answer.

Kai looked up for the first time since he had entered. Most had believed him to be sleeping in the corner. Granted he was standing, one leg was crossed before the other at the ankle and his arms were folded but he hadn't said a word and his eyes had been closed and apart from his chest rising as he breathed, he could have been mistaken for a corpse. But now he was studying the team with some interest, as was Tala who had been missing for a few years.

"Well…" Rei trailed off. "I don't know. I guess none of them were interested in trying out. Maybe since we have a full rosta they didn't think there would be any places."

"In other words, we're just a very gifted and talented senior year." Miyami interpreted Rei's speech into words the team could understand.

Rei flushed at Miyami's adlibbing but she flashed him a cheeky grin and he sighed, his brow furrowing in bemusement when Johnny's arm tightened just an iota around Miyami's body.

"There might be some juniors who are better than some of you." Tala suddenly spoke up then quelled under their dark looks. "Right, fine, you're the best there is. No body could ever replace you lot. Not that anyone would want to join this team." He added softly and met Kai's eyes and they shared a private grin that only the two as outsiders could. When a silence fell on the room, Tala rolled his eyes. "I meant that in a good way."

"He makes a point. As a team, we're all pretty involved with each other." Rei said with a sigh of acceptance.

"I'm not involved with any of you." Ian shuddered at the thought.

"IAN!" The team groaned with mutual disgust as the images all flashed before them.

Miyami balked and hid her face in Johnny's shoulder. "Major disgusting thought."

"Ian, keep your perverted thoughts to yourself." Kane snarled cuffing the midget over the head.

Enrique frowned at them then comprehension dawned. "Aw man, I only do girls. I don't know what kind of freaky shit you're into but keep me out of it."

Arista stared at Enrique. "And yet again, your reactions comes five minutes after everyone else's."

"Dat's 'cause 'is brain 'as t' figure ou' if it 'as t' be up or down t' understand de comments."

Ozuma lazily rubbed his ankle with the heel of his other foot. "Leave Enrique alone. He's Blond."

"And that answers everything." Shahero declared triumphantly and Arista snickered.

"HEY!" Michael snapped. "I'm blond."

"Your point?" Kane wondered idly.

"You chose to be blond." Ruin said with a gusty sigh. "Which is worse because Enrique can't help his blondness but you're using the fact that your blond to cover up your natural stupidity."

"Oh harsh!"

"BURN!"

"If you're all quite finished squabbling. We still have a play to work out for the Blizzards in case any of you have forgotten during this weekend of events. You're playing them in a fortnight and while they aren't the strongest of opponents, they have a good defensive line and our offensive line is suffering because my preferred first line is out of commission." Nicolai growled, turning to his team with fierce glittering eyes. "Kai, are you going to be able to play without Amber?"

"Do I look whipped?" Kai fired back.

"That's a loaded question." Ruin muttered in an aside to Russia who nodded with a smirk. Miyami shot them an angry look to which Ruin answered with a roll of her eyes. Obviously she and Russia were the only ones keeping their humor during this situation. It was pathetic how melodramatic they were being about something as simple as a break-up.

"A simple yes would have sufficed Kai. Tala?"

"Sure." The red head answered with a gallant shrug. It wouldn't be nearly the same playing without Amber but he could play with anyone. Just as long as they pulled their weight, that's all that mattered to him. He always played his best, as did Kai and they expected his teammates to do the same.

"Right, now I need to figure who will play up front with you." Scratching his head with his pen, Nicolai scowled. He had once had the perfect line up. His golden trio had worked so well together, almost as though they were of one mind, so in tune were they. "Ok, Kai take your team out to the quad and I want you to run ten laps, then go onto the ice. I'll meet you there." Without waiting for a reply, he headed for the door with the intention of going to his office. Remembering at the last minute, he moved back for his coffee. "Oh, and who ever did that prank on Maye, please don't get caught. I don't want to lose anymore players. If you don't mind." With that, he left.

Kai sighed and pushed away from the wall. "Come on."

-

The auditorium was filled with confused, bored, annoyed and worried students as they gathered for the emergency assembly. They filed in from both entrances and headed down the stairs, searching out friends and classmates to sit with. Assemblies were boring but they were worse when there was no one to talk to. And that was how Amber was feeling as she shuffled along behind the throng of students. Just who would she sit with? She couldn't sit with her friends. Oh that certainly wasn't going to happen. It was obvious that she was their least favorite person at the moment.

Shahero couldn't even look her in the eye and Miyami was avoiding her though part of her tried to justify it as saying she had only been back less than a day. There were plenty of days that she went through without having much of a conversation with her roommates but usually at night they had a run down of the day.

However not last night. Last night, after she had thoroughly embarrassed herself by crying herself dry -she broke up with Kai, big deal- she had gone to bed to lie awake. Soon enough, her friends had trooped in and out of the room. None seemed to be thrilled to see her, though Sonia had called out a hello through her curtain and Ruin told her to get up and stop feeling sorry for herself. She had skipped dinner and supper but no one said anything, except for Bryan who brought her up a mug of hot chocolate and a glazed doughnut. He hadn't stayed because he had homework to do but she appreciated the gesture. At least he cared.

When the girls had finally come in to go to bed, she noticed that they were strangely subdued. They barely talked, just said the odd polite phrase before climbing into bed. Though Shahero, Ruin and Russia shared a private joke about something or other. But there was definitely a strained tension between Aspin and Miyami and they didn't even call out goodnight to each other. It was so strange. Usually Miyami climbed into her bed at night so they could have a quiet chat about anything, mostly so that Miyami could rid herself of excess energy before going to sleep but that night, nothing.

She hadn't bothered going to breakfast this morning, she just hadn't been that hungry and besides, she hadn't been ready to see Kai. While she had laid awake in her bed, she had run through the many witty things she could have said to Kai when they broke up. Of course, hindsight was great but completely pointless because she couldn't go back in time and say any of it so it had been a useless brainstorm. But god she wished she had been clever enough to have said something to him, something that would have made her feel as though she was the one in control. He had treated her as though she was merely an annoyance he had been burdened with and now he was rid of her. Free to move back onto Mariam.

And speak of the she-devil, Amber thought as her eyes scanned the rows. She was sitting beside Salima, chatting animatedly with a group of her classmates. Dammit, Amber just wanted to sit down. If she stood here much longer behind this bunch of Juniors who obviously didn't know how to find a seat, then Mariam was going to look up, see how shit she looked and gloat. Not a nice prospect. Plus she really didn't want Mariam to see how friendless she was.

God this sucked. Being alone was the worst feeling in the world. She had never experienced it before. She had always felt safe in her group of friends, always surrounded by a bunch of people who liked her. Now she had no one. What a turn around.

Unbidden, her eyes scanned the crowd for a sign of her friends. A 6ft, two toned, gorgeous male sign but found nothing. He was probably still at breakfast with her friends. Not that she cared or anything.

She sighed. She could sit down and see if someone wanted to sit with her but that plan was flawed if no one sat beside her and she was stuck like a loner in the middle of the packed auditorium. She could sit with a bunch of people she didn't know, which would also scream loner because she would probably just sit there saying nothing.

A familiar head caught her attention. Option C. Find your baby cousins and sit with them whether they damn well like it or not. She pushed through the group of Juniors, shooting them filthy looks before stomping down the stairs to the row that her cousins were sitting in. It was odd being this close to the stage. She never usually sat there. The last time she had, had been when she had been a sophomore and even then, she had sat with her team. She hadn't even known of a Kai Hiwatari then.

She slid down the row, passed the seated students who cast her curious looks as they wondered why a Senior student would be sitting down here with them. Part of her was wondering that herself as she listened to their incessant banter. God, didn't they have anything interesting to talk-

"Kai Hiwatari is so hot. I'd so do him."

Amber's eyes flew open. Kai was her… well her ex-boyfriend but the fact remained that he was too old for any of these bratty girls with their skirts up to their armpits.

"Yo, Ams, you planning on sitting down or are you a new decoration because you're a lot nicer to look at than the stage."

Her eyes moved to row behind her and she raised a brow at Dunga Rong. "Yeah I'm gonna sit down because you're creeping me out."

"Hey, that's Kai's girlfriend." A girl whispered rather loudly to her friend and Amber almost puffed up with pride at the term before she deflated instantly. She was no longer Kai's girlfriend and she was seriously considering ramming that girls head off the floor until it smashed!

She stomped past the girl and accidentally on purpose smashed her foot onto the girls', who yelped.

"Hey, watch where you put your big feet!"

_Well then shut your big gob! _The words were on the tip of her tongue but she simply plastered on a smile and faced the girl. "Oh sorry, your feet are so tiny, I didn't see them. Must be nice to be so young."

Kirby, having heard the acidic comment -she had been watching her cousin ever since she had entered their row- slapped a hand against her brow. "Amber, sit down."

Amber raised a brow coolly before moving over to her cousin and dropping down onto the spare seat beside Daichi.

"'Ello Amm-ber!"

"Hello, Daa-chi!" She sang back to him as she arranged herself on the seat.

"Why are you down here?" Kirby wondered, her fingers laced with Miguel's, as she studied her cousin with sharp eyes.

Amber shrugged. She wasn't really going to blurt out her sad pathetic story to her cousins. It wasn't really that she didn't trust them but more to do with the fact that she really didn't want them seeing her in a bad light. They had always looked up to her, she always worked hard to maintain a cheerful front around them so that she didn't worry them needlessly about certain things. It was just the way she did things. "I don't feel comfortable hanging out with everyone right now."

"Because you quit the team?"

"Heard you broke up with Kai too."

"Fuck me, was it on the midnight news?" Amber snarled grumpily. Why did everyone have to know her business? Did it concern them? No, it had nothing to do with them so why couldn't they just stay out of it and let her handle it.

"No, I didn't know we had midnight news." Kirby replied with a jerk of her shoulder, seemingly unconcerned about her cousins outburst.

Daichi scratched his belly and stretched luxuriously. "We watch the midnight matinees."

"Isn't that a contradiction in terms?"

Kirby thought about that for a long moment. "It might be if I knew what that meant."

Amber rolled her eyes and leaned her head back to study the ceiling. Smooth white plaster was lined with fine hair line cracks and spotlights had been impressed into it at regular intervals.

"So why did you and Kai break up?" Kirby finally questioned, tucking green strands out of her face and carefully assuring herself that Miguel was distracted by his conversation with Tyson and Max who sat behind him.

Her older cousin shot her a beseeching look. "I'd rather not talk about it." She whispered in a cracked tone as a lump swelled up in her throat.

"Ugh, you make life very hard for yourself."

Amber's eyes narrowed spitefully, leaning close, she lowered her voice so she wouldn't be overheard. "Ooh, I hate Miguel. Ooh, I love Miguel, why won't he notice me?"

Kirby flushed hotly and she threw a hurried look at her boyfriend to make sure he hadn't heard her cousin's extreme imitation of her. "AMBER!"

Eyes wide, Amber shrugged. "What?"

"Fine. I won't talk to you about your over complicated life."

"Good, cos I don't want to be involved in girly chat."

Both girls rolled their eyes at their cousin. "Well then go sit somewhere else." They both snapped in unison. It was an age old song that nearly all the Bensons' said at some stage or another to the youngest member of the Benson clan.

Daichi reacted typically and stuck out his tongue before slouching in his chair, propping his long lanky legs up onto the seat in front of him. "You heard about the JV/Varsity showdown Coach Hiwatari has planned for five weeks time?"

Amber visibly stiffened. "Nope."

"Well you have now. You playing?"

"No! I quit, remember."

"Nicolai said you were just suspended." Kirby repeated what Nicolai had said to her when he caught her on the way to breakfast with Miguel.

"He suspended me and then I quit. I'm not playing again for that man or that team for that matter."

"But you love your team and you love playing hockey and Nicolai's your godfather."

"So? I didn't even know him for most of my life. I think I can go through the rest of it without him. And that team, doesn't give a shit about me now I'm off it. They're no longer my team and I lov_ed _playing Hockey. Past tense."

Kirby's nose wrinkled in confusion. "So wait, you're saying that now they're not your team, you're no longer their friend? That's fucking balls."

"Don't curse." Amber corrected mildly.

"Well it is. You're an Octopussy. Do you know how many people envy your friendship? I do. I have… hold on, let me count." As Amber looked on, Kirby counted out one finger, then two, then a bent one. "Two and a half female friends."

"Who?"

"Oh you say that like you're surprised I have any."

Amber blew out a breath. "No, it's not that. I'm surprised you don't have more. You should have more. I'm your friend, Mariah's your friend, Emily, Miyami and the rest of the girls."

"No, you're my cousin and they're my friends because I'm your cousin. Mariah's my friend but only this year have I really got to know her and Emily, well we don't have anything in common but I think she's really nice and I kind of feel friendly towards Hillary who actually, despite the whole being a little snide towards you and Kai-"

"WOAH! You're doing a me. You can't do a me. You don't have the lung capacity to do a me. You're going blue. Breathe!"

Kirby sucked in deep lungfuls of air and blew them out in rhythm before she slumped. "Ok, I'm just saying that I don't have so many female friends. I have boys who are friends but aren't boyfriends and I have Miguel who is-"

"Did someone say my name?"

Kirby leaned over to pat her boyfriend on the head as he looked over at them but at her placating smile, he turned his attention back to the duo behind him who were acting out a scene from a film they'd just seen previously.

"But you, you have seven female friends who really get you and you have Kai who adores you-"

"He thinks I cheated on him, with Mystel who's really sweet and just a little too nice."

Kirby sighed. "Nice guys aren't always a bad thing."

"I know. I do. But I'd rather be with a guy I have some chemistry with."

"You have no chemistry with Mystel? He seems very cute."

"If you go for blue eyed blonds -which you do. But I just can't see myself getting all hot and sweaty with him."

Kirby's brows rose. "You ever get hot and sweaty with Kai?" She boldly asked with a cheeky grin.

Amber rolled her eyes. "I haven't had sex with him if that's what you're asking and if you're asking for pointers or anything, you're way too young." She added softly into her cousin's ear.

The green haired sophomore went beet red. "Right so there was no you and Mystel. Why didn't you just tell Kai?"

"Because."

"Because what?"

"Because I… I saw him with Mariam." She choked out.

Kirby's eyes swirled with sympathy. "Oh Amber." She whispered, before leaning over and hugging her cousin tightly. "He's a prick. He doesn't deserve you."

Biting her lip hard enough to draw blood, she tried to concentrate on everything but the fact that she wanted to cry so much. It just hurt and she couldn't figure out why. She had broken up with Kai, not the other way round. It shouldn't upset her this much. People broke up all the time. She was just another statistic. It wasn't as though she considered Kai to be the love of her life. Hadn't she seen what happened when people got involved seriously when they weren't old enough? Wasn't she a product of the marriage it created?

"Amber, just…" Kirby trailed off unsure what to say.

Amber simply shook her head and mustered up a watery smile. "I'll get over it. I'm not the first girl to break up with her boyfriend and I'll not be the last. Besides, I never really expected it to last."

Kirby bit her lip. Therein may lie the root of Amber and Kai's problem. She just didn't trust anyone other than family. It was a scary thing to realize that her confident, bold, cousin was maybe more vulnerable than herself.

A loud raucous noise entering the auditorium alerted the people inside to the fact that the Tigers had just arrived. They waltzed in, eyes sweeping the auditorium before they headed to their usual seats. Joking, laughing and telling tales of certain things, the group looked incredibly close and suddenly Amber found herself wondering if that's how people had seen them when she had been in the group.

Her heart suddenly seized up, the pain that blossomed in her chest becoming sharply unbearable as Kai sauntered in with a grin on his face from something Tala must have said to him. She watched as he moved along the row, leaning down to say something to Miyami that made her smile warmly before he took a seat next to Rei. God, he looked so right there. So completely at ease. She watched as Enrique and Ian leaned on his head rest and he leaned back to say something to them that had both boys paling and falling back into their seats. He chuckled as did Rei and Tala who overheard and as his gaze moved back to the front it collided with hers.

Her stomach dropped violently. Immediately she averted her gaze but that heart stopping, highly charged moment was enough to stir the butterflies in her stomach. Why did he still have to have such an affect on her? She growled lowly and kicked her feet out at the chair in front of her, unsettling a freshman who glared at her. If Kai was still going to affect her, then it was going to be harder to get over him than she thought.

But it was possible. Other girls did it all the time and if they could, then she certainly could. She didn't have a girly bone in her body. She had never actively gone out seeking a boyfriend because she had never needed one. So why shouldn't she be able to go on with her life?

Keeping her gaze fixed firmly on the stage in front of her, she vowed that she would. If she stayed out of Kai's way, had no contact with him and got on with her own life, then she could easily. Soon enough, Kai's presence wouldn't affect her. And as she made that resolution, she felt something strange. As though something deep inside had shriveled up and died. But what it was, she couldn't even begin to fathom.

-

Aspin rubbed her legs and cursed the fact that, once again, there was no heating in this stupid school. Maye was being a heat hogging nazi bitch. It was ok for her, she had more than enough body hair -a surplus of it in fact- to keep her warm through an ice age.

"Cold?" Kane's smooth voice rumbled in her ear. She shivered from the sensation of his hot breath against the cold shell of her ear.

"Well if a certain constipated bitch would turn on the heating, I wouldn't be."

"Want me to rub your legs?"

She raised a brow then shook her head. "No thanks. I'm not getting put into detention again because you're a pervert."

"A pervert?" He gasped. "I'm not a pervert. What's wrong with me wanting to get my hands on you?"

She rolled her eyes. "Nothing, if you keep it private."

He smirked and ran his gaze up and down her legs longingly. With a sigh, he raked a hand through his hair before settling for placing a hand on her thigh. He felt her tense with some satisfaction. "So why's Benson sitting down there? Not that I care much, because it is quieter without her. Think we can ship Kaeto down there too?"

Aspin frowned. "Where?" When Kane pointed her out, she frowned. "Why is she sitting down there?"

"She wasn't at breakfast, maybe she just sat down there because we weren't here." Rei commented.

Shahero snorted. "Yeah right. She's snubbing us."

"What?" Aspin frowned. "Why?"

"She's nursing her wounded feelings because naturally, she's the only girl who's ever broke up with her boyfriend."

Aspin blinked. Why was everyone so anti-Amber for? Sure her friend had messed up but so what? She was hurting, Aspin could understand that. When she had been forced to quit the team, she hadn't exactly been little miss Sunshine. And funny, no one was giving Miyami a hard time for her outburst against Arista? Talk about kicking someone when they're down. Sure Arista made a mistake with Brooklyn because he really was one hell of an asshole but lots of girls made mistakes when it came to boys.

"Give it a rest Shahero."

Shahero shrugged coolly, her expression remaining stoic as she watched Amber lean on Kirby's shoulder. She couldn't help it. She just felt so angry with Amber. Angry and hurt. Weren't the going to be family? Weren't they going to have a new sibling? Well that's what she had thought but obviously Amber didn't feel the same. She didn't trust her to come to her with her problems. She didn't tell Shahero that she had broken up with Kai or that Nicolai had suspended her. Which she should have because Shahero would have damn well done something about it.

But Amber hadn't told her. And that hurt. Why couldn't Amber come to her? Obviously Amber didn't trust her. She couldn't see Shahero as anything more than a teammate. And as for Arista, for gods sake why hadn't she told someone? Why hadn't Amber said something instead of just going along and getting mixed up in the mess. But that was Amber's problem, not Arista's. Amber could have said no if she really wanted to. But it was the fact that Amber hadn't come to her that really ticked Shahero off.

And she couldn't even talk to anyone about it. She couldn't tell Hitoshi everything even though she wanted to. She couldn't talk to Aspin or Miyami because she generally didn't spill her guts to anyone and if she was going to spill her guts, she was going to spill it to Hitoshi, Johnny or Amber. And all three were out because none of them would understand. So everything just simmered away underneath her skin but any chance to get a swipe at Amber and she'd take it.

"I don't think so Enrique."

Enrique pouted at the girl before sighing and slumping in his chair. "Shit."

"What's wrong with you?" Johnny demanded. "You get rejected?"

"All girls are looking for these days are _lasting relationships_." He spat the last two words out as though they were dirty on his tongue and pushed a hand through his floppy curls.

"All you're looking for is a quick fumble under their skirt." Miyami retorted. "Maybe you should start growing up."

"NO!" The blond snapped, covering his ears. "Look, if you want to get tied down, then fine. Me, I'm happy. There are plenty of women in this world who have yet to-"

"Enrique, everyone in this school knows you. Each and every girl who has any common sense is going to shut you down. Which means you're just stuck with freshmen. Which isn't that much better."

"Stop talking to me." Enrique replied grumpily because everything Miyami said was true but she didn't have to be so blunt about it. He couldn't wait for college, at least then he would have fresh meat. Fresh meat who had never had the privilege of meeting and being entertained by him.

"Oh god, he's drooling." He frowned at Ruin's droll comment and casually wiped at his mouth, his frown darkening as he realized that he hadn't been drooling at all.

"Enrique, even in college, the girls aren't going to fall for your cute, blond, charms."

"Well the blonde, cheerleader- well not cheerleaders but the blonde and not blonde preppy, popular, desperate types will."

Enrique growled. Why were the girls being so cruel to him? Now Aspin was joining in Miyami and Ruin's critique of him and he hadn't even done anything to them. Well apart from hitting on them but when they hit him, he'd backed off to a reasonable distance until their boyfriends smacked him about and he gave up.

But it wasn't his fault. He just appreciated everything about the female form. From their soft hair, pretty eyes, velveteen skin, yielding mouths, supple curves and long legs. All of it contributed to a perfect package that was a delight to him on every level. He didn't just like the soft, sweet girls like Sonia but the sultry women like Ruin and even the stunning, sharp, cutting girls like Miyami all appealed to him. There just wasn't enough of them and he was damned if he would ever find one that would suit him.

A figure strode out on stage and Enrique cringed. Though he liked women, he really didn't like Maye. Mainly that was because he wasn't quite sure what to make of her. She might not even be a she!

"Check ou' da 'tache."

Shahero snickered. "The blue really brings out her eyes."

"What happened to her face?"

"It looks like a pen mark drawn along her mouth."

"Is it permanent?"

The questions and comments moved through the auditorium, gathering in crescendo as Maye glared at them all, her lips in a thin line under the peppered blue mustache. Her gaze moved up the rows to the usual suspects who were snickering childishly at her situation.

"Settle down!" She ordered sharply. "Could you four please sit down."

The four senior males gave her disdainful looks before sauntering to their seats beside their companions. She watched them dubiously before looking down at her notes.

"The reason you have been called here is to inform you that if the culprits of this juvenile prank do not come forward, prom will be cancelled."

An uproar rose at the vile threat. Girls jumped to their feet and howled over the injustice while boys simply shrugged and declared that it was unfair to punish the entire senior year due to a pathetic prank.

Ruin rolled her eyes. "Oh the horror. Prom is cancelled."

"What ever shall we do?" Shahero drawled patronizingly.

"I wanted to go to Prom." Miyami muttered. "I even had this dress in mind."

"One of your own designs?" Aspin queried with gathering interest.

"Yeah, it would have been great but now I'll not have anywhere to wear it. Kamryn even promised to send me some material from Paris."

"Cool."

"Prom has been cancelled so quit talking about dresses." Ian sneered, silently pleased since he didn't really want to go to a prom where he ended up being on his own. That would only make him a loser and that was something he certainly wasn't.

"Big deal. We'll probably have some anti-prom party anyway." Michael commented lethargically as he leaned back, placing his arm around Bethan who looked a little upset about the fact that she wasn't going to get to go to Prom.

"Isn't this a little drastic?" Kai finally spoke up, his voice carrying over the audience. "There's no evidence to indicate that any student had a part in your unfortunate predicament. In fact, for all you know this could be a mistake on behalf of the manufacturer of your particular product, I assume it was a chemical product that caused your, ah, problem." A smirk played on his lips but he refused to let it show as the students all fell silent in order to hear him speak. "After all, you cannot believe that every unfortunate incident that befalls you is the result of a student's prank. If that is the case, maybe you should be attending a psychiatrist for treatment for your paranoia."

"Too far Kai." Miyami murmured, watching the assistant principal with glittering silver eyes. She couldn't help but be amused by Kai's speech and the sure tone he delivered it in, as though he had every right to speak to a teacher like that. However, her agitation rose as she caught the look that Kirby had shot him. What reason had Kirby to be so bitter towards him? And why did Miyami have a funny feeling that Amber knew something that she didn't.

"It's a good thing Kai's leaving at the end of the year, if he wasn't they'd probably draft him up for student council." Ruin murmured.

Russia shuddered at the thought. "He'd become even more power crazy than he already is."

"Mr. Hiwatari raises a point, Miss Maye," Stanley Dickinson sighed, rising to his feet creakily before approaching the pulpit. "You have no reason to accuse the students and therefore you have no cause to call off their Prom. We will discuss this later and once we have some evidence, we will confront this manner. Now about the flooding in the third floor toilets. Any student found with a Cherry bomb will be…"

The students groaned, the momentary excitement dying down as normality returned and they fell into the age old rhythm of the familiar lectures of the do's and don't's for the school.

-

Mr. Shallow watched his students troop into his class and slowly closed the book he had been reading. It seemed to him that they more lifeless than they usually were on a Monday morning. Miyami was dragging her feet, Shahero was kicking her bag in front of her without much enthusiasm. Ian was grumbling under his breath and Johnny was moodily listening to music without any of the usual flare the boy usually had.

All the rhythm they usually had was gone. Sometimes he had just watched them when they weren't paying attention and he had picked up on how in tune they were with each other. They moved fluidly, almost seeming to know what another needed even before it was spoken and yet here they were silently and morosely taking their place at the desk.

He cast a glance at the clock above the board and sighed, dusting off his hands. It seemed class was going to start on time for a change. He nodded to Robert and Oliver as they walked into class and carefully closed the door behind them before taking their places. Picking up a piece of chalk, he moved to the board and began to write out the topic for today's class.

_The Suffragette Movement._

"Right." He declared turning to them. "Who can tell me anything about the Suffragette movement? What country they were based? Who they were? What they wanted?"

No one spoke for a moment before Shahero slowly lifted her gaze from the desk she had been diligently engraving her name onto with a heavy sigh as though it were a great task she was about to attempt. "They killed a horse."

Shallow blinked for a few seconds. Then setting down the book, he walked over to the nearest wall and began to mime slamming his head off it. A few smiles flickered over the students faces as he turned back to them and picked his book back up. "Shahero, why out of everything those women did, do you only remember that they harmed a horse?"

Shahero shrugged. "The horse was innocent."

"Right. Elephants and horses." He muttered under his breath. If this was all his class was going to remember then they were going to be in trouble when it came to the exams. "Anything else? Maybe with some relevance?"

Johnny shrugged. "They were women."

"They were women? What gave you the hint?" Shallow asked with only a hint of exasperation. Though Johnny was extremely clever, he refused to turn that skill towards his school work but when the exams came he tended to blow away all his faithless teachers with his grades. Which was why he was still on the hockey team. "Alright, guys, come on. We went over this last year. Who were the Suffragettes?"

"A woman's liberation movement." Kai began, setting down the pen he had been using to do some of his English homework with. He leaned back in his chair and sighed. "They were trying to get votes for women. They were based in England though there was a movement in America led by Susan B. Anthony. The more militant movement in England was based in Manchester. They believed that shock tactics would move things along quicker. They denied themselves simple luxuries and many times ended up in prison. During which, they were often forced fed when they went on hunger strike until that was ended in favor of the Prisoners Temporary Discharge of Ill Health Bill."

Mr. Shallow had to admit to being impressed. That was quite a sufficient amount of knowledge and the fact that he had kept that in his head without having to look that up was more than impressive. "Very good Kai."

"How on earth did you remember all that?" Miyami demanded rounding on her friend. "I'm good if I can even remember that they wanted votes but you can remember the exact name of the bill…" she trailed off on a low whistle. "Kudos."

"That's usually Amber's party trick." Shallow commented then frowned. "Where is Amber?"

"Heh, it took him that long to figure out that the class was quiet." Ian snickered.

Shahero frowned, eyes narrowing on the empty chair where Amber usually sat next to Kai. Of course, she wouldn't be sitting there anymore. She didn't seem to want to sit in any of her usual spots in class anymore. She'd actually taken to sitting on her own by the window. Only because by sitting next to the window, she would be able to distract herself from the fact that she was sitting on her own.

"Where is she? Johnny, Kai you two were in class with her last."

Johnny shrugged but Kai answered. "She said she felt sick and Mrs. King sent her to her dorm to have a lie down."

Shahero closed her eyes and shook her head. So instead of being a rational human being and facing it, she had chosen to avoid everything painful. What a selfish coward, she thought snidely. "She's not sick at all."

"Hn."

"God, would you stop grunting? You're beginning to sound like Bryan." Shahero snapped and then suddenly she pushed to her feet.

"Shahero?" Shallow questioned with a tinge of anxiety. What was going on here?

"Sir, may I be excused? I think someone should check on Amber."

"Can't this wait?"

"No."

"I'm sure it can."

"No it can't. What if she's become suicidal and because I wait, the blood has had time to drain out of her body and she dies all because I have to stay here and learn about dead people when my sister could be dying?"

The class stared in shock at the outburst from the petite Asian girl. Miyami blinked. Ok, Amber was not suicidal. That she was sure about. But she certainly seemed to be depressed not that she had spoken to her yet. However, this was the only way Shahero was going to get out of class. So she was all for this dramatic display.

"And what exactly would Amber have to be suicidal about?"

"People need reasons?" Johnny muttered with some surprise before quelling under Miyami's look. Rolling his eyes, he went back to scribbling lyrics into the margin of his A4 pad.

"Well let's see. She broke up with Kai. She quit the team and her dad is having a baby."

Shallow's bushy brow rose. "Is that even anatomically possible?"

"Look, either let me go check on Amber or you'll be quite possible responsible for my sister's death who's father is, by the way, a lawyer who can sue the pants off you."

Shallow rolled his eyes. "Fine. Ten minutes."

"Twenty. I have to get to my dorm, nurse her back to health and then get back again."

"Right." He bit out unhappily. "I'll get you a hall pass."

"Don't bother. If I get detention, I get detention. It's no big deal." She muttered, gathering her books and shoving them into her bag.

"Can I go with her, sir? You know, more hands to clean up the blood."

"Can you please stop talking about her like that?" Kai suddenly snapped, his dark eyes flashing and his knuckles white around the slim pen that he was currently strangling. All this talk of Amber being dead because of what happened sickened him. He knew it was just the two of them melodramatic but the images playing in his head weren't. The thought of her lying in a pool of her own blood… He swallowed hard and his grip tightened. How could they be so fucking callous? She was their friend and they were making fun of her death.

"Jeez, Kai, chillax. We just want to check up on Amber." Miyami whispered, her hand closed over his and squeezed. "Amber's fine."

He shrugged her off and scowled at his note book. Heat began to work its way up the back of his neck to spread like fire over his cheeks as shame burned him. He knew they had only been messing. He did know. However, at the same time, it just seemed in bad taste. Suicide wasn't something to be joked about, even if it was to get out of class because it was so easy to just slit your wrists and be done with it. He'd thought about it once or twice but the thought of what it would do to his mother, his father and he could never go through with it.

"Let me talk to her first, Miyami." Shahero urged softly. "This is between me and her."

"I have things to talk to her about too. She's my best friend."

"She's my sister." Shahero retorted sharply before getting to her feet and walking out of the room.

Miyami frowned after her but said nothing. Instead she opened her book and studied the picture of the leader of the Suffragettes and her daughter after they had come out of prison.

"Right, so Mrs. Pankhurst was impatient with the lack of progress with the Manchester Suffragist movement so she formed the Women's Social and Political Union which then became the Militant Suffrage Society…"

-

Shahero stomped up the stairs and pushed open the door that led to their dorm hall. Her feet were silent on the lino floor despite that fact that she was putting attitude into every step. She couldn't believe that Amber was being such a wimp. She was an Octopussy. They didn't act like love struck preppy girls. It just wasn't in their genetics. It was about time that someone snapped her out of this funk she had been in for the past twenty four hours.

Part of her was happy enough to let her sulk but the other part realized that it wasn't getting anyone anywhere. How was she supposed to sort things out with Kai if she was holed up in her room, anyway?

"Do you have a hall pass?"

Shahero rolled her eyes. Just once she would like to go somewhere without being accosted by perky pink haired piñata's. "Kennedie, I'd say nothing to me right now or you could end up seriously regretting it. If you want to keep your hair."

Kennedie's hand moved self consciously to the thick cherry blossom pink braid that fell over her shoulder. Her indigo eyes flashed darkly. "You wouldn't dare."

"Oh, I would." She snickered before roughly shoving past the taller girl and sauntering down the corridor to her own room. Plucking her key from her key ring, she cast a glance over her shoulder to see the slender girl watching her. Sticking her tongue out childishly, she slotted the key into the lock and entered her dorm.

She sighed heavily. The air in the dorm was stale and she wrinkled her nose in distaste. Walking over to the window, she jerked it open and let the cool air circulate. That done, her attention moved to the bundle on the bed at the end of the room.

"Amber, get up!" She snarled as she strode over to Amber's corner of the room. You could tell it was Amber's. No one else showed such a distinct lack of respect for her novels. They lay on the floor, on the bed, on her bedside cabinet as well as on the bookshelf they all owned. Her clothes were tossed onto the corner of her bed and a pair of earphones hung down the side of the bed.

"Fuck off, Shahero."

"Come back of the century, eh, Ams? Funny how I still expect better of you." Without any ceremony, Shahero grabbed the duvet and gave it a good hard yank, bracing herself and moving with momentum. The way she would when throwing an opponent in the arena.

Amber held on tight and rolled right off the bed, hitting the floor with a thud. Winded, she stared up at the ceiling for a moment, trying to collect her composure. Once that was done, she clambered to her feet. "Bitch. What was that for?"

"You're pathetic." Shahero snapped, crossing her arms and bracing her legs.

Amber blinked, surprise and hurt swirling in her dull ochre eyes. "Excuse me?"

"You heard me. I called you pathetic because you are. So you broke up with Kai, big deal. Get over it."

"Oh excuse me for feeling upset that…" She trailed off unsure how to put what she was feeling. She couldn't say her heart was broken. She would have to be in love with Kai to say that. She wasn't in love with Kai. She was way too young to be in love with anyone. But she did love him, she realized. She cared about him a lot and that was kind of akin to love. She sighed. She would never tell a boy she loved him until she was sure he was the one. Love was a big deal. It wasn't something you just told everyone. So her heart wasn't broken, just badly bruised, maybe even mauled. Bastard. "Just leave me alone Shahero."

"Whatever. This whole pity me thing is getting really old." Shahero drawled mockingly. Idly she plucked a colored spring from the bookshelf and began to lazily run it from one hand to another.

"Like you're one to talk Shahero. You're Queen of the pity me act!"

Shahero rolled her eyes, though they had turned a glittering black due to the temper coursing through her veins. "Grow up Amber. You're not the only girl to break up with someone and you'll certainly not be the last."

"It's ok for you, at least Hitoshi cares about you."

Shahero's brow furrowed. Ok that was a strange point to make. Was she saying Kai didn't care? Well that was bullshit! She had seen Kai down in the History class and he looked anything but uncaring when he had been berating them for their crude joke. He had been infuriated with them, that was the mark of an uncaring boy? So what was her problem?

"And it's not just Kai. It's everything. Everything is going wrong. I've been chucked from the team. I've broken up with the one guy that I actually liked more than a friend and oh yeah, my dad has decided to replace me!" Amber paced, her tone frantic and uneven, her breathing erratic.

The dark haired oriental girl scowled. "You're life isn't any worse than anyone else's. Mine isn't great. You quit the team. Nicolai was only suspending you and the way he talks, if you do as he wants, you get back on the team. He only cares about you. As for Kai, you broke up with him, not the other way round."

"I had no choice."

"Whatever!" Shahero snapped furiously. She was just getting started and she wasn't letting Amber distract her. "As for your father. Fine, he's having another child with another woman. That child isn't going to replace you anymore than Dad and Treasa's kid will replace you in your mother's eyes."

"But it's going to be a boy, what are the chances of both my parents having boys!"

"Oh hell. Big deal Amber. Unless they're going to call it Amber Marie and are going to dye its hair black, make its eyes the same as yours and make it like everything you do, it's not going to replace you. Everyone's an individual and all that crap." She flipped a hand dismissively. "Look, at least you have your Dad. So they're divorced, it's not that big a deal Amber. Lots of people fall out of love. Unless you have a problem with otou-san?"

"I have no problem with Hiroshi and I don't want my parents to get back together. But I would just…" She trailed off. She couldn't say she wanted her dad to pay attention to her because he paid as much as she allowed him to.

"At least you have both your parents, Amber." Shahero snapped thickly, her eyes smarting and there was a lump growing in her throat.

Amber winced. She shouldn't complain about her parents, not to Shahero who only had her father. Her mother had died when she was eleven in a plane crash and Shahero had been very close to her. Much like Amber was with her own. To lose Treasa would crush her, she knew. So how Shahero managed was beyond Amber.

And her brother, Ricky, who she adored was stuck in Japan dealing with the Yakuza because a member of his gang, the Silver Dragons, had fallen foul of them.

And each day, Shahero went to school, attended classes and practices and she never complained about anything. She didn't even make any reference to how that day may be the last she heard from her brother. She just got on with her life and she never let it get her down. Even when she had broken up with Hitoshi, she had continued with life. Except that she could avoid Hitoshi, a part of Amber countered. She didn't share classes with him, or friends. But all the same, Shahero managed. At least Amber could try too.

"Lots of people don't have their parents. Some parents even abandon their children to form a new family. Your Dad didn't do that. He told you-"

"Yeah in a letter."

"He still wrote it. He wants to be involved in your life, but you close him out. I don't agree with everything your dad does but he does care about you. That's obvious. And you love him too, why punish each other? Why punish an unborn child?"

Amber slumped visibly and sighed. "I know. I know. I just… I'm not ready for another sibling. Our one was a surprise in itself. And when Dad has his, well it'll bind him to Pricilla and it will also bind me to… Kai. Forever."

"I don't think Kai and Pricilla are particularly close. The likelihood of you two meeting each other at the brat's birthday party are very slim." Shahero commented dryly. "And why didn't you tell me any of this? Why did I have to hear everything from Miyami? I'm going to be your sister. Doesn't that count for anything? If not, I at least thought I was your friend."

"You are. I didn't talk to anyone. I didn't want to talk to anyone. Miyami just phoned me and made me feel as though I was just leaving because I broke up with Kai. So I sort of blurted things out to her. The rest she probably got from Kai. He's always telling her things."

"Oh jesus, you're not jealous of her now are you?" Shahero asked, tucking her hair behind her ears. "Look, you tell your friends things. That's just the way it is. I tell you things."

"You wouldn't have told me about Hitoshi if it wasn't for me and Ian over hearing everything." Amber retorted as she shifted to sit on the floor. Pulling her knees close, she glared at the wall.

"And what's this about Arista and Brooklyn?"

Amber's eyes widened. "What? How did you hear about that?"

Shahero shrugged and slipped down beside her, plucking a piece of paper from the carpet and beginning to twist it between her fingers. "Arista confessed to everything. Said she was the reason you met Mystel and cheated on Kai."

"I didn't cheat on Kai!" Amber yelped.

"I know!" Shahero growled. She blew out a breath of air. "We all know. I think Kai does too but whatever. Arista and Brooklyn, how long have you known?"

Amber's head fell back against the bed behind her. "A couple of weeks. Not long."

"Why didn't you tell us? He could be using her to glean information on our team."

"He's not." Amber shook her head to waylay any of Shahero's questions. "I thought that too when I caught sight of them making out in the hall but it wasn't just hormones. He cares about her. He seems to genuinely like her. That's why I tagged along. If I told her to break up with him, she'd just rebel and he would turn her against us. I thought if I went with them, I could act as a buffer and see things for myself."

"And does he like her?"

"As far as I can see. I don't like him, I don't think I ever will really like him. He's always taking pot shots at Kai which is really pathetic but with Arista, he's different. We have to trust her."

"Yeah well, Miyami kind of went a little nuts on her and Arista broke up with him."

Amber flinched. "Poor Ari."

"Yeah well she's probably better off without him. He's the enemy and besides, he's done nothing but cause problems since we ran into him."

Jerking a shoulder, the dark skinned girl rolled her head to regard her sister. "True but we could say the same about Kai. I guess Ari is probably better off without him. It's just a pity that I had to cause all of this trouble. If I hadn't gone out to meet Mystel then none of this would have happened."

"It probably would have." Shahero replied, her voice heavy with resignation. "Haven't you learned already, our lives can never be simple. We always have to have some sort of mass catastrophe to bring out the best in us. So, you going to do what Nicolai says?"

Amber made a face. "I suppose. I dunno. We'll see. At the moment, I just don't feel much like eating. I don't actually feel much like doing anything. I just feel numb."

"That's natural. But think about it. Nicolai just wants what's best for you and the sooner you do it, the sooner you get back on the team. We want you back."

"I think I need some time from the team, just until I'm back to myself. I don't think I'm ready to be around Kai, not yet."

"Does that go for classes and in the dining hall?" Shahero demanded, eyes narrowed and brows drawn together. Her expression darkened when Amber nodded sullenly. "Aw, Amber. That's just going to isolate you from the team. Do you really wanna do that?"

"I can't be around Kai. I can't explain it. It just, the thought of being near him but not being allowed near him, it just makes me nauseous. Stupid, huh?"

"No." Shahero admitted reluctantly, remembering the desperate lengths she had gone to avoid Hitoshi, even going so far as to hide in an occupied broom closet. So she could understand Amber's need to stay away from Kai. It was hard to be friends with an ex if you parted less than amicably and the only thing that helped was time, so she would give her friend time. "We could make Kai sit on his own."

Amber leveled her with a bemused look. "No. You guys have to play with him on the ice, you can't just toss him out. Besides, he counts you as his friends. I have my family, who does he have other than the team? It wouldn't be right."

"That's your only reason?" Shahero wondered dubiously but Amber's beseeching look had her dropping the question. "Fine. Just don't distance yourself too much. I'm your sister, that makes us family."

"Okie dokie." A silence fell between them, easy and companionable and for the first time since that weekend began, all the tension seemed to leak away. "So what class do we have now?"

Shahero raised her gaze to the clock on Miyami's bedside table. "History, still."

"Think Shallow would mind if we bunked off?"

"You've already skived off English and most of History." Her sister pointed out easily.

"Kai's in those classes."

Shahero sighed heavily. "Why can't you just go back to hating him?"

Amber shrugged. She wished she could too. Things would be simpler if she could just go back to despising him. Then she could prank him guiltlessly and spite him. However all she felt was empty. "I can't. I just can't be angry with him. It's so annoying, I can't find my mad. Where's my mad?"

"Did you check under the bed?"

Amber's eyes widened in realization as though Shahero had just solved her personal riddle. "Ooh, the black hole sucked it up? Dude, that's just not on!"

Shahero snickered. "Better go under and fish it out."

"I'd need rope and something to anchor me."

"We'll do that after then. Come on. Oh I should tell you that Miyami is probably going to yell at you."

"What for?"

"Um, I think she sort of blames you for running away and she jumped to your defense without knowing all of the facts."

Amber squirmed, guilt making its presence known in her gut, churning nauseatingly. "I never asked her to."

Shahero shrugged. "Oh well. Come on, we've got to get back to class. Shallow will be wondering if you really are dead."

"Dead?" Amber yelped scrambling up behind her sister. "What the hell would make him think that?"

Shahero paused then smiled brightly. "No reason. No reason at all. Come on."

"Hey, wait a minute. I think I should be told if I'm dying!"

Shahero simply snickered and led the way down the corridor, shooting a smug smirk at Kennedie when she poked her head out of her dorm on hearing the noise.

"Shahero? Can't we dawdle at least? Then we might be accidentally late for History! Come on! Please?"

Kennedie stepped back as an harassed Amber chased after her friend almost clipping her in her in her rush. Watching them go she frowned. For a girl who had just been dumped by one of the hottest guys in the school, she sure didn't seem to care. So maybe the rumors were true. Maybe Benson had been cheating on Hiwatari behind his back. The greedy slut. In that moment, Kennedie's estimation of Amber Benson rose a notch.

-

In the quiet corner of the music room that students rarely ventured into, Sonia Martini sat happily engrossed in a book. It had been a long time since she had taken time to just read but she was glad to have carved out this time for it. Actually it had been Ozuma's idea. He was sitting beside her, studying some mechanic book which seemed like such a role reversal for her. Usually she was the one who studied while her friends enjoyed their leisure time. But this was nice.

The room was quiet and cozy, the warmth from the heater radiating out and filling the room creating a comfortable hidey hole. There was no sign of any other life but them which made her feel as though she were in solitude, secluded from the rest of the world in her own little bubble. There were no outside pressures, no expectations from family members; just her and Ozuma. It was perfect.

"Wanna go see a foreign language film with me?"

She glanced up as Ozuma's gravelly voice broke the silence. He was looking at the page in front of him, an advertisement for something or other. Tilting her head, she studied the studious expression on his face and the way the strand of red always fell into those crisp jade eyes. Suddenly those eyes met hers and she flushed at being caught watching him.

"Well?" He queried politely.

"Oh, the film?" She thought about it even though her insides were a squirming mass of excitement. A film with Ozuma in a darkened theatre. The scene had played a vital part in many of her fantasies. And a foreign one too. She really loved foreign films but there was never anyone to go with. Amber would go to the Asian ones that involved martial arts. She very rarely would watch a French one because she claimed they were all about sex or were just plain dull. The German ones were all about gay people which didn't appeal to her as a heterosexual. She had never watched a Spanish one because the language reminded her of her grandmother as did Italian ones. And none of the other girls were remotely interested in that sort of thing, so she usually ended up going on her own or not at all. "What's it called?"

"Initial D."

Sonia frowned. She'd heard that name before. "What's it about?"

"It's about drift racing. But it's Cantonese. Which makes it a foreign film."

Drift racing. Sonia rolled her eyes. "Oh it's based on a manga, right?"

He shrugged. "I don't know."

"It is. I think Arista has some of them." She tapped her lip contemplatively. "Well ok. It's still a foreign film and I like cars. I think."

He chuckled and leaned over to kiss her lightly. She was so cute. "You think."

"Well they're useful even if they do tend to…" She broke off and smiled sheepishly. "Sorry. Who acts in it?"

He scanned the list of actors. "No one you'd know. Uh, Jay Chou, Anne Suzuki, Anthony Wong, Edison Chen, Shawn Yue,-"

"Edison Chen?" That name was familiar too. She had a brief flash of Amber with a silly grin on her face. "Ah, maybe you shouldn't mention that around Amber."

Ozuma frowned. "Why?"

"Uh, let's see, Edison Chen is your cousin's flavor of the month ever since she saw Infernal Affairs. She thinks he's a total hottie."

Ozuma dropped his head onto the table. "What is with her and Asian boys?"

Sonia shrugged. "I don't know. Don't you approve of her dating Kai?"

Ozuma snorted but catching Sonia's alarmed look, he bit his tongue. "I like Kai. He's a good player and he's a decent person. He has a deep rooted sense of morals as well as being talented. He's not an egomaniac which is refreshing. Most guys who think they're gods on the ice have huge ego's but Kai is a god on the ice but he doesn't expect people to bow down to him."

Sonia blinked her big blue eyes for a few seconds before speaking. "Maybe you should go declare your love for him." She drawled.

She and Ozuma reacted immediately. He stared at her in shock while his ears burned while she gasped. Her eyes went wide and her hand clamped over her mouth.

"I'm so sorry." She breathed. "I don't know where that came from."

"I think that was the Octopussy in you." Ozuma finally said when he regained the ability to speak.

"But I shouldn't have…" She bit her lip. "I'm sorry Ozuma. It's just, that was a very passionate speech and well, Amber is your cousin."

Ozuma sighed and ran a hand through her hair. "I like Amber as well. But sometimes she gets on my nerves. I'm vice captain of that hockey team and I can't afford to have her be so selfish. But I don't want to talk about her."

Sonia flinched before plowing steadily onwards. "She's my friend."

"I know. And you're a good friend Sonia but Amber's self destructive and she won't be happy until she brings everyone down with her. I just think she should have left Kai and Mariam alone in the first place. Then none of this would have happened."

Sonia stared at him. "Wait a second. What are you angry about? Kai and Mariam broke up before Amber and Kai got together and need I remind you that while Amber and Kai were together, they were really good. Mariam tried to break them up not Amber. And I don't think Mariam and Kai were that great a couple. Kai didn't even seem to care that much about her. Look at how he is now. He's integrated with the team. He's helping people out with their studies. He's not just existing in the team, he's becoming a member. Do you think that without Amber, he would have done all of that?"

Ozuma could only watch as Sonia began to stand up for her best friend. He was just making a comment, he wasn't trying to upset his girlfriend. However, it seemed by insulting Amber, he'd done exactly that. And the thing was that he really didn't care what happened with Amber and Kai. It was just that because they had broken up, Sonia had decided that it would be better for them to keep things quiet. After all, it might seem in bad taste for them to be celebrating the fact that they were a couple when Amber and Kai had just broken up. It was balls in his opinion but whatever made her happy.

"What about what Kai's done for Amber, because I'm not seeing much of a change." Ozuma suddenly bit out.

Sonia smiled softly at him. "Of course you don't. Because it's been gradual. You haven't known Kai that long, so his changes seem quite radical and obvious. However, Amber's changes haven't been as dramatic. She's still Amber, but she's mellowed. She accepts things easier now, she's not busting people up on the ice. She's called a truce with Ian. She's not jumping into every situation without thinking. She's not trying to get everyone's attention all the time. She thinks things out now and tries to do things for the best but she doesn't always make the right choice…"

Ozuma jumped to his feet and frowned as tears spilled down Sonia's cheeks and her words faded away as she began to hiccup. His arms came around her as she began to cry into his chest. Hard painful sobs racked her body and he brushed a kiss over her soft as silk hair. Where had all this emotion come from? Where had she bottled it all up? And why?

After a while, the sobs silenced and she simply contented herself to cuddle closer to him, while he rubbed his hand up and down her back in a soothing motion and soon enough, she pulled away, dashing at the tears in embarrassment.

"I'm sorry." She croaked miserably.

"Don't be." He kissed away the tears that lingered on her cheek. "I'm sorry I upset you."

"No." She blurted out, shaking her head, her big blue eyes wide and horrified with the thought that he was blaming himself for her problem. "You didn't."

"Obviously I did. You don't just cry for no reason."

She shrugged. "Let's not talk about it."

"Sonia-" He started.

"No, please. I don't want to be sad. Everyone is sad and angry. I don't want to be like that. So let's talk about something happier. When are we going to the cinema?"

He sighed. So she wouldn't talk to him about what was upsetting him. He should have been happy. Who wanted to be a shoulder to cry on? To hear sob stories that were over dramatized but still, he wanted her to trust him. To turn to him. She was everything he wanted. Big sapphire blue eyes; garnet hair, each strand seemed to be a liquidized gems; gold dusted skin, a wide coral mouth. She was beautiful and as precious as each gem that made up her stunning features.

"Whenever we have some free time."

She smiled brightly at him, relief coursing through her. She hated to dwell on sad things but with all this gloom in the air, it just kept trying to drag her down. With a sigh, she snuggled into him. "So the cinema will be our first date."

He smiled indulgently. "Sure."

She gathered her backpack, rising up on her tip toes to kiss his cheek. "Great, well I have to go down to the track. I'll catch up with you later, ok?" She shot him a bright smile before she headed out of the room.

-

Kai yanked open his locker and scowled at the contents. Books, CD's, his sketch pad, his mp3 player as well as his ice skates all sat there, a jumble of chaotic mismatched items. Grabbing the books he would need for his next couple of classes. His gaze swept over the empty corridor and his back stiffened as he heard footsteps coming down the steps. It wouldn't look good to be caught going to his locker instead of being in Study Hall were he was supposed to be at that moment.

Was it weak to admit that he had vaguely hoped to catch a glimpse of Amber? Yes. It was weak and it was pathetic and sickening. The stupid bitch had him all twisted up inside and the fact that she was avoiding him was killing him inside. He should have known better than to get involved with her. He knew what would happen. And yet, he'd gotten involved, gotten ensnared in her web and now he was suffering. It was what he deserved. But it was a lesson learned. Stay the fuck away from girls like Amber Benson. They would only hurt you in the end.

However, he could deal with that. He could ignore the hurt, block it out just as he had done all of his life. But the real kicker was the fact that Benson didn't even show any reaction to the fact that they were broken up. Didn't most girls get upset? Didn't they cry? But not Benson. She didn't even fucking mope. She had been laughing and messing around with that damn family of hers as though nothing had happened between them. The only sign was that she was avoiding him like the plague and that might even have just been his imagination. He'd give it another couple of days to come to that verdict.

Well whatever, it suited him better if she did avoid him. That meant there would be no awkwardness at the table and no sympathetic looks from his teammates. That meant he could get on with his job which was to lead this team to the Championship and win them that damn trophy, not to get caught up with a prickly, impatient, petty brat.

He slammed his door hard enough for it reverberate down the corridor and he headed away from the stairs.

"Kai?"

He frowned at the unfamiliar voice call to him in such a familiar way and glanced over his shoulder. A girl with faint pink hair and dressed in an immaculate school uniform stood at the edge of the steps, head caulked to the side as she studied him.

"I thought it was you. Wow, you gave me a start. I wasn't expecting anyone. Wouldn't want to be caught by a teacher, that wouldn't look too good on my report." She gave another congenial smile that made Kai's skin crawl.

Warily, he looked for the nearest exit and with every intention of just walking away, he took a step forward only to be halted by a particularly strong grip. He looked down at the fragile milk white hand and then lifted his gaze to the girl. He was not in the mood to play stupid female games. He'd heard all about them from his roommates -more Tala and Kane than the others- and though he hadn't had any real experience, he knew what they involved.

She smiled brightly at him casually removing her hand from his arm, sensing his dislike of her touching him. "I'm sorry. I don't think we've been formally introduced. I'm Kennedie Banks."

Kai stared at the hand that she promptly offered him and wondered what she wanted him to do with it? Shake it or kiss it? Either thought repulsed him so he settled for folding his arms and watching with a bored expression.

"What do you want?"

A bewildered smile played on her lips as she searched his face. "I just thought-"

"Oh right. You thought. In future. Don't."

Wide indigo eyes blinked rapidly. "I'm sorry. I guess you're still sore about your break up with Amber."

His glower darkened and his fingers itched to close around her skinny throat. He wasn't in the mood to deal with anyone, especially not asinine bitches who pretended to be relatively human. He knew her game. Had watched her as she wormed her way into people's lives with her innocent little looks and smiles before she had ripped them apart. Maybe it was time someone gave her what she deserved-

"Kai! Hey, just the guy I wanted to talk to." Mariam breezed up, shot a lethal smile at Kennedie before she placed her hand on Kai's rigid arm. "You don't mind if I borrow him do you? Thanks Kennedie. Bye."

Before Kai could make sense of what had just happened, he was being guided down a corridor and away from the viper bitch. When his mind caught up, he shrugged Mariam's hand off his arm.

"Next time you entertain thoughts of killing Pinkie, you might want to consider setting up an alibi first and doing it between classes, that many people would cause enough commotion to let you escape." Mariam said lightly as she leaned back against the wall to regard him. "You ok?"

"What do you want Mariam?" He asked wearily as he rubbed a hand down his face. All those dark thoughts and keeping up this façade was wearing him down. He just wanted people to leave him alone. He couldn't hate the world one minute then be forced to be civil to someone in the next. Besides, part of him -the part that was stupidly still hung up on Benson- blamed her for everything that had happened. If she hadn't told him, Amber wouldn't have been so pissed off at him and she probably wouldn't have headed down to the Coaches office to quit or dump him.

Mariam pushed her bangs out of her face. "Look, I just wanted to apologize for yesterday. I got overemotional and you have enough on your plate without having me lean on you as well. So thanks for not making me feel like such an idiot."

He nodded abruptly. "Hn."

"Anyway, it's not such a big deal. I mean I go to Boarding school so I'm hardly ever home and in a year or so I'll be going to college and I'll have my own life." When he said nothing, she sighed heavily. "Well, I gotta go." She gave him another awkward smile before she walked down the corridor.

Turning away from her, he headed back towards his classroom. He was just passing an empty classroom when he caught sight of a familiar figure. He paused at the doorway to watch her as she paced the bottom of it, along the wall of windows, a phone to her ear and a bored expression on her face.

"I don't know what happened Mystel, I only just got back."

His stomach lurched. _Him_. Why did she always turn to him?

"I don't what his problem is… Well then that's probably it… What do you want me to do about it? I have my own problems you know… Yeah… Yes… Yeah, we did… Yeah, well it was inevitable. It doesn't matter anyway."

_Of course it didn't matter to her_, he thought darkly. She hadn't invested her emotions into their relationship. She hadn't lost her head.

"Besides, high school relationships never last, everyone knows that." She continued on with that superior tone she took on whenever she figured she knew something another didn't. "No, I quit the team. Didn't you hear? Coach suspended me… He and everyone else thinks I'm anorexic… I know that! They just think they know better and you can probably guess who's behind it… Well he can do what he wants, I don't give a shit anymore… No… I'm not… No one falls in love with their high school crush, Mystel. Don't be stupid…"

Kai stepped back from the doorway. So that's how she felt. Well at least he knew now, from her own mouth how she felt about what they had. And because he did know, he would be able to find some closure and get on with his life. Now that the strings between them were severed, he could move on without feeling as though he was living in limbo.

Turning abruptly, refusing to hear anymore, he stalked down the corridor, so intent on his blocking everything out so that all he felt was a blissful numbness, that he didn't notice Miyami call his name as she came down the stairwell. She frowned and then looked back the way he had come, certain that something had bothered him. She was just about to go to her own class when she caught sight of Amber walking out of one of the classrooms.

Oh, so that was what bothered Kai.

"Amber Marie Benson!"

Amber jumped straight out of her skin and whirled to face her imperious best friend. "Whatever you think I did, I didn't."

"You've done something!"

"Um… Ok, look we need to talk and it would be better if we did it later. Cos I gotta go-"

"Get back in there now!"

Amber cringed against the volume of the bellow before she shrank back into the classroom, making sure to keep a desk between them in case her friend should even think of lunging at her. Which she wouldn't put past Miyami because Miyami was spontaneous and just a little crazy.

"So, hi. Long time no talk."

Miyami leveled her friend with one look. "What did you say to Kai?"

Amber's brow furrowed. "Nothing. Why does everyone blame me for Kai's moods? News flash, I'm upset too but everyone's on Kai's side. It's like my feelings don't-"

"So you weren't talking to him, just there now because he came from this room and he had a face like thunder."

Amber shook her head. "No, I was…" Comprehension dawned and with it, a severe feeling of dread made her stomach churn nauseatingly.

He couldn't have, could he?

Knowing her luck, yeah he could.

"Oh shit."

"What did you do Amber? I swear to god, you're a human wrecking ball!"

Amber chuckled nervously but there was a desperate glint in her eyes. "Oh bugger, Mimi. I think Kai might have heard me say that… Oh bugger, oh bugger."

"Heard what, Ams? Seriously, dudette, you have got to tell me what you said."

"I know. I know that. I might have said on a phone call to Myssss" Miyami's eyes narrowed sharply and Amber froze like a rabbit caught in a cars headlamps. "-Sty, my friend Mysty who um… Oh shit."

"Amber it was your friendship with him that got you into this mess. Kai thought you were cheating on him with Mystel and now you go phoning him the day after you break up?" Miyami rolled her silver eyes, which were flashing crimson, heavenwards. Being friends with Amber Benson was not an easy task. It was fraught with dangers and often ended up with everyone having a major sized headache.

"I wasn't cheating on him! Mystel is really cool for a Shark and I wasn't intentionally befriending him. I was trying to keep an eye on Arista."

"Yeah I figured. But we can deal with that later, what did you say to Mystel that Kai might have heard?"

"I might have mentioned something about not loving him."

"Amber!"

"I'm sorry but what else was I supposed to say when Mystel asked? My heart's broken? I don't think so besides, it can't be broken because I'm not _in_ love with Kai though I do love him, or I care a great deal, but I'm not _in_ love with him. I can't be because I'm not old enough to be _in_ love with anyone because that means eternity. That's what happened to my parents, they confused the whole deal and now they're having babies but not with each other and I don't want that, though I'm not sure because Kai-"

"Breathe, Amber. Someday I'm sticking an oxygen tank to your back."

"Yeah but I'll probably just fall over." Amber sighed heavily before collapsing on a nearby chair. "Do you think Kai heard that? Not that it should bother him because we broke up and he probably has someone else lined-"

"Don't you dare even think of finishing that sentence. Kai's not like that and you know that."

Now Amber met her gaze and no longer was she the bumbling, nervous brat but instead there was a grimness to her expression. "He's still male."

"What does that mean?"

"Nothing. It's nothing. Just me being paranoid."

"Amber, if there's something bothering you, you should tell me. I'm your best friend remember, it's that whole not talking thing that got you into this sorry mess."

Amber simply smiled wryly. "I was talking to Shahero and I've decided that I'll probably go on this whole eating kick that Nicolai wants me to do. Not so that I can join the team, I think I'll give that up." When Miyami opened her mouth to argue, Amber held up a hand. "The exams are coming up and I still need to pull my grades up, anyway. So I kind of think I need a sponsor? You wanna help me out?"

Miyami sent Amber a look that spoke volumes about how unhappy she was about her friends choice but she nodded. "Sure. Just tell me what I have to do. But I'm warning you now that I'm doing this so that you'll be fit enough to join the team. I'm not playing in the finals without you."

"I don't know if I can play with Kai again."

"Why not? You were friends-"

"No, we weren't. We went straight from enemies to one week of being acquaintances, possibly teammates to being a couple. It was far too fast and we never really were friends."

"So you didn't have the label of friends on your relationship but the way you two were together, how can you say you weren't friends? I consider Johnny to be my best friend, as well as you and Kai naturally."

"You think of Kai as your best friend?" Amber queried curiously, something inside her softening at the thought of him having Miyami consider him her best friend. Miyami was a great friend to have. Kai really deserved her.

"He's a good person and we have a connection and you know how important those are. It's like the one you and Tala have and the one you have with Kai-"

"Mimi, I don't have a connection with Kai anymore, we cut it!"

Miyami smiled and winked at her friend. "It doesn't break. Look, just leave it for a few days. Maybe after a while, you two might be able to become friends. Just wait and see Amber. Not everything has to happen in the space of a couple of days. Sometimes things take a while."

"Do you think Kai and Mariam made a good couple?"

Miyami shrugged. "I don't know. They were ok but they weren't you two."

"You're right. Besides, you always say high school romances aren't supposed to last forever."

"I said that when I was fourteen, Ams, don't listen to things I said when I was fourteen. I declared I was going to be a vegetarian when I was fourteen, that lasted half a day."

"Not your fault the guy mixed up your order with someone else's."

"I still ate meat while I was supposed to be a vegetarian." Miyami sighed gustily and tilted her head back before perking up to study her friend, who wasn't looking her best but then that was to be expected if her heart was broken. "I was supposed to be angry with you."

"You can't be angry with me, you love me. I'm your reason for being."

"Being what?"

"You."

"Oh. Aspin hates me. I really hurt Arista, I mean, really hurt her. I was just yelling at her and all these horrible things came out. I couldn't even stop myself from saying it. It was like I was possessed."

"I've heard of that happening." Amber mused before going over to her friend to sling an arm around her shoulder. "It's a family thing. I yell and say mean things to Kirby all the time. You can when they're family and you know they love you because they'll take whatever you say but it won't stop them loving you. However, we'll fix things. Me and you, just like always. I think everyone probably knows you were just under pressure."

"I was under pressure. You're sick. Everyone thinks you're anorexic. Kai was upset about you walking out." Miyami continued over Amber's exclamation that she wasn't anorexic. "You quit the team which pissed them off. And Arista was dating pond scum."

"Sharks don't live in ponds. It would cramp their style."

"It would just be cramped."

"It would. But we'll fix Arista and we'll make Aspin love you again and you can have lesbian affairs and set the whole school on fire with your hot make out sessions."

Miyami snorted out a laugh. "Ams I've missed you."

Amber smiled brightly. "I've missed being me. I don't know who I've been for the past couple of days but I don't like her. She's moody and glum and sullen and… Oh my god, I've been Kai!"

The silver haired Japanese girl snickered. "So does that mean Kai was you?"

"Oh god, I hope not. Can you imagine him being all neurotic? What would he talk about?" Suddenly she gasped, eyes wide. "No, wait, Kirby's been me! She had this episode in assembly-"

"Yeah you have to sit with us at assembly from now on. OK? I'll keep Kai from you. God knows, he might just jump you from having to be parted from you for so long."

"Don't joke about things like that. So what class do we have now?"

"Maths. Walk me to class?"

"Sure. But only as an escort because you're madly in love with Aspin."

"Right."

"Maybe we could skip this class-"

"You've skipped two already today. No more." Miyami growled, curling her arm around her friends and hauling her down the corridor much to the amusement of two Junior boys who were lounging by the windows.

"You know whenever I try to be a rebel, you always ruin it. Oh my god, you're Sonia!"

"Oh my god." Miyami muttered tiredly as she listened to her friend's neurotic tirade of how their personalities were switched by aliens that she didn't believe in during the night. And as she listened, she thought about how good it was to have her friend back and she wondered, just when everything would sink in. Because when it did, she was expecting one hell of a melt down if this high was anything to go by.

-

_Well here's the next chapter of SLTS. I hope this wasn't an unnecessary long wait, not like the one you're having for TFG. I think the problem there is that there's a scene that Amber's saying doesn't suit her temperament and makes her seem like a brat so I should delete it. Which I will when I get home. Maybe she's unhappy with Kai's scene but I really like it and I don't want to delete again. He is intent on making himself a nuisance and she's complaining it's out of character. Does that make sense? I mean I don't here these thoughts in my head, there just these subconscious feelings. _

Oh man do I love that last scene. It just rocks out loud! Please review guys, you're dwindling, being picked off by the teaching masses and getting lives, it scares me.


	28. Tomato, Tomatoe

Disclaimer: I don't own Beyblade or 6/8's of the Octopussies. Please read and enjoy.

* * *

Chapter Twenty Six - Tomato, Tomatoe

With the ice glittering under the beam of the long fluorescent stadium lights, the team streaked from one side to another while, Nicolai looked on, keeping an eye on the counter and gauging the fitness of his team. Ian was lagging behind a little but he was still completing the task within the time limit so it was nothing to worry about. After all there was his extra bulk to take into consideration and the fact that unlike Bryan and Spencer, his legs were shorter and therefore had to work double time. Kai's heart wasn't in it; that was obvious. The boy was mechanically going through the exercise.

Shahero was constantly surprising him with each task. Despite the slightness of her figure and the shortness of it, she continued to push herself to the limit, putting herself up into the same league as Tala and his son. She knew how to use her body and Nicolai believed that it had a lot to do with the fact that she had been trained in martial arts, which would explain her discipline compared to her fellow students. She could switch her mind off when it came to personal problems in order to keep her mind focused on the game and it was an admirable quality.

"Miyami Kinomiya how is it that everyone else is concentrating on completing this exercise without collapsing and you still have breath to talk?"

"Second pair of lungs, sir." Came the pithy reply from the statuesque Asian girl. She touched the side of the arena before boosting herself off and back to the other side.

Nicolai simply rolled his eyes. He was certainly becoming familiar with his teams traits and habits and he couldn't be in a better place. The Sharks had always been very disciplined but they lacked a life, they lacked personality. They were robots to some degree and he never really felt a connection to them in the same way he did to the Tigers. It was hard to not to get attached to people who didn't hide themselves from him. He knew when they were angry, he knew when they were happy and they were never afraid to point out his mistakes.

When he thought on how his father had wanted him to follow in the family business, he cringed. That wasn't the job for him. He couldn't imagine staying in an office all day. Making small talk with clients. Going for lunches and golfing matches. The monotony of the routine would have driven him insane.

"Russia, pick up the pace!" He ordered, blowing his whistle. "Three more."

A chorus of groans met his ears at the announcement and he smirked sadistically. No other job would allow him to torture a group of smartass teenagers either.

"I finally figured out why they call this suicide." Miyami moaned. "It's suicide on ice." Her face brightened. "Hey Suicide on Ice makes for a great film title." She commented to anyone who would listen. "Think about it, Suicide on Ice, starring Miyami Kinomiya!"

"Miyami McGregor sounds better." A voice called out from down the line.

"Shut up Shahero, I hate you!"

"Yeah you're just saying that so that Aspin doesn't get jealous." Shahero retorted and had the satisfaction of seeing Kane's brow wing up. "Oops, sorry Kane. Mimi, the cats out of the bucket."

"There was a cat in the bucket?"

"I thought the cat was in the bag?" Enrique muttered. Maybe he had been the using the wrong phrase all this time. God that was embarrassing.

"Tomato, Tomatoe!" Shahero growled, elbowing Tala as he snickered at her.

"I knew I wasn't an idiot!" Enrique declared triumphantly.

"Who says?" Miyami demanded.

"You can't judge that!" Shahero added scathingly. "You don't hear Sonia declaring she's a genius. No, everyone else says it. It carries more weight that way!"

Enrique grinned goofily. "Sonia's cute."

"That's- Shut up Enrique!" Ozuma snarled, elbowing the blond viciously enough to make the Italian yelp and cringe away.

"Ooh, you pissed off Ozuma, way to go."

Nicolai sighed heavily but felt a reluctant burst of fondness for the team as Kai chuckled at their teasing. He was beginning to do that more often and it was an amazing thing to witness, as he had told Jean. She of course wished she could see it but she could hear it when he phoned home which, she had told him, was becoming a more frequent occurrence. It was almost like the blossoming of a flower, slow and not immediately obvious until the flower was staring you right in the face.

He was snatched from his thoughts when his niece braced herself against the barrier before giving up and sinking to the ice beside him.

"You're out of shape." He told her needlessly.

"Well smoking does dat t' y'."

"If you knew that, why do you do it?" He wondered picking up his clipboard to study his plays for the game that night.

Russia shrugged. "Seemed like da t'ing t' do."

"Peer pressure, Russia. I never thought you would succumb to it."

She rolled her eyes. Adults knew nothing. She didn't smoke because of peer pressure. She did it because she liked it. She liked how her mind went cloudy and it pissed her mother and her principal off. What wasn't to like?

"Yeah, well, I'm givin' it up, aren't I? An' I 'aven't bin doin' any o' da drugs 'cos my wee's bin comin' back clear, 'asn't it?"

"Seemingly so. As long as you're not switching it."

"I don't wanna play dat bad, dat I'd go near someone else's urine, dat's your kick."

He snorted, somewhat amused. "Well you're going to have to pick up your grades and your speed if you plan on staying."

"Whatever. Not like y've got anyone to replace me anyway since y' won' let yer goddaughter on da team til she's a 'suitable weight'." Russia drawled mockingly.

"Hmm." Nicolai murmured noncommittally. He made another note onto his pad before placing it onto the bench and turning back to his team, he blew his whistle. The shrill note lingered in the air as the team sluggishly slid to a stop and turned to face him. "Take a knee."

"Why do people say that?" Shahero muttered. "Hey, Johnny wanna lend me your knee?"

"Sorry, Miyami already asked for it."

"Damn!"

"Wise guys." Nicolai muttered before leaning back and folding his arms as he surveyed the motley crew before him. "You have a big game tonight. To be honest, the Blizzards aren't the biggest threat and if you were at the top of your game, you'd trounce them. But you're not so you're going to have to work hard to earn your win. They have an amazing defensive line though their weak up front. Defense, I want you guys to concentrate on shut out. I don't want them getting on the scoreboard. You have a lot to prove. The Sharks are going to be watching this game with an eagle eye. You play hard and you'll worry them. You are their competition. I believe that. You have to believe that as well. And you have to make them believe it. Prove to them you have what it takes to beat them and you'll have them on the ropes."

The team shifted warily, some -like Rei, Ozuma and Michael, the players that believed in themselves- nodded, others -like Kai, Tala and Arista who had history with the Sharks- looked vaguely annoyed with the mention of the Sharks, while the others -such as Shahero and Ian were playing bloody knuckles…¬¬

"Shahero and Ian, please. This is serious."

Both looked up before sheepishly averting their gazes at being caught playing around instead of paying attention.

"Sorry Coach." They muttered in unison.

"Right, you know the play. You know your lines-"

"Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou-"

Snickers burst from the team at Tala's dry quote and Nicolai rubbed his temples wearily. Hadn't he gotten rid of one smart aleck, did she really have to be replaced? And the scary thing was that he was certain that she would have said something very similar. It was her quirk.

"Grow up!" Kai bit out, searing his team with a dark look.

"Sorry, it was just getting a little tense." Tala muttered.

"We don't work well under pressure."

Kai shook his head but said nothing due to the warning look his father was giving him. He supposed that he really had nothing to complain about when it came to his team. After all, they hadn't been doing anything wrong. He was just finding himself more and more short tempered.

"Right, we meet here an hour before the game. We'll do a quick warm up and a run through of the plays." Nicolai cast a glance at his watch. "Go shower or you'll be late for breakfast."

The team gathered their stuff and trooped towards the changing room like a large sluggish herd.

* * *

"Well she has to! I can't sing those songs without her there to back me up." Johnny exploded as the group trooped out of the changing rooms towards the main school building, intent of getting some breakfast. However, Johnny had been distracted by the fact that a certain ex-member of the team was refusing to come to the after game party and in doing so, was leaving him without a backing vocalist. Normally, he wouldn't really mind however, he needed back up for these songs he had planned and she needed to be there because her voice was the only one that remotely suited them. Selfish cow!

"In other words, you expect her to cover up your mistakes." Shahero guessed easily, ignoring Miyami's blatant motions for them to shut up.

"No, I'm a good singer. She just suit's the songs better, that Irish voice and everything."

"You expect her to pick up the slack when you get drunk then."

Miyami glowered at the pair as they continued to ignore her in their desire to continue their pointless conversation. Hadn't they realized already that if Kai was there, Amber wouldn't be? It was just a fact of life now; they should just damn well accept it. Amber and Kai would no longer share a room with each other and that meant she wouldn't be at any game related activities. Plus, she had mentioned that it would be too painful to listen to them talk about something she was no longer involved in. Still, Kai was walking right there! They could have some sensitivity.

"Well that's how it's always gone." The red head Scot grumbled and shoved his hands into his pockets, jerking roughly, as he was pushed out of the way and Kai strode past with Tala following, shooting the two a dark look. Miyami sighed, threw her hands into the air, and jogged after them and after a second; Johnny cursed and quickly followed his girlfriend.

Shahero watched the scene with a bemused expression before she slowed her pace. Now she had no one to walk with. Russia had gone to talk to Nicolai and had told her not to wait. Arista never walked with them anymore. She came to practice, played, changed for school and left before any of the others even emerged from the showers -though they did take long showers that involved a lot of pointless conversation.

Rolling her neck, she was satisfied when she heard it pop. Practice had been good, hardly perfect since Amber hadn't been present but having Russia back was an excellent consolation. However, the game tonight would really tell whether their line-ups would work. She still figured they had some work to do and Kai certainly wasn't playing his best.

Her expression darkened. If it wouldn't have hurt the team, she would have made plans to throw Kai off but alas, despite how she might feel towards her sisters' ex, he was still one of them. She had no idea how it happened- Oh no, she did. It happened gradually. It had started with Tala and him keeping their bond strong despite the team turning against them. It had happened when Miyami had warmed to him due to the inexplicable bond she felt towards him. Damn Miyami and her stray adopting tendencies. But the big turning point, to Shahero's frame of mind, was when he and Amber had become a couple. It was hard to see him with her and link him to the Sharks.

However, they weren't together now and Kai's attitude was getting worrisome, not that she really cared. Kai wasn't her problem to deal with. Nevertheless, that didn't mean that she didn't worry, because if anything happened to Kai, it would hurt Amber despite how she acted as though everything was ok.

The rhythmic thud of metal hitting metal drew her attention. Curious, she approached the gym and peeked inside. Her mouth went dry at the sight. There lay Hitoshi, in a damp gray wife-beater that molded itself to his abs; skin glistening with sweat as his arms lifted the barbell up and down. Her breathing quickened, growing shallow as her gaze ran over his form. The sight of his broad shoulders, strong thighs, tanned legs, lean body and that gorgeous face sent her heart racing.

"Enjoying the view?"

Once again, her gaze ran over him critically and a pale flush stained her cheeks. "Can't say it's the worst I've seen."

His dark eyes smoldered as those kissable lips tilted. "Stop, you'll make me blush."

Heaving the barbell off him and onto the holding rack, he slowly sat up, never taking his eyes off her. Seeing Shahero so early in the morning and without a flock of friends surrounding her was always a pleasure but seeing her in a skirt was almost like a gift from God.

"I don't have time for this." She murmured, even as her eyes greedily took in the sight of him and her tongue darted out to wet her lips.

"Uh-huh," he uttered the sound as he carefully rose to his feet, almost as though he were afraid of startling her.

"I'll be late for breakfast." She whispered, as he loomed over her. Her duffle bag hit the ground but none of them seemed to notice.

"Can't have that," he agreed softly, before his hungry mouth sought hers.

The kiss was dark, edgy and a little desperate, as they frantically demanded more from each other, never completely sated. His large hands moved up and down, possessing her slight frame. When his hand closed over her breast, she moaned, arching against him to experience more of that delightful friction. Her head fell back as his hands skimmed under her shirt and his lips glided over her jaw and down her throat.

Over and over, they kissed, only to come to their senses when they heard a door slam and footsteps came down the corridor. They sprang apart, lips swollen, breathing harsh as they tried to regain their composure.

"Shit." Hitoshi murmured breathlessly, leaning his forehead against hers as he struggled to hear where the footsteps were coming from. They were too close now and he stepped back from her as a young woman entered the room. Her eyes narrowed suspiciously between them and both of them tensed before a grin flared.

"Jesus you two, you keep pawing at each other and you're so gonna get busted. You'll get detention Hero and Hito'll get fired."

Hitoshi rolled his eyes and tried to pull Shahero back into his arms now that the danger had passed but she easily evaded his grasp. "Benson, what are you doing down here?"

"Looking for Hero." Amber replied casually. "Shouldn't you be coaching something? I mean that's what you're paid to do and I don't think Shahero needs any more coaching on tonsil hockey!"

Shahero snickered as Hitoshi glowered at his petite neighbor. With a sigh and lifting his gaze to the ceiling, he made a move to leave the room but not before capturing Shahero's lips for another soul sucking kiss. In the background, barely noticeable until he pulled away from his girlfriend, he was aware of Amber's gagging noises and he rolled his eyes. He was still waiting for the day that she would finally grow up because he had a funny sense of déjà vu that dated back to when he had been sixteen and babysitting her.

He picked up his towel and slung it over his shoulder, leaning over Shahero once more. "Love you." He murmured, brushing the pad of his thumb over her lower lip. It trembled under his ministrations as her eyes went dark and liquid like with his words. Reluctantly, he moved away and left the two girls alone. He had work to do too.

When he was gone, Amber sighed dramatically and fanned her face. "Oh my!"

"Shut up!" Shahero snapped, but there was a smile lurking around her bruised mouth.

"What?" Amber gasped; all innocence.

Shahero settled for sticking out her tongue. "You're just jealous." As soon as the words were out, Shahero eyes went wide and her hand clapped over her mouth while Amber's gaze fell to the floor. "Shit, Amber. I didn't…"

Amber mustered up a flicker of a smile and jerked a shoulder. "The day I'm jealous of you kissing Hitoshi is the day the world ends. Dude, he's like the brother I never wanted."

Shahero smirked before her brows knitted as she surveyed her friends outfit. "What's with the dress sense?"

Amber looked down at her baggy jeans, scuffed trainers, plain navy short-sleeved top and black hooded jacket. "What's wrong with it?"

"Well it doesn't really look like the uniform to me." Shahero mentioned as she led her sister out of the weight room and headed for the door where the light was just beginning to filter the darkness.

"Maybe you're looking at it wrong."

Shahero dumped her bag, walked to the wall and stepped up into a handstand, her feet bracing against the wall. "Nope, doesn't look-" She broke off, kicking away from the wall to drop gracefully to her feet. "Ugh, can't talk upside down, but it doesn't look like the uniform from that direction.

The intense concentration wavered as she studied her sister who was snickering. "What?"

"You just flashed the security man."

Shahero frowned; then looked down at her skirt with an expression of horror before she squeezed her eyes and cursed. "Shit."

"Uh-huh."

"Oh well, it'll probably be the highlight of his day. So what's with the outfit?" She asked as she gathered her bag again and headed for the exit with her sister following.

"Oh I have two free classes so I figured I'd get more work done if I was in comfortable clothes than my uniform."

"Lucky you."

The Asian girl opened the door and held it open, allowing her companion to exit. They stepped out into the nippy air of early March and headed towards where the lights of the school illuminated the gloomy dawn.

"So why were you looking for me?"

"You have my library card." Amber prompted, placing out her hand.

Shahero frowned. Oh yeah, she remembered borrowing it to get some books when she had her own free class. Her own was missing so she had borrowed Ambers since she had been the only one with hers on her. Digging around in her bag she pulled out her wallet and flipped it open, sliding out the bright yellow plastic card and handing it to its rightful owner.

Amber palmed it and slipped into her denim pocket -the back one since the front ones had holes that she kept losing money from. "So…" She began with a teasing tone. "Did Hitoshi say he loves you?"

Shahero flushed and grumpily turned her attention to the trees that surrounded them. "Fuck you."

"No, he said love you, not fuck you. Are you having problems with your hearing because they have made such great medical- OW! Why'd you punch me for? It's not my fault you misheard hi- OW! That bloody hurt."

"Keep twisting my words and you're going to be black and blue."

"No, black and amber thank you very much, black and blue's your coloring." Amber retorted cheerfully.

"Huh?"

"Black hair, blue eyes. Black hair and amber-ish eyes… You need glasses as well as the hearing aid. Dude, sucks to be- OW!"

Shahero snickered and left Amber rubbing her upper arm as she headed up the path.

* * *

Enrique leafed through his latest men's magazine issue and praised the beginning of a new month. New months meant new magazine issues, which meant more material for him to ogle. Not that he would ogle much because he was getting over his whole obsession for the female form and trying to move on… sort of. It was hard to be put down for his healthy appreciation for the female form, particularly as none of his female friends thought there was anything healthy about it. Well, he sighed, none of them really cared that much. The only one who ever told him off for it was Amber but she didn't really say anything to him anymore. He glowered at the reason and was rewarded with a darker look that had him flinching and returning to his magazine.

"Kai, stop glaring at Enrique." Miyami muttered as she spread a square of butter over her toast. "And Enrique, don't glare at Kai."

"I wasn't." Enrique grumbled but refused to look back up.

"So are the Blizzards really as easy as everyone says?" Kane finally asked. "I mean we took it for granted that the Indians were crap and then look what happens. Tala gets squashed!"

The red head looked up affronted. "Hey! I was not squashed. I chivalrously put myself in the path of danger."

"And got squashed!"

"Chivalry is dead." Miyami pointed out.

"Long live the King." Johnny cheered mirthlessly. Early mornings just weren't his thing, especially since Amber was refusing to come sing back up for him. He was her friend too, why was she pushing him away. It was bad enough that she had ran away just because she broke up with a guy but to punish all of them just pissed him off.

"God you're all so fucking depressed. Get over it."

The group stared in surprise at Ruin who simply met their gaze before shrugging and opening another check from her parents.

"O-K." Michael mumbled bewilderedly. Wasn't there something supremely wrong with that picture?

Kai looked up from his Math homework and scooped up a spoonful of cereal, chewing it thoughtfully before answering Kane's previous question. "The Blizzards don't hold any surprises. They have some good players but they're nothing spectacular."

"How can we be sure? After all, we didn't know about the Indians." Kane pressed. He really didn't want to be caught off guard again. It just wouldn't look good. Plus they were nowhere near at their best at the moment with Amber off the team, Bryan, Tala and Kai didn't have their minds on the game, Arista looked half-dead and Russia would probably _be_ dead by the end of the match due to her questionable health.

"Because I checked." Kai snapped in a no nonsense tone.

Michael flinched at the sharp edge and hunched his shoulders. "Jeez, man, take it easy. He was just asking a question."

"And I gave him an answer." Kai bit out, returning to his math homework and turning on his I-pod.

"Is it me? Or is he grouchier than he usually…" Michael trailed off as he caught Tala's frigid look and he raised his hands in a gesture of surrender. What was with these boys and either biting their heads off or glaring them into submission? Was congeniality buried along with chivalry?

"Give him a break, Michael."

"At least he still hangs out with us." Enrique mumbled under his breath but they heard him easily because just at that moment the table had fallen silent, as did some around them, lulling into a comfortable silence that came when there was nothing else to say. Therefore, everyone had no choice but to hear Enrique's bitter comment and they all knew whom it was directed at. The figure that would usually be sat by Kai making some completely asinine comment about some theory she had discovered only for Kai to give her the look that made her shut up. Of course, the look was never mean, there was a fondness to it and Amber's expression always seemed to light up at the attention. Though they doubted either of them realized how obvious their feelings had been.

"Hey, so where's Ozuma?" Miyami asked, breaking the awkward silence and directing the attention away from her absent friend. "Have you seen him Arista?"

Arista jolted and looked up at them with wide navy eyes. "What?"

Miyami sighed and shook her head. She had apologized to Arista but Arista was still in her own little world half the time. She supposed it was mainly because she could, because all of them, including her, were feeling guilty for her breakup. After all, Arista had suddenly a serious boyfriend and the minute they, no she, found out who it was, she demanded they breakup.

Now Arista was solemn, red eyed, and not like herself, which was wrong. At least Amber wasn't mooning over Kai but Miyami had to admit, that was probably because she had to see Kai every single day. Arista didn't get to see Brooklyn, so she could be as upset as she wanted but someone was going to have to snap her back to her senses. Miyami just hoped that it wouldn't have to be her.

"I think he's sitting with Rei and Mariah."

Miyami's attention turned to the JV team and her brow furrowed. She looked over at Tala and kicked him under the table. The Russian's head shot up, eyes snapping to hers angrily before focusing on her. He doubted that she was in the mood for a game of footsie and besides, he was the wrong red head. If he was playing footsie with anyone it would be Ruin… or Amber but that was more like her kicking him in the shins for her own sadistic pleasure.

A red brow quirked and she opened her mouth to ask her question before she suddenly noticed how still Kai was. Bastard wasn't listening to music at all, she realized with surprise and some amusement; but mostly surprise. She swallowed and tried to think of a way to ask without it being obvious. Of course, the fact that she was asking Tala anything was pretty much like wearing a sign saying 'I'm having a conversation about Amber!'. She and Tala weren't bosom buddies. She could count on one hand the amount of things they had in common. Tigers, Hockey, Kai and Amber.

That was a pretty pathetic thing to realize but she had less in common with some of the others. It was just that she and Tala just weren't people who would normally travel in the same circle. She doubted he and Amber would have been either if it weren't for that life long friendship thing they had.

"How's life?"

Tala frowned. "Are you hitting on me?"

"Valkov shut the fuck up!" Johnny growled, his knuckles turning white around the butter knife.

Michael noticed this and reached over, gently prying the Scots fingers away from the blunt but perfectly functional weapon. "Johnny, give me the knife. Give me the knife. Give-Me-The-Knife!" He punctuated each word with a tug as the Scot resisted, before finally taking the knife away.

"Well I can't think of any other reason she would be talking to me- Johnny, put the spoon down."

"Johnny, spoons aren't that great of a weapon." Michael muttered, getting to his feet so that he could lean over the table to grab the spoon.

"Use an icicle, it's perfect." Ian declared as he joined them, taking an interested peek at Enrique's magazine.

Michael finally wrenched the spoon away from Johnny and sat back down, breathing hard and scowling at the red head. "Man, you have got to get over this-"

"I wasn't hitting on you! I asked you how your life was going, how does that sound like 'Hey babe, where've you been all my life?'"

"They both contain the word life."

"Now you're hitting on me."

"Ian, shut up!"

"Johnny, what are you going to do? Drown him with the milk? Put the jug down!"

"Don't tell me to shut up Kane!"

"I am not hitting on you! That was an example of what I might say if I _was_ hitting on you, which I wasn't because a) I love Johnny! B) You're not my type no matter how red your hair is and c) Ruin knows where I sleep at night."

"Well she is in the same dorm."

"Shut up Kane."

"Johnny, you're spilling the milk, man. Look at what you're doing and stop staring at Miyami, you goof."

"God those are big breasts."

"Aren't they just?"

"Ian! Enrique! You perverts, not at the breakfast table or I'm getting Sonia to confiscate that."

"Pay attention to your boy toy, Mimi and leave our magazine alone."

"_My_ magazine."

Kai sighed and shoved out of his chair. For some reason, being a part of this chaos just didn't feel right anymore. It was as if a key role was missing, someone who would usually be sitting on his lap, clapping and giggling at the complete uproar that had ensued at his table. But she wasn't there, she hadn't been there for the past week and she wouldn't be there tonight either. With a scowl, he left the dining hall and headed for his dorm intent on finishing his math homework.

Tala sighed watching him go before getting to his own feet while Ian and Enrique fought with their magazine and, Shahero, who had just joined them, tried to clue into why Johnny was gazing like a love-struck puppy at Miyami. He headed for the counter, grabbed a Danish and a take-away coffee and headed back out of the dining hall, going in the opposite direction of his best friend to find his other best friend.

* * *

Amber frowned as she felt something sticking into her leg as she ascended the curved staircase to the first floor of the Library. She rounded the landing and halted, sticking her hand into her pocket and with experience, she found the hole with her fingers. Then with a wiggling movement of her digits, she latched onto her lip balm which had been about to make the journey south down her pant leg. Sighing, she deftly flicked it into her palm and smoothly moved into her back pocket with her library card.

As she walked along the floor, the bookshelves became less frequent until she emerged on the other side of the forest of books into a technological safe haven. To her, the air smelt cleaner here, fresher. Probably because there was more light coming in from the windows that lined the wall to her left and with the lack of towering bookshelves, it seemed as though there was more space here.

She moved back to her computer that was still downloading the video from the website that had intrigued her, another window confirmed her email had been sent and her packet of peanut M&Ms' was still partially full. She pulled up a window, typed in her Bebo URL, and then turned her attention to the book before her on Gerard Hopkins. Supposedly, Mrs. King figured they would understand the poems better if we knew the poet. So here, she was scribbling an essay about a dead Jesuit Priest. Of course, if it hadn't been for the teacher of her morning classes having taken ill, then she probably would have never had the time to write the essay. It had been given to her an entire week ago but she hadn't been in the mood to write it, funnily enough, she felt that she had something more important on her mind.

Plucking a few M&Ms' from the packet, she put them into her mouth and sucked the sugar coating off the chocolate. She sighed. Somehow, milk chocolate just wasn't doing anything for her anymore. Her eyes flickered to her bag, lying open on the counter. She knew that there was a bar of dark chocolate in there but it was the last of her stash and she couldn't afford to spend all her money on chocolate when she needed pens, notebooks, and other things for the next week. But god, she wanted that chocolate. Nothing else coated her mouth so smoothly; nothing else held that hint of bitterness under the sweet melt on your tongue flavor.

Footsteps on the stairs startled her and she looked up. When she caught sight of a flash of teal colored hair, she felt her own disappointment and scowled. God, she was so pathetic.

"Hey stranger." Kirby chirped as she dropped into the swivel chair beside her cousin and glanced at her screen.

"Morning."

"582 hits. Seriously, Ams, who would even check out your page?"

"Says miss 1000 plus hits."

"Ah but I am the epitome of cool."

"So you're an ice cube, big deal. That doesn't mean people want to check out your site. I mean, you don't even have a blog… Oh. You have the mysterious factor. You are very wise sensei." Amber murmured, offering her baby cousin some M&Ms'.

Munching on the sweets, Kirby tried to nod sagely. "You will learn some day grasshopper. So what are you doing up here on your lonesome?"

Amber sighed. "I'm checking out my emails, surfing youtube and writing an essay for English."

"And why aren't you in uniform."

"No classes until third period."

"Lucky you. Why can't my teachers get sick?"

"Um, because they don't like you. Ugh, I'm guessing we'll be told to go to supervised study but, I'd rather not."

Kirby raised a brow then nodded. She understood. If Amber wasn't sitting with her friends in class, then she would have no one to sit with in supervised study, which was never actually supervised, so students just played card games or talked or whatever. And since Amber had no one to do that with, she would only have felt lonely.

"So have you spoken to Kai, yet?" She finally asked tentatively.

Amber shook her head glumly. "I don't see the point. I don't want to seem like I can't let him go. This week's been hard but I'll get over it."

"What about you and Mariam?"

Amber's head shot up, eyes blazing. "What about us?" She all but snapped and Kirby leaned back into her chair.

"Uh, well I did notice her being awfully friendly towards you. Friendly waves, smiles, greetings in the corridor. What's with that?"

Amber shrugged. Honestly, she didn't know. She had noticed the change on Monday, which funnily enough, coincided with her breaking up with Kai. So maybe, now that Kai was back on the market again, she was ready to be friends again. And the idea of that sickened Amber to the stomach. She didn't want to be Mariam's friend anymore. She didn't think she could be; it would just be too hard.

"It's sort of like, she was off the 'if I can't have Kai, no one can have Kai' train of thought and now I don't have him, she's ready to be friends again."

"She sort of seems back to normal too, you know. Ever since you two broke up, she's been happier and not as obsessed. It's kind of creepy."

"Kai's back on the market, of course she's happy."

"So you don't think they were cheating on you then?" Kirby realized.

Amber's nose prickled because she didn't think they had been cheating. It just wasn't Kai's style and she liked to think that she knew him. But that meant that she had broken up with Kai for no good reason and now she was left with the aftermath. He could move on, he was the dumpee. He wouldn't feel any guilt moving on; she on the other hand was the idiot who broke up with him for no good reason.

"We should have talked it out." Amber whispered viciously, dropping her head down onto the desk before her.

"You still can."

"It's too late. The two of us have said too much and there's no more we can do. It's best to just let things die down before we try to hash everything out." Amber stated stubbornly and while Kirby had always looked up to her cousin -because no matter what people said, she did show quite a lot of logic-; this was one of those times that she felt Amber was way off base.

More footsteps on the stairs startled them and they watched as two boys glanced around the first floor before catching sight of them.

"Seeing them together, you can see some of the resemblance."

Kirby nodded as she watched Miguel and Tala approach them. Her pulse went thready and she felt her cheeks begin to heat up as Miguel's warm gaze fell on her. "Hey."

"Hey."

Amber rolled her eyes at their shy greetings and looked at Tala, feigning coyness. "Hey."

"Hey." Tala mocked, voice suddenly deep and harlequinesque.

Amber snickered as Kirby swatted her and Miguel glared at his older cousin but the older two simply took their reactions in their stride.

"We have to go." Miguel prompted and Kirby nodded quickly, getting to her feet and following her boyfriend towards the stairs, her hand lacing with his which didn't go unnoticed by the other two.

"I bring you gifts." Tala announced setting the Styrofoam cup before her accompanied by the plastic wrapped Danish as he scowled at the packet of sweets. "Ember-"

Amber stared at him with wide horrified eyes. He'd called her Ember? Why had he called her that? He'd never done it before and didn't he understand that it hurt to hear anyone call her that?

"Oh god, Amber, I'm sorry- It just-"

"Yeah." She choked out. "It just came out, right."

But despite her attempt to act casual over it that didn't stop her eyes from shimmering brightly with tears that she was refusing to shed nor did it stop him from hearing the hitch in her breath. He sighed heavily and drew her to her feet. His arms came around her and he held her tightly, feeling her grip on him tighten almost painfully as she buried her face in his shoulder.

"Why don't you talk to him Benz? You're miserable."

"I am not." She groused, rubbing her cheek against his shoulder, breathing him in and sighing when everything that had been bubbling up cooled under the soothing scent of him but it was only a temporary fix. The one person who could really soothe it was the one person she tried not to see that often.

"Yes, you are. You're constantly close to tears, you avoid us all the time and you're not eating. Miyami says you're not sleeping well either."

"I'm not a cliché either."

"Benz," he pleaded in frustration, letting go off her to rake a hand through his hair. "I want to help. You're my friend, so is he and I want you to be-"

"What, happy?" She asked with disbelief coloring her tone. "That only happens in the movies. This is the real world and I don't get a happy ending."

"Why are you telling yourself this, Benz?"

Her gaze averted to the ground and she hunched her shoulders. "Because if I don't, I'll wake up and think that everything was just a strange nightmare. And you know how strange my nightmares are. I need to face reality. Kai's not going to come along on a white charger, sweep me off my feet and declare that everything's ok. I hurt him, really badly."

_And hurt yourself in the process_, he sympathized but didn't say the words. His Benny was hurting deep down and there was nothing he could do for her. This was her battle to deal with. A distant sound caught his attention and he sighed heavily. "Looks like I have to go. Don't stay cooped up here all day, k?"

"I won't." She offered him a weak smile and it hurt to see it because it had none of that kilowatt dosage it usually held. He gave her another brief squeeze and headed out of the library.

* * *

"Ok, so when are you going to talk to Amber?"

Kai rolled his eyes and continued to stare at the screen in front of him where the orange jerseys flashed across the white ice. The Blizzards played sloppily; they didn't tighten up around the goalie, the defenders traveled too far down the ice so that as soon as someone fast got a hold of the puck, they were up one on one with the goalie. The goalie was ok, nothing compared to Arista but still not bad. Slow on the left side, all one needed to do was come around behind him and flick it in.

"You're trying to ignore me. You can't ignore me. I am Miyami Kinomiya; no one can ignore me. I'm unignorable."

Kai sighed heavily and tried to ignore the babbling girl sitting beside him, slurping noisily on her latte. Lifting his own Styrofoam cup and sipping at the dark bitter contents. On the screen, the Tigers were once again on a breakaway, Amber tearing up the ice, with Tyson behind her and Miyami on her right. The two girls exchanged the puck once, twice and then on the third time, Miyami flicked it into the top right corner of the net.

"Yay, me! Man I was good."

"And you're not now?"

"Ha, ha, he speaks. No, I'm not just good now, I am the best."

He chuckled dryly and without much humor before returning his attention to the screen. Their offence was crap; then he frowned watching the defense line again. "They only have one good defense line, that's what Dad was talking about. The others are too slight and don't hold together…" He frowned and leaned forward in his seat. "That means they'll try to keep out the first line for as long as possible and alternate the players through the other lines."

Miyami tilted her head. "Wow, you really know your stuff."

"Dad's a coach. I've watched him coach teams all my life, you tend to learn something."

"So you sit down and watch the tapes and pick holes in their strategies?"

Kai nodded. "It's strategy. Everyone has one and all humans have flaws, therefore every team has their weak points. You find it, you exploit it, and you win." He replied, keeping his eyes on the TV.

Miyami hummed, unable to contain how impressed she was. "You're really into this. It's just not a game for you, is it?"

He shrugged. "I like playing the game, but I like knowing how to win just as much. It's no fun playing when you lose."

She grinned. "So that's how the Sharks always won their games. It's not just their team being made up of talented players, but because you analyzed everything their opponents did? Hey what were our weak points?"

Kai looked down at his book. "I thought it was your emotions. Push your buttons and you fall apart."

Miyami considered that and then nodded. "I guess we are connected."

He nodded. "But that's a strength too. Brooklyn's going to use those connections, try to break them. I think he started with Arista. She's our strongest player. The rest of us work in lines. I have Tala and Amber- I mean Russia-" he choked out scratching his head, "To fall back on. And you have the same; the enforcers always come in a double team but Arista's skill is based on just her ability to keep out the puck. I know she relies on the defenders but what it really comes down to is whether she's good enough to stop the other team from scoring. If she falls out with us, quits' the team or chooses him, we're screwed."

She frowned and brows knitted in realization. "Shit. Have we pushed her towards him?"

Kai shook his head. "I don't think so. She cares about him and she believes he cares and maybe he does. But her family is more important to her and her team is her family. However, we can't badmouth him to her. If we attack him, she'll distance herself because we don't know him the way she does. Or we don't know the guy she knows."

"But you and Tala went to school-"

He leaned back in his chair and looked at her frankly and she sighed heavily, running her fingers through her silvery locks. "Yeah, ok, that's not the point. He'll act different to you because you're a boy. Same as how Aspin sees a different side of Kane but she sees him at school with his friends too. Arista doesn't see that-"

"Right. So she can see him through rose tinted glasses because there's nothing to show her different."

"But she's been so quiet lately. You see her, she doesn't participate in training, she never waits for us, and she'll sit with us but never interacts with us. It's like living with a zombie Arista and I don't know why. Yeah she's hurt but… well no offence, but you and Amber broke up but she's still hanging with us when you're not around."

Kai's face stoned over at the mention of his girlfriend but he said nothing other than to agree with what she had said about Arista's behavior. It was worrying and it made him wonder if there was anything else going on with her that she wasn't admitting to.

"We just have to let her handle her problems."

Miyami rolled her silver wolf-like eyes. "That might be your way of dealing with things but sometimes people need to talk things out otherwise it builds up inside and-" She jerked her shoulder and shook her head. She wanted to help Arista. She was her baby cousin, someone she had always felt protective off and she had hurt her. Arista had taken her apology but didn't seem to truly accept it. And that pissed her off.

He turned his attention back to the video before him, watching as Amber and another player got into a tussle over the puck in the corner of the arena only for her to look up and back off. Then Bryan slammed up into the player, leaving him crumpled on the ground while Amber collected the puck and passed it to Rei.

Rei scored and immediately, as he glided away, one hand raised in acknowledgement, he was glomped by Amber and Shahero while Bryan stepped between Arista and a Blizzard who was taunting her.

He sighed and turned off the screen. "I have to go to class. I'll catch you later."

Miyami watched as he grabbed his bag, slung it over his shoulder and wound his way around the computers and TV's out of the room. With a sigh, she got up herself and then frowned at a page on the ground beside her, crumpled up in a ball. Unfolding it, she closed her eyes and let out a quiet breath. It seemed that Kai wasn't coping as well with the breakup as everyone thought he was. Folding up the sketch, she slipped it into her pocket and made her way out of the room.

* * *

Mystel slouched in an armchair in the school lounge, watching the students flow back and forth between classes. He had just come from a particularly dull French class and was now looking forward to a nice relaxing session in the computer lab; all he had to do was wait for Brooklyn to hurry his skinny ass up.

Seriously, you'd think the guy didn't have a watch the amount of time it took for him to get anywhere in the school. Despite his impressive height and gait, Brooklyn still took twice as long as the average student did to travel from one class to another. Even if he had a class next door, he would still turn up five minutes after class began with some cock and bull story that the teacher wouldn't believe but would ignore. And all because Brooklyn was a BMOC.

It was somewhat embarrassing to see what the Hockey team got away with simply because they were cup winners. They could turn up to class late, skip a class, turn up hung over despite the fact that no alcohol or narcotics were allowed on the campus; they could get into fights and bad mouth teachers and no one said a thing. Well none of the faculty nor the alumni would; however Balkof on the other hand would skin you alive if he caught wind of them degrading the good Shark name. You could do anything you wanted as long as you caused the team no bad publicity. If you did, you'd regret it.

Garland strode through the crowds of students, continuously avoiding eye contact, which was easy for him since he towered above everyone. Suddenly, his blue eyes whipped to Mystel and the blond raised a tentative hand in greeting. With an abrupt nod, the lilac haired boy made his way to the lounge, pushing freshmen and sophomores out of his way.

"Hey there buddy, what's up?"

Garland's brow furrowed and he looked to be having an internal dialogue with himself -which might possibly have been true since Garland didn't talk much to anyone else- before he sat down onto the seat opposite the blond striker. "I have a problem."

Mystel blinked. A problem? That didn't sound good. Was it a personal problem because if Garland had genital warts, Mystel so did not want to know. There was sharing and then there was _sharing_. Some things should only be between a man and his doctor.

"Uh, really? What kind of problem?" He asked carefully, ready to scamper at the mention of any alias for a certain appendage.

Garland looked extremely uncomfortable and Mystel braced himself, any minute he was going to leg it down the hall. "It's not really _my _problem but another's problem?"

Ok, Garland had sex with someone with genital warts? Oh god, that was _sick_! Besides, Garland never ventured out of the school so where would he find… He was doing another student? Mystel blanched at his overactive imagination however part of him insisted that this could be true. Many boys tended to use other students as a means to an end. It was like prison. You took what you could get. Mystel was lucky… well he had access to a pretty girl who was completely gaga for her ex. However, she was eye candy; some guys didn't even get that. Poor schmucks.

"Who's problem?"

"Brooklyn has been acting strange, haven't you noticed?"

Mystel nodded. Yeah, he'd noticed. It was hard not to notice your best friend sliding down into a depressive black hole. And it was harder still not to notice when said best friend smelt like a brewery when he eventually stumbled into your dorm belting out Danny Boy at the top of his voice. However, that was sort of to be expected when the guy had just broken up with the one girl who had kept him entertained for more than a minute. However, Mystel couldn't really say that because no one but him knew about Brooklyn and his Belle.

Garland sighed. "I had hoped I was just imagining it. He seemed very down and suicidal a few days ago. Now he is… He's cruel."

Mystel stared at him, dumfounded for a moment. "Cruel? What do you mean?"

"Cruel, mean, vicious… evil." At Mystel's confused shake of the head, Garland continued feeling he needed to impress the severity of the situation on his naïve friend. "Brooklyn has been taunting students, mocking them, insulting them, giving them wedgies, destroying their stuff. He's being incredibly destructive. His entire behavior is geared towards hurting people in any way possible. He hung a freshmen out of a window until he soiled himself and he's been coming back to school drunk; he's missed vital captain meetings and when he turns up to practice he's hungover." Garland shrugged his huge shoulders and sighed. "If he doesn't improve, I fear I will have to report him to Balkof."

Mystel winced. What was Brooklyn thinking? He was going to be expelled or worse, a special session with Balkof, which would render him incapable of lying down for the next couple of days.

"He's just lucky Balkof is away at that seminar this week. Otherwise who knows what would happen. Our matches are getting more important, we can't afford to have him-" He broke off, his eyes glued to something out the window.

Mystel got to his feet, followed the burly teen to the window, and gasped. There on the quad in big brown letters was the word 'F-A-G-G-O-T' and there on the flag pole, with his boxers flying high was Terence Finley, an unfortunate junior who had the bad luck to fall foul of José. And there standing in a circle, laughing their jerkwad asses off were Carlos, José, Stuart, David and…

"Brooklyn." He moaned softly, resting his forehead against the windowpane.

As if hearing him, Brooklyn looked up and waved. "'ey Mystel, come on down! We're having a party!" He slurred.

Mystel groaned and mimed hitting his head off the window. "He's drunk again."

"Don't be such a stick in the mud!"

Garland nodded. "This is not going to be easily hidden from Balkof."

"Fine! Stay up there. Be Gay for all I care!"

"It won't be hidden at all. What is wrong with him?"

"Mystel!"

Garland sighed. "What will you do?"

"Go down. Put him in his bed and hope that when he wakes up, he'll have regained his brain. Where's he getting the alcohol from anyway?" He whined bitterly. How did Brooklyn getting drunk help him with his problem? The drink would only numb the pain for a little while before it returned again full force. The idiotic prick had to know that. He just hoped he got over this self-destructive kick before he really did end up destroying himself.

* * *

Tala glared slightly at the petite girl frowning up at him and sighed. "Look, Mimi, I know you and I don't see eye to eye on a lot of things, but we have mutual friends."

"We have an entire team but that doesn't give you the right to yank me out the hall way and into a classroom doorway with your girlfriend. I don't do threesomes even if you're cute."

Ruin raised her eyes to the ceiling and gave every impression that she didn't want to be there and that if she could be anywhere else, she would be. However, since Tala was here, she figured she should at least stay to protect him from the female Kinomiya. "Tala, just tell her why you want her so I don't have to bribe her not to kill you."

Miyami's eyes lit up. "Would a certain necklace be involved with this bribe? 'Cause, if all I have to do is threaten horny over there, I'm all for it."

Ruin smirked and lifted a finger. "First up, I'm the only one allowed to call him horny, second of all, no my necklace is not up for grabs."

"Well then you have nothing to bribe me with."

"How about the use of your hand?"

Miyami considered that. Fair enough, she could handle herself, having taken a couple karate lessons but Ruin was just a little stronger and a lot more vicious to boot. She weighed her options and found them unappealing. "Valkov, just spill so I can return to the land of the living. You two are just too dead looking for my liking. Haven't you heard of makeup? Self Tan? I have this great moisturizer that… Fine." She crumpled under Ruin's patented death glare and folded her arms, leaning back against the doorframe. "What do you want?"

"It's about Kai and Amber. We're-" At Ruin's sharp 'ahem' he quickly amended his previous statement. "I mean, _I_ am planning on putting them back together."

Miyami shook her head and poked her head out the door. She pulled her head back in and then grabbed Tala's roughly to point out a person down the corridor. She raised a brow in expectation when Tala cursed.

"Why is he with _her_? Doesn't he know that if Amber's sees them together, she'll think he's getting back with her?"

Miyami watched as Kai smirked wryly unaware of their scrutiny as Mariam continued to flirt shamelessly with him. It wasn't the out and out obvious flirting that Kennedie and her little crones were up to but it was still pretty in your face. Well to anyone who knew Mariam.

"She's such a bitch."

Ruin nodded grimly. "She's been very friendly to Amber lately."

"A show for Kai? Look at mature I can be compared to your ex?" Miyami quizzed curiously.

The gothic girl shook her head. "I don't think so. It's not Mariam's style. Now Amber's no longer a threat, she's willing to be bygones."

"Super bitch."

"Hmm."

"If this continues, I'm going to end up in the middle." Tala grumbled as he went over to the closest table and pulled out a chair, turning it around so that he straddled it. Folding his arms along the back, he rested his chin on his arms.

"I'm surprised you haven't chosen already." Miyami quipped.

"I can't choose between those two." Tala sneered. "Amber's been like my sister since forever and Kai and I-"

"Were secretly lovers?"

Ruin snorted and leaned her head back against the wall, studying the cracks in the ceiling. Two glittering black combs had pulled her black hair back while her eyes shimmered under smoky silver eye shadow. With her porcelain complexion and burgundy lipstick, she made for a striking addition to the room.

Tala tore his gaze away from her to shoot Miyami a black look. "No. He was like my family. The only one I had in that school. In that place, if you find someone you can trust, you bond fast with them. It's a safety in numbers thing, we had lackeys and followers but Kai was my best friend."

"He still is." Ruin reminded him. "Besides, it's not like Kai's cheating on Amber. Why should you have to choose? This is their problem; leave them to sort it out."

"I don't think they will. They're too stubborn. Besides, Amber avoids him like the plague-"

"To avoid seeing him with _her _and is there an actual reason you're all standing here in a classroom doorway?" Kirby asked as she pushed past Miyami and Ruin and breathed in. "Seriously, this is a big classroom and you're taking over the entire doorway."

"Why would Amber want to avoid seeing Kai with Mariam? They're hardly together that much that Amber-"

Kirby cut Miyami's line of questioning short as she frowned at them, confused. "Didn't Amber tell you? She found Kai with Mariam in the library, that's why she finished with him on Sunday. I thought you all knew."

Miyami shook her head while Tala slowly rose from his chair. "You mean to say that Kai and Mariam were together on Sunday-"

"Tala, cool it." Ruin warned. "Amber broke up with Kai on Saturday; he had every right to be with someone else if he wanted to be. It's a typical move to find someone else for a rebound."

Kirby shook her head. "I don't think he was rebounding. In fact, Amber doesn't think they were together. She caught them hugging in the library when she went to set things right. They didn't see her and she jumped to the conclusions you did and when he found her a few minutes later, before she had a chance to actually think about things, she just broke up with him."

"So they were just hugging?"

"Yeah."

"Kai doesn't hug people." Miyami mumbled, looking to Tala for confirmation. The red head nodded.

"Just Amber, right? See how she jumped? He just doesn't do hugging. However, Mariam is his ex and maybe he was comforting her since Joe's moving away and-"

"Hold up!" Tala growled. His head was beginning to pound with all this information swirling around in his head. "Joseph, Mariam's brother is leaving? So she looks to Kai for comfort, he hugs her, and Amber catches them and breaks up with Kai? Is that everything?"

"As far as I know."

Tala squeezed his eyes shut and then they fluttered open as Ruin's hands rubbed his shoulders soothingly. "So you're telling me that Amber thought Kai and Mariam were together and so she broke up with him?"

"Yup. But she knows now that- well it's not as though she suddenly… Nngh." The words weren't coming out right and it was beginning to piss her off plus Tala and Ruin were distracting, so Kirby focused on Miyami. "It just hurt her to see that Kai still cares about Mariam after the way she treated her."

Miyami sighed and then groaned, turning to kick the wall in her frustration. "Why does everyone have to complicate things?"

"Um, because everyone interjects emotions into life and that screws things up?"

Miyami scowled. "That's a typical Amber-esque thing to say."

Kirby nodded. "Since she's avoiding Kai like the plague, I get to be her new breakfast buddy, lunch buddy, dinner buddy, supper buddy… you get my drift." A bell rang over head and the four startled suddenly before Kirby flicked a glance at her watch. "Well if you don't hurry, you're going to be late for class."

"What about you?"

"Tala, this is my classroom. Why else did you think I came in? It wasn't for the stimulating company. Oh and if you ever want Amber to rejoin you, make sure Kai and Mariam don't get together. I think it would kill her. Despite how she's acting, I think she's heartbroken, but just hasn't copped on yet."

Tala nodded silently and grabbing Ruin's hand, he interlaced their fingers and headed out of the classroom with Miyami silently following, grabbing Ruin's hand and lagging behind to make an odd sort of train.

* * *

Mariam tilted her head and smiled up at Kai as he leaned against the wall of lockers. He looked mysterious, dark and suavely handsome, completely different from every boy she'd ever known and he was still completely hung up on his ex. It was obvious, every time he spotted one of the Octopussies on their way to class, he would look up, a light in his eyes, which suddenly disappeared when he realized she just wasn't there.

She sighed and tucked a strand of blue hair behind her ear. "Have you tried talking to her?"

Kai scowled venomously and turned his attention back to the contents of his locker. "You're not really someone who I would talk to about that Mariam."

She sighed and leaned her head back against a locker riddled with holographic stickers. "Kai, I thought we were friends. You said we could be. So what happened?"

His bitter gaze lanced through her and she sucked in a breath. Ok, so maybe that wasn't such a good question. It was obvious what had happened. Amber. It always came down to Amber.

"Well if it's any consolation, I think she's just as cut up about it. I notice she hasn't been to breakfast recently and if she is, she's with the JV team."

"So she's avoiding me. Your observation skills astound me."

"Hey, don't take your temper out on me, Kai. I couldn't care less if you and Amber get back together or not. Right now, I'm a little more worried about my midterms. I need to pass French and it's not happening unless I have a tutor."

"You should have got one before your midterms."

"Ok so my midterms are hardly the most important exams but my end of year exams are. I need good grades so I can get into a college."

"Hn."

She rolled her jade green eyes and resisted the urge to shove his head in his locker and shut the door. "Ok, your locker is hardly the most important thing in this world at this exact moment. Kai! Seriously, I need to pass and you are good at French. You speak the language like a… well a French person."

Kai found his lips quirking as he another phrase echoed in his head '_like a… well someone who speaks really good French._' He recognized the voice as Amber's and shut the offending voice out. Yeah, so she would have put it that way to get a laugh out of him but she wasn't speaking to him anymore because she was over him. Completely and utterly beyond him, so that she couldn't even bare to be in the same room as someone as pathetic as him. He swallowed the bile that rose and pulled out a tattered English book before shoving it into his equally worn bag.

"Look, Mariam, I'm not a good tutor." He could barely get Amber to do her history homework unless he made out with her for a good ten minutes to get her mind to focus on something that wasn't him. He doubted that idea would go down well with Mariam. And how could Amber move on so fast from him if those feelings were genuine? If she had wanted him that much, how could she in the space of a weekend, decide that she didn't? Because he had pushed her away…

He slammed his door shut violently.

Mariam jumped and groaned under her breath. "Get a grip. You're acting like a pathetic puppy that's been kicked too-" She broke off when Kai glared fiercely at her.

"Who are you to say anything to me? You spent your entire time since we broke up trying to get between us, befriending me to make her paranoid. You stole her underwear to make her cry; so who's the pathetic one? Get it through your thick head, I don't want you! I will never want you! Not after her."

He turned and began to walk away only to stop on seeing Amber striding through the crowd, her petite frame cutting through the crowds easily as if she had more right to be there than anyone else. She had pulled on a close fitting dark denim jacket over her blouse and her hair had been tied back into two messy buns as she rustled in her pocket for something. In her other hand she held her phone to her ear, chattering animatedly yet looking disturbingly serious as she took in what she was hearing, adding her own comments here and there.

She looked up at him directly without warning, almost as though she'd felt his gaze. He felt the flare of awareness jolt through him as their gazes locked. She swallowed hard, her eyes growing large and wary before he stepped forward almost involuntarily.

"Yes, Mystel, I'm still here…"

His jaw clenched and he shook out of the trance she'd put on him. Crossing the rest of the small distance in a stride and a half, he glowered down at her. She seemed to open her mouth to say something, her ochre eyes widening, almost in disbelief but he beat her to it.

"Move." He growled harshly and her features twisted into an expression of barely contained pain.

She stumbled as he shoved her forcefully out of his way and strode down the corridor. She braced herself against the locker and her mask crumpled as she inhaled raggedly. Noise buzzed in her ears and tears seared her eyes as she struggled to control them. Her chest felt too tight and everything hurt so much.

"…_Amber? Hey, is everything ok?"_

Slowly she lifted her phone, aware of her friends coming through the crowd towards her and as she listened to Mystel's question, she knew that everything wasn't ok. It would never be ok again. Shutting the phone down, she slowly turned away and blindly shuffled down the hall away from her classmates and friends, intent on finding sanctuary in her dorm. Because there she could sleep and block out the pain that was seeping through the numbness. Because there, she was safe.

* * *

James Benson tapped his fingers angrily against the desk before him, waiting for the phone call to go through. He rolled his eyes and the phone continued to trill in his ear and finally, finally, it clicked.

"_Hello?"_

He sighed. Well at least it wasn't the boyfriend, he thought. "Treasa?"

On the other end of the line, he could all but hear his ex-wife rolling her eyes at what she would see as a dumb question. He had, of course, called her home and she was the only female in residence since his daughter attended a boarding school but he had heard from his mother that Amber had come home the previous weekend. However, this aforementioned daughter refused to take his calls and it only served to worry him further. She loved her school, why on the day that she had received his letter would she head home unless she was upset about his news. Which was why he had resorted to calling his ex-wife, he needed to know how his baby was handling things.

"_James, is there something you wanted?"_

There was just something about Treasa; she could make you feel unwanted with the nicest of words and the politest of tones. He grimaced at his own thoughts. There divorce hadn't been amicable -not many were- but it wasn't ugly either. They had simply fallen out of love, it was natural enough when people were young and passionately in love. The love or lust tended to burn out or was doused by marital life.

"I need to talk to you about Amber."

On the other end of the line, Treasa gave a soft eye roll. Of course. The only reason James would voluntarily talk to her was if he had a problem with his daughter. _"What about Amber?"_

He paused and picked up a pen, running it over and through his fingers as he struggled to think of a way to put what he wanted to ask. "Does she know? About Pricilla and-"

"_Yes,"_ Treasa replied crisply. _"And don't you think that was a little unkind, James? You are barely there for her and when you are, it's only because you want to be. And now you're going to bring another child into this world-"_

"I'm ready now. I wasn't before."

"_In the words of our daughter, bite me."_ Treasa snapped before reining in her temper.

"Are you jealous?" James demanded incredulously.

Treasa ran a hand over her face and exhaled loudly and impatiently. _"Yes, James, I'm jealous. I have a man in my life who truly loves my daughter, our child and I but I want you. You always were very arrogant, weren't you?"_

"Then why the attitude Treasa?"

"_I'm angry, James. You didn't tell our daughter you were planning to have a child. Instead, you wait until your girlfriend -and I use that term loosely- becomes pregnant and spring the news on your daughter through a letter? James, you're a lawyer, you should know better. Amber feels betrayed. You can never find the time for her and yet you're going to bring another child in who she feels will take what little attention you give her away. Can't you understand that?"_

James looked down at his desk and wondered just where he made the mistakes in his life. It wasn't that he didn't love his daughter. He did, dearly. She was the most important person in the world to him but sometimes work just got on top of him and instead of going to see her or phoning her in the evenings, he would just sit down in front of the TV. He would tell himself that he could do it tomorrow and then tomorrow would come and something would crop up. He groaned and rubbed a hand over his face.

"You're right. I will make more time-"

"_Don't make empty promises, James. They're unattractive. And Pricilla?"_ Treasa couldn't keep the derogatory tone out of her voice. _"Out of all the women in the world you choose her? She's more of a child than Amber. She's more of an attention seeker and Amber will only make her jealous."_

"No, she won't. Pricilla understands that Amber's important to me." He scowled when his ex-wife and once best friend snorted out a laugh at the comment and winced. Yes, he knew that Pricilla could be demanding but he could see some maturity coming through now that she was pregnant. She'd make a good mother, he was sure of it. This was exactly what was needed to make her grow up and become an adult. A family of her own. And once she had that security, she would mellow down and she'd no longer be jealous of his daughter from his previous marriage. After all, she had become considerably less paranoid once he had found out that Treasa was pregnant and living with another man.

"_Just don't push Amber out of your life because you found something better."_

"You make this child sound like a replacement." He snapped outraged.

"_That's what your daughter thinks, James. And she's heartbroken. Why didn't you phone her at least, though you could easily have gone to the school to talk to her? I'm not your go between anymore and letters are so impersonal James. Was she supposed to read between the lines? She's a child, James."_

"She's almost twenty."

"_She's still a child. She's been hurt by you more times than enough and now that she's broken up with Kai, she's-"_

"Wait, she broke up with Kai? Why? Was he cheating on her? If I-"

"_You'll what?"_ Treasa challenged. When James didn't reply, she harrumphed self-righteously. _"That's right, you'll do nothing. He's not much more than a child himself. And no, he wasn't cheating on Amber. They just had some irreconcilable differences, though I doubt your_ _letter helped any."_

"Excuse me?" He wondered coolly.

"_Your letter arrived on the same day that they broke up and on the same day that your daughter was accused of being anorexic."_ If Treasa was getting any satisfaction out of showing she knew more about his daughters life than he did, it wasn't showing in her tone. She spoke as though it was just one of the many things he should know.

"Anorexic?" He got to his feet and began to pace, alternately switching the phone from one ear to another while raking a hand through his hair. He crossed to the window and parted the blinds, looking down onto the busty street below. "How could you let her stop eating? Do you have any idea of the serious repercussions this disease- and that's what it is- has on a young girl's future life, if she even has a future! She could die from this, Treasa."

There was silence from the other end of the line and he flinched at the weight and coldness of it.

"Look, I'm sorry. You said she's anorexic and I just… I'm sorry. I shouldn't have blamed you."

"_She's just skipping meals here and there. I know it's serious but Nicolai's handling it. The thing is, she eats at home, and it's just at school where there's no one to run after her that she doesn't._" Treasa fell silent, before adding. "_I don't know what to do. I'd suggest keeping her off school and sending her to Bakuten High for a while but I know she wouldn't like that. I just don't know what to do. Nicolai says he'll keep an eye on her and Tala won't let her skip any more meals but she's in a fragile state now. A call from her father might._"

James caught the slight dig but understood that she meant well. Maybe if he did visit her, he could reassure her and maybe with a lighter weight on her shoulders, she'd start to eat again. Oh god, his baby was anorexic and it was his fault. "What about a clinic? We could-"

"_James, don't be ridiculous. Amber's just skipping meals. It has nothing to do with her weight or her self-esteem issues. She's just not eating at the appropriate times and then she's snacking on junk food when she shouldn't be._"

James frowned. That sounded like a normal teenager to him. Didn't Seth say that Daichi was always doing that and yet he was still growing like a weed? "You're sure?"

"_Yes, I'm sure but Nicolai's suspended her from the team until she reaches her target weight._"

"What if she rebels because he suspended her?" His daughter was perverse in that way; got it from his side of the family.

"_She won't. Maybe for a little while but we brought her up right, she knows right from wrong and she's had a good education. She knows more about food and its importance than we ever learned._"

He chuckled at that and flicked a glance at the clock over his door. Still ten more minutes until he would have to leave for his lunch date. Leaning back in his leather recliner, he picked up his baseball and began to toss it up into the air, catching it with one hand again. "So what's being pregnant again like?"

Treasa moaned softly. "_I feel like a bloated whale._"

With a bark of laughter, James fell into the easy conversation he remembered from his youth and part of his heart yearned for it. However now it was better. There was less pressure on him so now he could sit back, relax and simply enjoy a chat with an old friend.

* * *

The crowds were screaming under the bright lights, flags with different logos and banners with slogans whipped around above anonymous people, colors of blue and navy melted into orange and white at two points along the outskirts of the oval arena. The beams of fluorescent bulbs reflected off the hard crystalline surface lined with vivid red and blue strokes and circles. Music came in one form from a marching band minus a serious lack of marching while the other was discotheque music pumped out from the speakers. The regular commentator had returned much to the displeasure of his stand in and the crowds were once again reduced to comatose from his monotonous voice.

In the changing room, the team sat nervously waiting, eyes on their feet casually glancing at each other before quickly averting their gaze. Nicolai had still to return after popping out for a '_moment'_. A disturbing silence had fallen on them.

"I feel sick." Enrique volunteered to break the silence.

Beside him, Bryan glared at him and slowly inched away causing Enrique to roll his eyes. "Dude, I'm not going to puke on you. Shit, if I were going to puke I'd puke on Ian. At least no one would notice."

Shahero snickered and muffled it with gloved hand before giving in and just laughing to release the tension. Ian glared at her and sulkily hunched over on his bench beside Spencer who was idly tapping his stick off the ground.

"I'm actually nervous." Miyami confessed softly.

Johnny placed his arm around her and pressed a kiss to her soft hair. "You'll be great."

"Hey Arista, you ready to play?" Kane wondered as he sat down beside her.

When she didn't reply, he exchanged a worried look with Ozuma. This was actually becoming unnerving. Why was Arista so off with them? He was sure it had something to do with the Octopussies but he couldn't figure out what. They hadn't thrown her out but they had done something. She spent as little time with them as possible and when she was there, she was as quiet as a mouse with hardly a word to say for herself. And she always looked so close to tears. It scared the shit out of him. Especially since every time he brought it up, Aspin threatened to cut his balls off if he didn't leave it.

Ozuma sighed and inched towards the doorway where he could vaguely make out the crowds that had gathered. Somewhere out there his girlfriend was sitting with whatever friend she had chosen to sit with and no one knew. They still hadn't told anyone they were together and they were still sneaking moments here and there. No matter how exciting the fact that they might get caught was, it was nothing compared to seeing other guys leer at her and not being able to do something.

"Big crowd?" Michael wondered coming up behind him and Ozuma nodded.

"Looks that way. How's your stomach?"

Michael flashed a grin and rubbed his gut. "You know me, sturdy as a rock."

"Until you smash into one barrier too many." Kane snickered causing a few of the team to chuckle.

Michael flicked his hair nonchalantly. "You're just jealous of my speed."

"Sorry, man, I'm just not into drugs."

"I meant speed as in fast, not drugs you knob."

"Well color me surprised." The bluenette drawled eliciting another round of chuckles.

"YOU TIGERS SUCK!"

"Oh good, the blizzards found the air vent again." Rei mumbled dryly, flicking his eyes up to where he knew the air vent was above his head.

"Sounds like the big dumb fuck discovered where it leads again." Kane muttered, rising to his feet and moving over to Rei.

"Maybe the big dumb fuck just likes yelling into big black holes." Miyami offered as she too joined them with Johnny at her side.

Shahero smirked as Ruin pulled out a little something from her pockets. "Well he is a big dumb fuck."

"There is nothing wrong with a big dumb fuck." Enrique commented boldly wriggling his eyebrows causing the team to groan loudly.

"ENRIQUE!"

"Anyone got a lighter?" Ruin wondered as she handed Shahero, who was standing on the bench beside Rei, the little _something._

Russia produced one from her duffle bag and shrugged at everyone's pointed looks. "Wha'? You must 'ave expected someone t' 'ave wan if y' were askin' besides it's just fer recreational purposes."

"And what recreational purposes are they?" Tala wondered.

"Makin' friends?" Russia offered, handing the lighter over to Ruin and making a face at Kai who was glaring stonily at her. "Ah shit, go g't laid Kai. Give us all a rest."

Johnny and Rei carefully removed the grill while Shahero inched closer, rolling her thumb over the lighter and watching the flame spurt to life before dying.

"You know, I think I'm a little worried about how well you know how to use that thing." Johnny muttered watching the volatile orange lighter in his young friends' hand.

"As long as I don't put it anywhere near my mouth you have nothing to worry about." Shahero replied pithily.

"YOU BUNCH OF GAY PUSSIES!"

Ruin blinked at the disembodied voice that floated out of the vent and coolly looked to Kane. "You're up on your perverted name-calling; tell me: gay pussies?"

Kane rolled his eyes to show how unimpressed he was with the insult since it didn't make much sense before replying flatly with: "Fuckwits."

"Fuckwits it is." Shahero chirped. "Bombs away."

Lighting the fuse, she flung the little gift from Ruin down the vent before jumping backwards off the bench, landing neatly just in front of Bryan who easily steadied her.

Suddenly a loud metallic clatter erupted from the vent followed by a bunch of girly screams and the group began to snicker loudly as the firecrackers echoed like machine gun fire down the vent.

Which was exactly when Nicolai walked in the door. He paused in the doorway and lifted a brow. "Fire crackers in the air vents? What will you do for your next trick?"

The team sheepishly looked down at their feet before Shahero tentatively offered: "How about a snake?"

"Look, I'm not sticking little Michael in the vent Hero." Michael said looking uncomfortably down at where 'little Michael' was hiding.

Shahero blanched suddenly, the blood draining from her face as she got Michael's meaning before it rushed back fiercely. "Ok I meant an actual snake, say a python. Like the film with the snakes in the airplane."

"Alright team, let's do this. No more firecrackers, you want to humiliate the Blizzards you do it on the ice. Got it?"

They nodded determinedly and with various hoots and yells, they headed out of the changing room, Arista and Kai lagging behind and with some surprise, Nicolai noted the way Kai laid a comforting hand on the girls' shoulder before they headed out onto the ice. There was definitely something going on within his team that he was not aware of and it was beginning to piss him off.

They headed out into the area, taking in the increased burst of noise from home audience as they ventured out onto the ice to do their lap of greeting while the commentator announced them.

* * *

Amber lay on her bed, eyes glued to the ceiling as the commentators voice buzzed in her ears. The Tigers were playing like shit. Sloppy passes, sloppy saves, sloppy shoots. They might as well hand over the win to the Blizzards on a platter. And the fun thing was that she was the one feeling guilty. She wasn't even playing…

Well that was the crux of the matter. She wasn't playing. How could her line play its best when she wasn't there? Russia couldn't be expected to just slot into place within a week. But that was Nicolai's problem to deal with. She blamed herself for Kai's head not being in the game.

Of course, that was giving herself more credit than she was worth. Kai probably didn't spare her a second thought, but why else was he playing so badly? He wasn't passing the puck, he was trying to do everything himself and he was acting as though he was the only player on the ice. Which was stupid. There was no I in team. There was no Kai either, for that matter. He wasn't a fucking island.

"Stupid asshole." She mumbled flopping over onto her stomach. Her eyes sought out Joe's accusing gaze and she sighed. "Look, I didn't want to break up with him. And Nicolai's always preaching on about keeping personal matters off the ice, so even if he was, by some weird coincidence, upset about us, he shouldn't be taking it out on the ice."

Wolfie, who was sitting stoically beside her brown bear, glowered at her.

"I don't have to take shit from you. You don't even have pants. At least Joe has pants."

With a scowl, she turned her back on them and sat up before reaching back and pulling Joe onto her lap. Resting her head on his, she sighed and looked at the phone lying down by the corner of the bed. Her father had phoned. Another slap to the face except it hadn't been a slap at all. Her dad had been… her dad. There wasn't any other way to describe him. No other man could be her papa and she didn't want another man to be, anyway. She liked her dad just fine when he could be bothered.

But the strange thing was that he had talked to her, for the first time in her life, as though she were an adult. It had been scary and it rather made her want to hang up the phone but on the other hand, it was refreshing. Her dad tried to explain why he was having a child with Pricilla and though she told him she didn't like it, he accepted it. He just asked her not to take it out on the child. Not that she would. She wasn't heartless. She just didn't have to like Pricilla and he promised to be there more for her. Her daddy was taking her to a Mighty Ducks game in Anaheim next season. He even asked if she wanted to bring anyone with them but she had refused. This was her and Dad time, no one else was getting in the way.

However having her dad ask her about her friends was somewhat scary. Were parents supposed to care about what her friends were doing? Her mother knew naturally, things tended to spill out when she was talking to her mother. But her dad didn't know her friends so she tended not to mention them, it only confused him. However, he made an effort and soon it became obvious why he had been fishing.

'_Did he break my baby's heart?'_

She rolled her eyes much as she had scoffed then too, but it was making her a little nervous that every time someone asked her she felt like crying and the word yes was usually on the tip of her tongue. It took quite a lot of effort to choke out the vehement denial.

"What am I gonna do, Joe? Hmm?" Only silence met her halfhearted question and she sighed. She should be watching her team play, she thought as she heard the commentator announce Bryan hitting the ice. He would take it personally that she wasn't there just as he had when she hadn't turned up to breakfast or any of their other meals. However, it was pretty clear that he blamed her for this since he refused to come to her. Traitor. It seemed everyone preferred Kai to her and the sick and twisted thing was that she was pleased he had someone.

After hearing everything he had gone through in Clonmel, after hearing about how Tala had been his only friend in the entire school, she was actually happy to see him converse with Ian who had nothing in common with him. That Kai could do that out of a genuine desire to talk to people he shouldn't have liked was an amazing feat. She couldn't, wouldn't take that away from him. Though she doubted she could, he made these friends by himself and her friends were loyal, they wouldn't desert him, not even for her. And that was good too.

She sucked in a deep breath to try to ease the tightness in her chest. She wished she could hate Kai for making her cry but it was hard too when deep down she knew that… She just couldn't hate Kai. Maybe, in a few months, when she didn't feel the way she did about him right now, they'd be able to be friends. She'd like to be friends with him. He was a great guy. Mariam was lucky to have him. At least she'd be able to keep him interested.

Amber had obviously not been enough for him. That, she sort of expected. He may not have done It yet but he had experience with girls. She tightened her grip on Joe with a growl as she swung her legs over the side of her bed. Ok, so she wasn't ready to sleep with him, was that any reason to dump her? No. And it wasn't likely that Kai would dump her for something like that but goddammit, why had he been so distant before? If he would just explain, she might find some closure but the bastard-

"I need sleep. I'm getting cranky." She mumbled; looking back at her bed but the thought of curling up there was uninviting.

She sighed. Usually when she couldn't sleep in her bed she wandered over to Tala's bed or Bryan and for a while, she had curled up beside Kai. Usually she drifted into a deep, restful sleep listening to Kai's heartbeat and breathing in the scent of him. Well she couldn't do that now, she thought grumpily as she glared down at her feet.

Or could she? After all, Kai had two more periods to play out which were 20 minutes each and an after party that could go well into the night since the next day was a Saturday after all. She could just slip over there and be up and out of there before he even returned. He'd never even know. She smirked. Besides, this was all about her getting some damn sleep and since he was the reason she wasn't sleeping, it was only fair.

* * *

Nicolai studied his team with an expectant expression. Any minute now, one of them would offer up an impressive and original reason as to why they were playing like headless chickens on dope. Any minute now. He was sure of it. After all, wasn't that what his team was known for? Witty quips, pithy responses and answer for every damn thing, a reason as to why they were never in the wrong?!

"Well?"

They didn't look at him. Instead, they sat there with their hangdog expressions and stared at their feet.

He leaned back against the wall of lockers and folded his arms. "I'm waiting."

Still nothing and he sighed. Fine, maybe they were ready to face the fact that they were playing like pathetic three year olds who had just received their first puck. In a few years time they would be ready to play peewee hockey. They should be so proud!

"What are you playing at out there? You're not playing hockey, that's for sure!" He snarled turning on them. Heads looked up warily, bracing themselves for his temper. "You're passing is sloppy. You're shooting is never on target even with a fucking open net!"

They jerked as his hand thumped the locker in an effort to vent his fury. "Why are you," He directed this at the Defense line, "clearing the puck at the nets? You can't be passing it to the front line, because they're not playing anymore. Didn't you know? So don't bother passing to them! And Arista? Last time I checked, the puck isn't going to come at you from the spectators stand!"

Arista's head hung, if anything, lower. Miyami bristled at his harsh remarks and Kai's back slowly stiffened. He hated this side to his father because despite the fact that it was borne from a frustration with them, it reminded him too much of his grandfather's temper. The mocking tone, the ability to make them feel worse than they already did. He knew he was playing shit. He couldn't help it. When he expected Russia to be somewhere, she wasn't there and it wasn't her fault, because she hadn't developed that sense with him yet. Bryan and Spencer were trying to get the puck down the ice the fastest way possible only to be intercepted.

And with each interception, Bryan grew steadily more and more angry. Probably because a certain bitch wasn't fucking there when they needed her! She hadn't even come to see them play. It wasn't just about him, it was about the whole team needing her support and she couldn't be bothered. Damn selfish bitch! And as Bryan's rage grew, he took it out on the other team ending up with absurd penalties such as 2 minutes for choking, 2 minutes for pulling someone's leg, and the flying kick was a work of bloody genius not to mention to straight-arm to some poor guys chest. It was not a good day to be on the opposing team.

And as for Arista, well she wasn't looking for the puck but for Adams, which completely baffled him. However, that spineless git had enough gumption not to bother showing his face. A good thing too because Kai really wasn't in the mood to see his smug face. He was tearing up his goddamn team and none of them knew it but Kai knew him. He knew Brooklyn's backhanded methods to get what he wanted and it made him sick that he would play with people's insecurities. He just hoped that Brooklyn felt something for Arista so that he could feel just a smidge of what Kai felt every time he thought about what he'd lost.

"Alright, we'll start this next period with the second line because obviously my first line-"

"Give it a rest, Dad. We know we fucked up. We know we gave away passes and made clumsy shots. We don't need to be reminded."

"Then what is wrong with you? You've got the talent and you have buckets full of teamwork so what the hell is going on out there? Are you too tired? Do you need a nap?" No one said a word though he had a sense that something was burning on the tip of Shahero's tongue but since she had been playing as per usual, he didn't have anything to complain about to her. "Why are you wasting every chance you're getting out there? I told you at the start of this year that I had a strict rule about bringing no personal business onto the ice. You have everything it takes to bring down the Sharks and you're throwing it away to pine over something that can't be fixed!"

"Fine, you've made your point. We're disappointing you. You can make us write a 1000 word essay on just why we're throwing away our talent later. Right now, I think we need to cut this heartfelt talk short since we're needed back on the ice. Unless you'd like us to forfeit."

"Oh that would be nice." Nicolai retorted. "And you deserve that humiliation but I know you can win this so go out there and do it. Oh and make it a 5000 word essay. You all seem to have so much to say at practice. I'll expect it for Monday morning."

The team groaned and glared at Kai who dismissed them with a roll of his eyes. "Line two, Miyami, Enrique and Johnny. You're up. Keep taking pot shots at the goalie; you're bound to get one in. He's weak on the left side. Shahero, Ian you're our defense. They'll be sending out their speed skaters, they're too fast for Bryan and Spencer. Use their momentum against them and keep them from scoring. No one gets near Arista, got it?"

Shahero and Ian nodded as they pulled on their gloves and got their helmets ready.

"Miyami, watch out for the enforcer on your side, he plays dirty." Rei warned and the silver haired girl absorbed the info with a nod.

"Ian, watch Miyami," Kai added for good measure.

Ian rolled his eyes and Miyami shot him a dark look as they trooped back out to the arena. Behind them, Shahero snickered and Johnny made a comment about Ian's gaze going no lower than Miyami's neck that sounded suspiciously like a threat. Arista shuffled out silently with Kane's arm around her waist, his comforting words doing nothing to pierce the fuzz around her head.

Nicolai brought up the rear and hoped that something he had said had worked on bringing them out of their stupor.

* * *

The puck skittered along the ice, bouncing off the barriers as the crowd's cheering rose in a crescendo. Murmurs, shouts and whoops all mixed together to create a volatile mix that went straight to the players egos.

Kai blocked the sound out and whirled out of the way of a charging enforcer, picking the puck up on the other side before feigning a hit to Tala only to cast it over to Russia. Whipping her puck back, she boosted it to Tala. This was much better; they were playing in harmony and were beginning to kick some serious ass. The Blizzards were looking more amateurish than the damn rejects themselves. It was almost hilarious if it wasn't for their pride being on the line. If they had finished the match playing the way they had in the first period, they would have been the laughing stock of the entire league and Kai was sure as hell not letting that happen to his team.

A movement to his right caught him off guard and he hit the ice hard enough to jar his backbone. He looked up into the glittering eyes of Marc Braddock, the pain in the ass captain he had all but humiliated last season. The asshole challenged him in front of his team, what was Kai supposed to do? Sit back and let the little punk insult him? Of course not. He knocked the damn kids teeth out and then walked away, calling him a pathetic, miserable, worthless cunt. It didn't go down well with the Blizzard captain but it amused his teammates.

Which was pretty sad when you thought about it.

He rolled onto his hands and knees and took the offered hand in front of him, nodding gratefully to Ruin, before he raced off after the puck. Tala slapped it in front of him and the puck scored a line around the goalie to the other side of the arena. The Blizzards' that had him crowded cursed and wheeled around to chase after it but Shahero collected it and shot them a cheeky grin before whipping it to Russia who slapped it right into the top left corner.

The alarm whooped cheerfully and the red light circled alerting the crowd to the goal. Figures in blue and navy, waving banners and flags with roaring Tigers rose to their feet joining in with the celebration as Russia did an elaborate sweeping bow. Kai felt his heart hitch and growled, turning away towards the box. That was the first thing he'd ever seen Amber do, the first time he'd really paid attention to her on the video in his dorm, the afternoon of his last match as a Shark. Had he really thought she was bland and unappealing? Shows what judging a book by its cover did.

He shuffled into the box, past his teammates followed by the rest of his line up while the second line slung their legs over the ledge and glided out onto the ice for the face off. He blew out a breath and rested his face in his hands.

"… so he's suddenly giving up everything for her." Michael was saying to Kane who snorted disgustedly.

"That's called being pussy whipped. You won't see that happening with me."

Ozuma chuckled and nudged Kai. "Only because Aspin refuses to take part in his kinky sex fantasies."

"**Oh and that was one hard hit. He's not getting up from that one."**

Kai snorted. "No matter how much he begs."

"He even got her that cat-o'-nine-tails whip."

"No that was Ruin and Tala."

"**She catches the puck! Arista Belyaev is one of the shining stars of high school hockey though she's not playing her best game tonight."**

"Damn you're right."

Kane sneered at them before roughly jostling Kai. "You're just jealous boys."

"**Taken down. And that was a low blow!"**

A strained tension filled the box as the others looked on before Ozuma simply leaned back in his seat, arms folded behind his head. "At least I'm not whipped."

"Being whipped isn't as bad as you might think." Tala declared lazily, with a smug smile.

"Like you would know."

"**Oh, that's showing them. Spencer Kaminov is not someone you want to be getting on the wrong side of. Marc Braddock takes the puck down the ic- Johnny McGregor tackles him. Tigers with the puck!"**

The boys looked to Ruin, who coolly smiled at them. Catching her drift, Kane whooped triumphantly. "Have you been telling tales Tala?"

"No pun intended." Shahero quipped before returning her gaze to the game before them.

"GUYS!" Nicolai barked shaking his head. Well, at least, his team wasn't mentally scarred from the lecture he had given them earlier if they were able to joke around.

The team sobered instantly but there was a hint of a smile around their mouths. Attentions returned to the ice where Miyami was breaking free of the Blizzards, taking the puck over the blue line into the offensive zone. Her stick whipped up and the goalie tensed. It was only at the last second that he realized that she no longer had the puck but by then it was too late, Rei powered up and took his shot. The goalie had no chance.

"**Score by the Tigers! 4-0. The Blizzards are not coming back from this one."**

"It's over!" Shahero cheered, wriggling about in her seat earning a belligerent look from Ian who happened to be sitting beside her.

The buzzer sounded and the crowd erupted in cheers, the rest of the team moving out onto the ice to congratulate their team.

* * *

Kai's legs ached from sheer weariness, his neck felt tensed and strained and there was a headache hovering around his temples, luring him towards the seductive appeal of sleep. The game had been good but he just wasn't in the mood for it and for that, he was beginning to hate her. He had never in his life lost his love for hockey. It was there for him all his life. When he was angry, he slapped the puck around. And when he was bored, he took his I-pod and took shots at the net from various spots. It was just the one constant in his life. It took his mind of things and now it constantly reminded him of her.

He opened his dorm door and stepped inside, the darkness instantly acting like a cooling blanket to his burning eyes. He slid his bag off his shoulder and dumped it in the corner before he wandered blindly to his bed. The rest of his roommates were at the after game party. He'd made an appearance but didn't stay long. He was too tired and after listening to one song too many about breakups, he just had to get out of there.

It was too suffocating. All those people invading his space. Drunken girls sloppily draping themselves over whomever they could. Now he was back on the market, he seemed to have more girls throwing themselves at him than ever. Which was natural enough, since he had gone to an all boys school, and now he was at a co-ed. He'd never had trouble with them before. Then again, he'd always had Amber there to glare at them or Mariam. Now he was left to fend for himself and girls just didn't take the word no for an answer!

He sat down on Bryan's bed and tugged off his shoes, closing his eyes as the grief swept over him. He couldn't suppress it constantly and in his weakest moments, it crept up on him. Why had she pushed him away? He wanted to be there for her and he couldn't be.

He changed out of his clothes, his mind set in automatic so he didn't have to feel the pain pushing at him. Running his tongue along his teeth, he sighed and reached into the bedside locker, pulling out his wash bag. Sleepily he headed down to the bathroom, barely sparing a glance for the freshmen boys that congratulated him on a good game.

He was bone tired by the time he returned to his room, his eyes singed by the fluorescent lights in the bathroom. It took almost all of his energy to climb up the ladder and when he reached the top, he crawled into his bed. He fell asleep as soon as he hit the bed and even as he did, he couldn't help but wonder why his pillow smelt of his Ember when he specifically remember washing his sheets to get rid of her scent.

**

* * *

Ok in case anyone was wondering or couldn't figure out who was saying what, here's the breakfast conversation again complete with who said what.**

"**I wasn't hitting on you! I asked you how your life was going, how does that sound like 'Hey babe, where've you been all my life?'"- Miyami**

"**They both contain the word life." -Ian**

"**Now you're hitting on me." -Tala**

"**Ian, shut up!" -Kane**

"**Johnny, what are you going to do? Drown him with the milk? Put the jug down!" - Michael**

"**Don't tell me to shut up Kane!" -Ian**

"**I am not hitting on you! That was an example of what I might say if I _was_ hitting on you, which I wasn't because a) I love Johnny! b) You're not my type no matter how red your hair is and c) Ruin knows where I sleep at night." -Miyami**

"**Well she is in the same dorm." - Kane**

"**Shut up Kane." - Ian**

"**Johnny, you're spilling the milk, man. Look at what you're doing and stop staring at Miyami, you goof."- Michael  
**

"**God those are big breasts." -Ian  
**

"**Aren't they just?" -Enrique**

"**Ian! Enrique! You perverts, not at the breakfast table or I'm getting Sonia to confiscate that." -Miyami**

"**Pay attention to your boy toy, Mimi and leave our magazine alone."-Ian**

"**_My_ magazine." -Enrique**

**So basically Tala and Miyami were having a conversation, Johnny was overhearing everything and getting jealous, Michael was trying to stop Johnny from committing mass murder and Ian was being a pest and Kane was bored and had nothing better to do than berate Ian and Enrique was being a pervert. Ok? Ok. **


	29. Let's blame Tala!

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Beyblade. The Octopussies belong to their creators and I only own Amber and Ruin. However you can find pictures of them by Tari-Chan (owner of Miyami) on my bebo page or on hers which is Mattie-Tea's. Okies? Arista, Aspin, Shahero, Amber and Miyami are all there.

* * *

**Smells Like Team Spirit**

_Let's blame Tala_

* * *

Mortal Combat had broken out in the senior boys' corridor. Or that's how it sounded to Kai. There were shouts and roars of pain and snickers and though that wasn't exactly anything to get worried about -roars and shouting were the background noise to the dormitory, after all- it did pique's Kai's interest when he realized he recognized some of the voices. Slowly getting to his feet, he headed for the door and opening it, he glanced out.

The scene was ridiculously familiar. Boys were gathered around the bathroom door, shouting encouragement and other boisterous yells in an attempt to raise as much chaos as possible. However he couldn't see much of the entertainment inside the curtain of bodies.

His eyes fell on a familiar figure and he moved towards him. "What's going on?"

Tala flashed a grin. "Johnny and Ian are fighting."

"What over?"

"Johnny whipped him with a towel. Again."

Johnny's fascination with snapping towels had been giving most of the boys on the team a headache -not to mention back ache. One minute they would be getting changed and then the next thing, there would be a 'crack!' and a howl and Johnny would cackle wickedly. Usually he tended to pick on the younger members of the team. He'd tried getting Bryan behind the knees and Bryan had slammed him into a wall. He soon learnt his lesson. Attacking Bryan was like taking on a giant: difficult, painful and downright stupid.

Another howl pierced the air and Ian shouted more abuse while Enrique, who had joined Johnny, snickered and moved round. It was like watching wolves hunt. Ian was the petrified creature in the middle, furiously trying to defend himself while Enrique and Johnny circled him waiting to find a weak spot before exploiting it.

"Heard Maye was forced to shave off her 'tache."

Tala snickered. Maye had decided to keep her blue moustache to show the perpetrators that they hadn't won. Of course, all that did was to serve as a reminder of how good a prank Shahero and Russia pulled off. Every time they saw it you could see the pride on their faces. However Dickinson didn't agree with her theory and forced her to shave it off or bleach it again. It was highly unlikely that Maye was going to touch bleach again so she just shaved it off. Of course, that started conspiracies on whether or not it would be stubble or still blue when it grew back.

"She stomped out of Dickinson's office when he told her. Shahero was outside waiting for a discussion on the amount of detentions she's been receiving and how it will reflect on her college transcripts."

Kai rolled his eyes. "It would be different if she was getting detention for serious offences but she's harmless."

"Until you get on the wrong side of her. But, I agree it's really not her fault that teachers don't get her sense of humor."

"Then again, squirting oil on people is hardly funny to most."

"GODDAMMIT!"

Tala winced as Ian let out another outraged howl and whirled on Enrique who had just slapped his lower back with a wet towel. "They're really going to town today."

"Any particular reason why?"

Tala suppressed a grin. It was funny how Kai's tone became cultured whenever he was imitating being coolly bored. It was something he had begun in Clonmel to prevent Balkof from reading his tone, now it was just a habit he couldn't seem to shake.

"Don't think so. It's not like Johnny's not getting laid anymore. Miyami's…" Tala trailed off when he caught Kai's pointed look. There was an unsaid rule between them. He didn't say anything crude about Miyami in front of Kai and vice versa for Amber.

"So he's just doing this because…?"

"It's Johnny. He does this from time to time, usually when he's stressed about something, like exams."

Kai wrinkled his nose. Exams, just what he needed to be thinking about. The SAT's would be fast approaching and then graduation and then college, which meant starting from square one all over again. It didn't bear thinking about. He hadn't achieved much in High School. Yes, he was captain of his team but only because he was good at the sport and because his father had promoted him. No one on the team had voted him in. He hadn't made any real friends outside of the team; to be honest most people befriended him because of his status.

However on saying that, this past year had been different. He had Tala but Tala had been there for him for a very long time. The thought of going to a school without Tala had never crossed his mind. They had the same dreams and aspirations, to play for their country when they made it pro. And they had never said 'if', it had always been 'when'. However, it had been a long time since either of them had discussed what they would do after school. Since they no longer shared a room by themselves, they had never really sat up late and talked. When they did talk, it was usually about… _her._ And he intended to rectify that soon enough just not right then and there.

Then there was Miyami. He couldn't even pinpoint the moment the two of them had become friends. It just seemed inevitable that they were drawn into conversations with each other. They discussed everything from art to music, from popular culture to his fashion sense. She still intended to get him to wear colors. She intrigued him and amused him which wasn't an easy thing to do. Not many people captivated his attention or managed to hold it but then again, he liked unusual people and there was no doubt about it that the majority of the Tiger team was unusual, Miyami just had an extra dash of it.

And there was his team, his incredibly strange, slightly neurotic team that had become extra members of his family this year. The thought of having gone through this year without them wasn't something he could imagine. Sure, he didn't always want to be around them but knowing they were there was a constant comfort. Had he been in a better mood this past week, he probably would have appreciated them more. They did amuse him with their various personalities and even now, they were entertaining him.

Ian had scrambled back into the bathrooms and the crowd had moved closer to the door. Johnny sported a feral grin and was holding his towel taut as he advanced slowly and warily on the frightened midget. Enrique was a little more adventurous, running up to bait Ian before dancing out of the way or coming in contact with the lash of Ian's own towel.

Kai sighed. "Maybe we should break this up. If Maye catches us, we really will be in trouble."

"True." Tala replied not looking too enthusiastic. "And we can't have her canceling prom again."

"I doubt I'd be able to talk our way out of that again."

Before Tala could answer, a sharp 'beep' sounded between them and had Tala automatically reaching into the pocket of his jeans to pull out a sleek black phone. Disengaging the keypad lock, he accessed the message and read the screen.

Kai sighed. "What's with your phone today? It's been beeping steadily for the past three hours."

Tala put the phone away looking uncomfortable. "Just Miyami. Look, I gotta go. I'll chat to you later."

"What did she want?"

Tala hissed and bit back a curse. Idiot! He shouldn't have mentioned Miyami. Everyone knew they only had two things in common and one of them was standing right in front of him, the other was his ex. Tala raked a hand through his hair as his best friend continued to study him through suspicious eyes. "It's nothing."

"Does this nothing involve _her_?"

The red head flinched at the tone. Really he didn't think Kai was taking this breakup that well. He was constantly becoming bitter every time she was mentioned and it wouldn't be long until the emotions bubbled over. If Kai didn't lash out soon he was going to end up with a stomach ulcer, Tala was sure of it.

But what could he do? Every time he tried to talk to either one about the other, they would clam up tighter than anything he could think of. It really made trying to get them back together just the tiniest bit difficult. They wouldn't be in the same room together unless forced to by classes and even then she sat at one end and he at the other and never in the same room. And the irritating thing was that Kai didn't want to sit behind her so he tried to sit in the front and since he, Tala, usually sat beside him, which meant the two of them ended in the front row.

Him, Tala Valkov, lazy student extraordinaire sitting in the front row where the teacher could see if he was working or not! It sucked!

So he was doing more work than was strictly necessary and people were beginning to think he was a teachers' pet again. It wasn't his fault he could remember things better than most of the idiots in the school. He didn't even see why he had trouble; Kai certainly didn't get the piss taken from him. Amber said it was because he looked girly. He had punched her for that one and they hadn't spoken for a week. It had been one very long week. Of course, they had been twelve at the time.

"What is it Tala?"

Tala scowled. Miyami was going to kill him. And despite the fact that she was a tiny midget of a girl, her punches hurt like hell! "What date is today, Kai?"

Kai frowned at the random question. "The eleventh. Why?" When Tala continued to just watch him, Kai felt the clogs in his mind begin to turn. The eleventh of March. What was… Oh fuck. "_Her_ birthday."

Why was there always such an emphasis put on _her_? Tala wondered. Why couldn't Kai just say her name? For crying out loud, he had a pet name for her and now he wouldn't even call her by her surname or her given name. Was it really that painful for him? He tried to think of how he would feel if he broke up with Ruin but… well if Ruin broke up with him, he'd get her back. He'd do whatever it took. He wasn't called tenacious Tala for nothing. And there would never be a situation where he broke up with her, either. Ruin was what he had wanted for a very long time.

"Yeah, it's her eighteenth and we're trying to organize something for tonight for her."

Oh, so no one would be around the school tonight or they'd be having a party in the common and he, Kai, wouldn't be invited, naturally. He sighed. So much for his friends. When it came to her, she would always be chosen first. He supposed he needed an early night anyways and it had been a long time since he had just had some space to himself.

"You can come, you know. She wouldn't mind."

"Oh yeah? When I walk into a room, she glares at me until I leave."

Tala's brow wrinkled in confusion. That wasn't right. When Kai entered a room that Amber was in, she watched and waited to see if he would actually come in. Then he would notice her, turn and leave. Dickhead! "Fine think what you want. But if you do turn up, don't bring Mariam. She's not doing you any favors."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Kai demanded icily.

"Just what I said. I don't want Mariam turning up to her party and ruining it for with her sly, bitchy comments."

"Mariam's not a bitch."

Tala threw his head back and laughed caustically. "You're an idiot Kai but you're not that stupid. I thought you were a good judge of character or maybe that's only when you're not thinking with your dick."

Kai's fists clenched as he forced himself to see past his anger but he found it hard to swallow and his blood was pounding viciously. Where did Tala get off taking that attitude towards him? He had never seemed to have a problem with Mariam before? And it wasn't as if Kai was cheating on Amber with her. For Christ sake, he thought he made it clear that she was nothing compared to Amber, was it his fault she wouldn't take the hint?

Without even thinking about it, he had Tala up against the wall, with his elbow over his friend's throat. "You haven't a fucking clue what you're talking about. She cheated on me! Not the other way round. She meant the world to me. She was everything."

Tala cursed and struck out, knocking the bluenette back against the floor. "You fuckhead, if she meant that much to you, why didn't you believe her? She's not with anyone. She never was."

"Then why is she always talking to him on the phone?"

Tala froze. She phoned Mystel? What was she up to? How was he supposed to fix things if she was still talking to that wanker? "Probably for the same reason you're still talking to Mariam. Both of you are idiots. You deserve each other."

Kai smirked bitterly, not seeming to notice the fact that some of the boys had turned their attention from Johnny and Ian to the pair of them. After seeing Ian whipped a few times, it was beginning to lose its appeal. Seeing Tala and Kai fighting on the other hand was like a once in a lifetime deal.

"Obviously not. If we did, we would be together."

Tala offered his hand and Kai took it, yanking his friend onto the ground before getting to his feet and dusting himself off. "Bygones?"

Tala raised a brow before nodding with a shrug. "Sure. But you're still an idiot. She thinks you're with Mariam."

"What the fuck? Where did she get that idea?" Kai demanded.

"Maybe you should be a little more wary of have public displays in the library." Was all the red head said before he sauntered down the hall.

"Tala, wait."

"I've got things to prepare for. If you don't want to come tonight, then don't. But I think it would be a shame if you didn't show up. You only turn eighteen once."

Kai watched him go and frowned. Public displays in the library? The only person he had public displays with -and they weren't really public since they were pretty far away from any other students- was Amber. Unless… no, she couldn't have possibly been there that day. He groaned. Of course she could have been. He had no idea how long she was back when he had come across her. And hadn't Kane said something about her interrupting the fight with some snarky comment as though she'd never been away. He cursed viciously. Dammit. Why did this always happen? Why hadn't she trusted him?

He turned on his heel and headed for his dorm room. Now what was he supposed to do? He couldn't just go up to her. Too much water had passed under the bridge for them to just get back together and yet… two weeks really wasn't that long. If Tala was right, then Amber had only broken up with him because she thought he was with Mariam. And if she wasn't with Mystel, then maybe there was a chance.

He slammed the door behind him and climbed the ladder of his bed. He really needed to think about this.

* * *

"Amber, come on."

Amber rolled her eyes at her reflection. Shopping sucked. Shopping with Miyami sucked more. Miyami just wouldn't let her buy anything without being sure that it fitted right or was able to be fixed by her if it didn't. Miyami wouldn't let her buy anything she wanted to buy if it wasn't a high enough quality and Amber just wasn't in the mood to go shopping today. She wanted to watch cartoons. It was a Saturday. Saturdays' were cartoon days!

Something trancy was playing on the speakers above her head and it was steadily pounding into her head like a woodpecker at her temple. She scowled and shrugged out of her decorated olive green t-shirt, tossing it onto the bench and plucking the top chosen for her off the rack. Slipping it on, she made a face at her reflection.

"I don't like it." She called out.

Behind the curtain she heard Miyami sigh heavily. "What's wrong with this one?"

"Too much cleavage."

There was a snort of laughter and finally Ruin replied. "Is it a miracle top? How can there be too much when you don't have any?"

"Ok, fine there's this great big black chasm between my breasts that people could fall down."

Miyami growled. "Come out here and let me see."

"No, what if I pop out."

"Well unless people have a microscope handy, I doubt you have to worry about it."

"I heard that Aspin."

"Come out here, Amber Marie Benson, right now! Or I'm coming in."

"Well come in then, cause I'm not going out there."

Miyami huffed out a breath and made a motion for her friends to wait five minutes while she went to sort out the problem. She pushed through the curtain, making sure to seal it with the Velcro so that her friend wouldn't flash anything to the public, before she turned to survey her friend.

"Well if you're going to huddle there and cross your arms like that, you're going to push them out."

"It's not my fault the neckline is too low."

"It's supposed to be low. Bambi…" She trailed off on a sigh. "Look, you can blather away all you like, but with a padded bra, you'll be fine. Besides, by the time you hit your twenties you'll have grown at least a size."

"Chest wise, not cup wise."

"Well at least you're not an A."

Amber scowled and slumped down onto the bench behind her. "I don't know why I have to dress up anyway. I don't want to attract a guy and there's not going to be anyone there that I want to impress." She muttered softly.

"You never know, Kai might come." Miyami replied easily, trying to remain optimistic though she herself knew that Kai wouldn't show his face. Not unless she gave him a good kick up the backside.

"Oh please, he can't even stand to look at me."

"Well, you don't do yourself any favors." When the Irish girls' head snapped up, Miyami raised a hand in defense. "Well it's true. You don't hang out with us at breakfast, you don't sit with us in class, you act like he's a leper and you don't show up to support us at games. That reflects badly on you because he needs support."

"Well he can get plenty of support from Mariam."

"She doesn't give one hoot about hockey and you know it. She just doesn't get it and because she doesn't get it, she can't fully understand Kai. That's not good for a relationship."

Amber scowled thunderously at the mention of the 'R' word in relation to Kai and the slut! She looked down at the lemon v-neck top and wrinkled her nose. "I don't like this."

"Neither do I. Let's find something in red for you."

"Miyami, I don't want to go out tonight."

Miyami closed her eyes and prayed for patience. This Amber was not fun. She was this mood swinging freak of nature that went from one high to a low and she was exhausting her friends. "You are going to have some fun and forget about Kai. Don't you want to move on?"

Temper sparked in Amber's eyes before it quickly leaked away. "I have alright."

"Except for when you're asking if he'll be there, or wondering where he is, or when you're thinking about him which is all the time. Get over it."

Amber watched as her friend strode out of the changing room and slumped heavily. Discarding the top, she pulled on her t-shirt, and peeking out, she gave a relieved sigh when she noticed that her friends had all followed Miyami on the quest to find her the perfect outfit. Well Amber wasn't in the mood to play dress-up. She wasn't a doll. She wasn't a damn mannequin and she wasn't going to stand for it.

Leaving the curtain closed, she marched out of the changing rooms and headed out of the shop, not even bothering to look for her friends knowing that any suspicious action would catch their attention. Instead, she headed for the toilets, the last place they would look for her.

She skipped down the red tiled steps and crossed the courtyard on the ground floor of the mall and into the corridor. She pushed her way into the toilets and exhaled softly. No more clothes. No more Miyami. No more dance music. Pure bliss.

She caught a glimpse of her reflection and stared fascinated at her hollow reflection. Was that how she really looked? She looked so empty, so weary and fragile. She looked ugly. Her hair was limp. Her eyes were tiny, engulfed by the swollen lids and bags underneath. Her complexion was pale and haggard and she felt as though a gust of wind could blow her away. She looked that frail too, she thought wryly.

She muffled a yawn and sighed as she ran the cold water. She was so tired lately and though sleep would be a welcome relief, she couldn't find her dreams the way she use to. Usually because her dreams, for a very long time, consisted mostly of her beautiful brown-eyed captain.

Whether it had been dreaming of ways she would torture him or make him pay, or dreaming of just being with him, he'd always played a key role. Now though dreaming of him was taboo. Every time she met his fierce gaze in the dining hall at breakfast it felt as though he could see those dreams. If she didn't dream then he wouldn't have anything to see, other than the mistake he had made.

Her eyes began to burn and she fought to swallow past the lump in her throat. She was just so pathetic, getting all worked up over a boy. The irony was she always scorned girly like that and now she was one. How bloody typical.

Her chest seized violently and she struggled to breath past the pain. For gods' sake, he was just a boy. Not even a very pretty boy and here she was losing her head over him.

If school would just hurry up and end; then everything would be ok. She wouldn't have to see him in the corridor every day. She wouldn't have to sit near him in classes. And she definitely wouldn't have to see him with other girls. That would kill her.

Shit she just wanted to hear his voice. Just once. He never even spoke to her anymore. And she missed talking to him. She missed fighting with him. She missed sitting in silence with him. She just missed him so much. A single tear slipped down her cheek only to be quickly dashed away.

A single phone call wouldn't hurt. He'd probably be busy anyway. She'd just listen to his voicemail; he wouldn't have to know.

She dug into her pocket and pulled out her phone. Pressing 1, she waited for the phone to connect. It did almost immediately and after four rings, it cut to voicemail.

"_You've reached Kai Hiwatari. Leave a message and I'll get back to you. Sometime." _The lump hardened and her breath clogged, even as every nerve jumped at the sound of his voice.

Just once more.

Another four rings and the phone clicked. "_Yeah?_"

She inhaled sharply. Oh shit. Shit!

"_Hello?_"

Oh god, she should say something, would he want to hear anything from her? He sounded so grouchy. A combination of sheer exhaustion and anger. He always looked so grouchy these days. Too much time on the ice and not enough sleep, she decided.

"_Look asshole, I'm not in the mood to hear your breathe, so before you pick up the phone again, learn how to use it!_"

The phone went dead. She tried to be amused by the tone and words, she really tried. Her lips even turned up in a tremulous smile but then the door opened and the sight of Miyami standing there, catching her red handed and it was too much. She opened her mouth to explain but what came out was a sound caught between a wail and a sob. A heart wrenching sob of unspeakable agony that embarrassed her even as she heard it. But then the tears were coming fast and frantic and she was being pulled into Miyami's arms and it didn't matter if she embarrassed herself because it just hurt so much and she couldn't keep it in, not anymore. So she held her best friend tighter and released herself to the tears of a broken heart.

* * *

The octopuses exchanged startled glances as they heard the howl and staring uncomfortably at each other, they shifted awkwardly and averted their gazes to their feet, each left to their own thoughts unable to voice what they were all thinking.

"Was that Amber?" Arista blurted out and the others gaped at her. For the past fortnight she didn't voluntarily speak to anyone which was a record, then they remembered what they had just heard and each girl quickly looked away.

"I think so." Shahero answered hesitantly and closed her eyes. If that had been Amber then she was in so much pain. Why hadn't they noticed before? For her to cry like that… Amber didn't cry, at least not in front of them, any of them but they could hear her sobbing loudly behind the door of the bathroom. She exchanged a glance with Aspin and both could almost hear each other thinking that they were thankful that it was Miyami in there and not one of them. None of the Octopussies bar Sonia were any good at consoling someone. They were strong women who tended to only break down when they were out of sight and hearing of the others, to break down in front of one of them was embarrassing but then, Shahero thought, she'd rather cry in front of an Octopussy than a stranger.

"Poor Amber, I didn't know she was so upset." Sonia whispered as she slid down the wall and pulled her knees up to her chest. She had been so wrapped up in Ozuma and their budding relationship to notice how much pain Amber was in. She was such a bad friend. How long had Amber been feeling like this? Since she broke up with Kai? How could she have bottled it up? Why hadn't she told them how she was feeling? Didn't she know that by sharing her feelings, she was releasing them and giving herself room to breathe, to think and to feel other emotions besides the heartbreak and grief? Oh, poor Amber.

"I don't think any one of us did." Aspin replied glancing at Ruin who rolled her eyes.

"Oh please. It had to come some time. She's been bottling it up for the past fortnight, running hot and cold. This is good for her. Maybe she can finally move on from him." At least Ruin hoped so, if not, well things were just going to get harder. It was a pity that Amber's first dip into the relationship pool had to be such a draining experience. It would make her warier of others. But then again, when Amber jumped into anything, she jumped in heart first. She never tested, she never hesitated, once she was sure it was for her, she threw herself in. And now it had backfired. Typical Amber.

"Is he really dating Mariam?" Arista finally asked. She had been so caught up in her own thoughts that she hadn't really heard much about Amber and Kai but for the fact that they were broken up. And still part of her resented just how Amber centric the team was. Did anyone ask how she was dealing with her breakup? No.

Aspin scooped her hair out of her face. "Not that I know of."

"'e may be a prick, but 'e ain't datin' Mariam."

They nodded slowly at Russia's comment, figuring that she should know. She was his cousin after all. Though granted, they weren't really close. Every time Kai tried to instigate a conversation, his cousin pretty much told him to go fuck himself.

Shahero jolted as her phone beeped shrilly and as she picked it out she caught sight of Arista's ashen face. "You ok?"

"Oh yeah, I um, thought it was mine."

Shahero nodded slowly. Right because that's how people usually reacted when their phone's beeped. With absolute terror. She lifted to view the screen and rolled her eyes at the message.

"Is that Hitoshi checking up on you?" Aspin teased the black haired girl with a snicker.

Shahero casually replied before looking innocently up at her friend and smiling sweetly. "No, that was just Kane, wondering where you were. Seems he's lost the will to live."

"Oh ha, ha."

"So what's everyone wearing tonight?" Sonia broke in before the two could get started.

"Clothes." Shahero muttered as she replied to the message but despite the image of annoyance she was giving, there was a smile lurking around her lips. Seemed whatever Hitoshi -they assumed it was him as they were all present, and who else would be texting her? - had said had lightened her mood considerably. That or she was planning his death. You could never be too sure with Shahero.

"Aw, and here I was thinking about going naked."

"Well you still could."

"Nah, it wouldn't be much fun on my own."

"Betcha y' could always g't Hitoshi t' join y'."

"And Kane too." Ruin added with a grin at Aspin who sighed heavily.

"It was only that one time and Johnny had filled him with Tequila. You know he can't handle Tequila. It's his Achilles heel."

"What's an Achilles' heel?" Arista asked; her curiosity over riding her sullen temper. "I always hear it mentioned and I know technically what people mean but where do they get it from?"

"He was a Roman warrior who was undefeatable until struck in the heel, which was his weak spot."

"AH! SONIA Stop teaching me!" Shahero yelled out, covering her ears before freezing and slowly taking them away to stare at Ruin. "Oh… maybe Amber's right, I think we have switched bodies. Ruin's becoming smart."

"And teaching us."

Ruin rolled her eyes at the reverent looks on the Octopussies faces, even Sonia was joining in. Great. "Quit the wise cracks and someone go look in and see if those two are finished the weep fest."

"I'm not looking in."

"Me neither."

Arista shook her head and Russia snorted derisively. All eyes fell to Sonia who groaned loudly and pitifully, before getting to her feet. "I want to say for the record, that I'm not doing this of my free will!"

"Fine. Now go check. I'm bored here."

Sonia approached the door, and then paused. "How about, we leave them because Miyami can look after Amber and someone needs to decorate the hall and we could text them to tell them where we are."

After exchanging looks, the remaining girls all nodded before hurrying in the opposite direction of the toilets without a backward glance, all aside from Ruin, who stood where she was for a moment, before slowly following with a smirk. "Wimps."

"Yeah, but you're not going in either, are you?" Aspin called out as she lagged behind to make sure Ruin was keeping up.

"Touché."

* * *

A high pitched beeping brought Amber out of the dark place she had retreated to so that she could avoid the embarrassment of realizing she had broken down in front of her best friend. Though, secretly, she was glad it was Miyami and not anyone else, especially Shahero. Shahero being so strong herself, it would be a shame she wouldn't live down, if she cried in front of her soon-to-be sister, even if Shahero told her she could come to her with her problems. But it was so humiliating to cry because of a boy. Even if the boy was Kai.

Miyami rustled in her black combats to find her mobile, turning her head to see if Amber had heard the noise. Her best friend was sitting on the tiled floor, with her knees drawn up to her chest and her brow resting on their crests. She looked to be sleeping, but every so often a tremor would pass through her body, wracking it with its force. It was a humbling thing to witness. She couldn't even remember a time when Amber had cried so hard. Crystal tears, quiet ones, wet eyes, sure they had been witnessed over their years of friendship but the heartbroken sobs… that was a scary new event.

"You feeling any better?" She quietly wondered, leaning her head back against the wall as she tried to figure out how to comfort her best friend. Her heart-broken best friend. She never thought she'd end up in this situation and now that she was here, how was she supposed to help. Always she had imagined that she would step up to Amber's defense but she couldn't fight Amber's battles, especially since Kai was her friend too. She wished that she didn't have to see both sides so very clearly. She wished Amber didn't have to either. It would be so much easier for her to hate Kai if she didn't blame herself so much.

Amber chuckled, slightly bitterly as she sniffled miserably and wiped her eyes. "Yeah, a little. Oh god, I can't believe I just did that."

"Yes, you crying is a crime in this century."

The dark haired girl shot her a wry glance. "Not crying, though yes, that's a bit embarrassing. It was the wailing like a banshee…" She sucked in a shuddery breath.

"Well, you're Irish, I think it's aloud." Hearing Amber's watery laugh, she continued, "I bet you feel better though. Now that's out of your system."

Amber looked up miserably. "Miyami, I didn't even know that was in my system."

"Comes from you bottling up your emotions, Bambi. You know it happens."

"Never like that." Came the sharp retort.

"Well, the break-up hit you pretty bad."

"Yeah but that's no reason to cry in the bathroom of the mall. I could have at least waited until I got home. Oh well, at least it's done now. I can finally start getting on with things."

"That easily?" Miyami asked skeptically, raising a silver pierced brow.

"Well, of course it won't be easy Miyami, but I can't mope around forever."

"This is exactly why you were wailing like a banshee. If you're hurt, just say. If you hate Kai, just tell someone. Pretending everything is ok, is unnatural."

Amber sighed. Well what did Miyami want her to do? Cry all the time? Give him the satisfaction of knowing that she couldn't get over him? Not likely. He hurt her, yes that was true. But she couldn't find it in her to hate him, no matter how much she wished she could. It would be so easy; it would make life so much easier.

"This is you doing that whole denial thing again."

"What Nile thing?"

"AMBER!" The name exploded from the frustrated girls' lips. How was she supposed to help her friend when the girl was just doing everything in her power to make things harder? Why did she have to be so flippant about everything? Why did she have to hide her feelings until they burst out of her, ripping her up with them?

Amber jolted; eyes wide at the temper barely hidden in her friends' voice. Why was Miyami so pissed? She didn't have a reason to be. Everything was going well for her. She had her boyfriend, who was devoted to her. She was on the team. Her mother wasn't having any more children. Her father wasn't dating her ex-boyfriends aunt nor was her father having a child. Amber nearly sighed at the pathetic melodrama that had taken over her life. Once she was just a normal child with a normal life. She had parents and friends and she played her favorite sport. And now all of that had gone to hell.

All the fight leaked out of Miyami leaving her slumped against the wall. She sighed wearily and closed her eyes, before opening them to look directly at her friend. "I wish you would just talk to me."

"And say what?" Amber demanded, sniffling again and rising to her feet to get a tissue from the cubicle.

"I don't know, Amber. But you're not alright and as soon as you realize that, _then _maybe you can move on. If you want." she added on a mutter but Amber chose that moment to come out of the cubicle.

"It's not like I have a choice. I can't mope over him, he's moving on. Do you see him with Mariam? It's like I never existed. He walks right past me in the halls and looks right through me. And it hurts, it really hurts." She admitted softly, approaching the mirror. She caught her reflection and studied the red eyed figure. "It's no wonder, you know. I mean look at this and then look at Mariam."

"Stop comparing yourself to Mariam. You two are different people-"

"Who had the same boyfriend. If it came down to a choice between us, I'd choose Mariam. She's better looking than me, and better endowed and more experienced than me-"

"And that didn't matter to Kai, so don't fucking insult him!"

Amber blinked in surprise before scowling. "I'm not trying to fucking insult him. I wouldn't do that to him, idiot, I care about him and he hurt me. Do you know how that feels? He thought I'd cheated on him. I wouldn't, not on him. No one…" She trailed off before she said too much, but Miyami understood.

She understood what Amber didn't. She understood that Amber hadn't dated a boy simply because none of them were close to her standards. If Kai hadn't met those or exceeded them, she would have pushed him away. The way she had with other boys. She backed away from them.

When she wanted something, she got it or she waited for it. She waited for her computer books, she wouldn't buy any other books other than the ones by her favorite author, and she waited months for her games, foregoing all others because none of the others would satisfy her. Maybe it was because she was fussy, but for the most part it was because she knew what she liked and she couldn't settle for anything less. For her boyfriend, she waited years to find the right one. It was just a pity that her right one was just as stubborn and pig headed as she was. But Miyami didn't fault Amber's taste. It was obvious to her that there would be no one else for the two, no matter how much they may deny it and so, with that in mind, she had every intention of putting them back together.

"Well if you want to beat Mariam at her own game, why don't you?"

Amber frowned and tilted her head, eyes sharp and shrewd. "What do you mean?"

"Change your image. Catch Kai's eye, make him want you back."

"Oh, no. No. I'm not playing mind games with Kai. Not only would it be wrong, but… he's so much better at it than me, comes from a strategic genius."

"It's not playing mind games, though you're right he would beat you. It's just about making yourself feel better. Whenever I dress up or get a new haircut, I feel like a different person. Ready to take on the world, or get what I want."

"Then you must be a different person every week." Amber muttered dryly, grinning when Miyami sent her a dark look before she flicked her hair. "Look, I don't want to change, especially not because of a boy."

"And that's the beauty of today, Bambi. It's your birthday. You're having a party. Why shouldn't you look good on your birthday?"

A slow bewildered smile tugged at the corner of the dark haired girls' mouth as the worlds began to turn in her mind. It really would be kind of cool to get her hair done and maybe look good for her birthday. And Kai wouldn't think it was because of him, though it would be. Seeing his expression might make it worth it. If it was a good reaction, of course. If he was indifferent, she might not be able to bear it and then it would all be for nothing. But the slim chance that he would care… And hair would always grow back, that was the beauty of it. And she didn't have to wear anything new again if she didn't want to. And makeup could always be removed. Nothing was permanent… just like Kais' feelings towards her weren't.

"What exactly would this involve Mimi?"

"Well being honest, you have split ends and you could do with getting your eye brows waxed and your legs-"

"No! No, no, no, no!"

"God, you sound like a terrier yipping at me. Fine, no leg waxing but we will get you some shaving gel. You can't keep using Tala's."

"Why not? It does the same job and I don't have to pay for it."

"Um, because you smell like a boy."

"Russia wears male deodorant!" Amber exclaimed angrily but Miyami simply dismissed her with a wave. "Ugh, fine. But is that it?"

"Until I can think of something else. But seriously you should try pampering yourself for a change and if you can't do it for your birthday, when can you? Bar Prom."

Amber rolled her eyes but relented. After all, it wasn't a bad idea. And if, maybe, Kai did look at her differently, then that would be a plus. A massive big plus with flashing Neon lights!

* * *

Spencer locked his car and glanced at his companions as they walked towards the stairs that led into the mall. Neither looked entirely happy to be here but it was their own fault. Once again, the boys had decided to join together to get the birthday present and once again, they had left it to the last minute. So now, he, Ian and Kane were sent to the mall to fetch Amber a present. Not exactly the easiest of tasks since neither of them were especially close to her. Though he genuinely liked her -which was more than could be said for the other two- he didn't really know what to get her. She was a complex girl, the keyword being girl. What exactly did girls want when they turned eighteen? Jewelry would be the easy answer but Amber didn't like Jewelry. He had been with her when one of her chains fell to pieces in her hands much to her baffled displeasure.

He wished Tala or Bryan had come with them but both boys were getting her something themselves. After all, she was special to them and they wanted her to have a special gift. However, even Johnny or Enrique would be better but they were getting the party ready for the night so they couldn't help.

Kane grumbled under his breath and figured that it showed how much he cared about Aspin that he was even here taking this _project_ seriously. He didn't go to the mall for just anyone, if he could avoid it, he definitely did. The only time he ever came was when he wanted some alone time with Aspin or when he had come here to scope for girls with Johnny and Ozuma, who was Mr. No Show these days. Of course, the scoping for girls thing had happened a long time ago before Aspin. Now scoping for girls was out of the question if he wanted to keep his steady girlfriend and that word still made his stomach hop. It was so permanent and he knew, with this year passing so quickly that it wouldn't be. He still wasn't certain of where he wanted to go to college but anywhere away from his home sounded good to him. The farther the better. He figured Aspin felt somewhat the same. Maybe they could find a way to stay together. Maybe.

"Where's the foreign films section?" Ian wondered, having only ever gone to the games section himself.

Kane shrugged. He never had to go to the foreign film section; heck he didn't even know they had one. Who wanted foreign films anyway? Oh right, Benson. The freak. How she was related to Ozuma and Aspin's friend still baffled him.

Spencer sighed. "We just look around I guess, or we could ask."

Kane rolled his eyes. "Fine, let's look. Anyway, how reliable is this choice?"

"Hiwatari said that she would like it." The large Russian replied to which Kane snorted.

"Exactly, Kai said so. Kai who broke up with her. No offence to the dude or anything, but if that was me in that situation, I doubt I'd be directing my friends in the direction of a good present for Aspin."

"Not everyone is as spiteful as you, Kane." Spencer mused, flicking a glance at the label above the DVD rack. FILMS. Helpful.

"Kane makes a point. What if we get it and she doesn't like it. Johnny'll whip me again." Ian growled, eyes flashing as he thought about the red marks on his legs and back and ass.

"Well you can tell him to get her a present himself and not to send us, of all people."

"I trust Kai. He wouldn't do that to her." Spencer finally said in his gravelly baritone. He stalked around the stack and moved to the other aisle. Box series, Comedies, Drama's, Documentaries… He continued to stalk up the aisle in search of the foreign film section, where Kai had said they would find the Trilogy they should get the Irish girl. He meant what he said, he trusted Kai. No one else knew Amber as well as he did and he wasn't the type to send them on a wild goose chase. It just wasn't Kai's style.

"Maybe the film exists but isn't a trilogy."

"I still say she doesn't like foreign films. Do you think Benson has the patience to watch something in another language?"

"Yeah, Kane's right. She'd just get fed up if it doesn't have cartoon characters in it."

Spencer sighed. "Fine, I'll ask Bryan." He pulled out his phone and dialed in Bryan's number. Within seconds, the phone had connected and he waited while it rang.

Music filled his ears covered by static and then a voice. "_What?"_

"Got a question for you, about Amber."

"_What is it?"_

"Ever hear of her saying anything about a film called," He reached into his pocket and pulled out a piece of folded up paper. "Infernal Affairs?"

Bryan remained quiet for a moment; then murmured something to someone before replying. "_Yeah it sounds familiar. Why?"_

"It's for her present. Hiwatari suggested the films. The boys don't trust him."

"_Why not?"_

"They've broken up."

"_Well the film sounds familiar so I'd say Hiwatari's right. He'd know anyway."_

"It's a foreign film."

"_Yeah, Japanese I think. Just get it, she'll like it."_

With that, Bryan hung up and Spencer put his phone away. "Well Bryan says it's real so Hiwatari's right. Now can we look for the foreign films?"

"This is going to look really bad if they don't have it in stock." Kane muttered. Aspin would kill him. She had a tendency to beat him up for various things.

"Here!" Ian shouted rather loudly, startling a couple who were comparing two John Wayne films. Spencer and Kane exchanged an annoyed glance and the bluenette cuffed the midget roughly around the head. "Hey!"

"Use some cop on, Ian. Now where is it?"

Spencer scanned the list of titles that were arranged in alphabetical order and then big metallic writing caught his eye. "Infernal Affairs."

"See it's not a trilogy!"

"Look behind it, Dickwad!" Kane growled, lifting out the DVD and pointing to '_Infernal Affairs II_'. "There's a box set here, all three but they're dearer than the three separate-"

"Don't be so fucking tight. Get her the box set."

"Benson's got yellow fever." Ian said with a snicker and Kane chuckled with him for half a second before copping on that he was Japanese and therefore he had to kick Ian's ass, much to Spencer's embarrassment as many people stared at the three boys. "So she does. Japanese boyfriend, Japanese cartoons and now Japanese films."

"Ian, grow up. I doubt Kai's heritage had anything to do with Amber dating him."

"Besides, the film is Chinese, moron!"

Ian just snarled at their retreating backs before deciding to mention his theory to Benson sometime just to see her reaction. Maybe he could get her some pills for it too, serve her right for all those pranks she played on him. The definition would really embarrass her, especially since it matched her to a T.

"Come on, let's go pay for it."

"Do we have enough?"

Kane snorted at Ian's dumb question. They'd all pitched in so they had more than enough. Of course, he put in less than the rest, so it was no wonder Ian would question whether they had enough. They all put in the same, but Ian had refused saying he should get a discount for all the times Benson made his life hell. To Kane's thinking, Ian brought it on himself. Stupid tosser.

"Shit!"

"What?" Kane snarled rounding on the annoying midget. Then his venomous words stilled on his tongue as he caught sight of what had captured Ian's attention. "Well crap."

"What is it?" Spencer wondered.

"Benson and Kinomiya, out there!" Ian hissed.

"Stop pointing, moron!" Kane snarled.

"You slapped me."

"I'll punch you in a minute."

"Why are you crouching on the ground for?"

"Hiding. Get down here!"

"Why are you hiding?"

"So Benson doesn't see us and see her present. It's supposed to be a surprise. Now get down!"

Spencer rolled his eyes before easing down, hissing when his knees strained before he was hidden behind the shelf of promotional offers. This was embarrassing. People were staring at the trio as they hid and shifted to catch a glimpse of their target. And his knees were killing him. Technically, he wasn't supposed to bend his knees too much, on the doctors' orders and yet here he was, putting a strain on them to appease his teammates. He was an idiot.

"Hey, can you see her?" Kane asked, nudging Ian rudely with his fist, causing the midget to fall forward before righting himself.

"Yeah they're going into… hey! They're going into a lingerie shop!"

"No way! Benson and lingerie?" Kane shuddered. "Wrong! You must be wrong."

"Seriously dude, there are bras in that shop."

"There could be other articles of clothing in there that the girls are looking for." Spencer interjected reasonably.

Ian shot him a pitying look. "You've never been in a lingerie store, have you? There's nothing but bras and panties and-"

"Don't say panties! Don't you ever say that word again!" Kane howled gruffly. Ian and the word panties, those were two words that should never be in the same sentence together. It was disgusting and made him feel dirty. He shuddered in revulsion.

"Well there are. I saw them."

"What, were you buying a pair? Red and lacy ones? Or do you like the black silk ones better?"

"Black si-SHUT UP!"

"You shut up, and don't hit me again! Fucking tosser."

Ian went bright red. Why did they always hint that he wore women's underwear? He wore manly underwear, like boxers and briefs. Not lacy underwear. Silk was much nicer to skin…

"So what if they're buying…" Spencer cleared his throat, obviously embarrassed to be having this conversation, "_stuff_, it's their prerogative. Let's just pay for the DVD's and get back to school."

"Yeah but why would Benson be buying lingerie? She doesn't have a boyfriend anymore." Ian stated plainly.

"Unless, she has plans for Hiwatari." Kane mused, and he wasn't incredibly repulsed by the idea. He may not think of Benson as his favorite person and truth be told, he pretty much only put up with her to please Aspin, because she out of everyone was his favorite person, but that didn't mean he didn't want to see her happy. Besides if she and Hiwatari got back together, that would be good. No more grueling practices and better yet, Aspin would have nothing to worry about but him. He liked that idea. Having Aspins' attention on him and him alone was how he liked things best. Sure there would always be school and college but they never bothered her too much, so that meant that 80 of her attention would be focused on him rather than the 50 that was usually focused on her depressed friends.

Of course, he hadn't a clue as to why Arista was PMSing all the time. He had tried asking her but she just brushed him off with a blank look. In fact her whole behavior was scaring him. He didn't profess to like all of Aspin's friends but he did like Arista. They had classes together and she didn't make snide comments at him the way the others did that hinted at their dislike of him and Aspin as a couple, of course it took him a little while to realize that they were just bitchy to everyone they liked, but his first impression was hard to shake.

But now Arista was just a shadow of her former self and he worried about her mental state. It would just be easier to help if he knew what had happened to her. Had she been raped or something? Was that why the girls closed ranks every time the boys asked questions? Hiwatari said it was nothing to worry about and that it would solve itself and he had to trust him, despite the fact that Hiwatari had only been with them for a couple of months. It was a hard thing to do.

"Hey maybe we should send him a photo message?"

"Explain to me how that strikes you as a good idea, Ian?" Spencer asked wearily, his knees were really beginning to kill him and quite frankly, he was just about fed up enough to present Benson -ugh, _Amber_- with the damn DVD's now. He always knew shopping was more hassle than it was worth. So were having friends.

"Dunno, might stop him being so fucking miserable."

Kane snorted then smirked. "Hey, maybe he's on to something. Might inspire him to get off his fat backside and go to the party. Then we'd kill one bird with two stone… fuck that's not right."

"It's exactly right. You're going to overkill this whole thing. Benson-_Amber_ might just be buying a present for someone, or maybe Miyami's buying something or it could be pajamas or something else."

"Dude, shit, Amber's buying something. Come on! At least we can have a laugh with this!"

"Leave her alone. It's her birthday, give her a break. Besides, you two don't have a good track record of things going right. In fact you two have anything but the Midas touch."

"The fuck is that?"

"Mida… don't you two know anything. It's when everything you touch turns to gold."

"Well why didn't you say so?" Kane demanded. "Besides, I don't want everything I touch to turn to gold. I happen to like Aspin as she is. Soft, curvy-"

"Shut up you dick!"

"Is little Ian get-"

"Fuck off! And I'm not little!"

"Nah, you're a midget with a no dick!" Kane let out a cackle of pure malicious laughter.

"Could you two please stop talking like this? People are beginning to stare." Spencer muttered; his ears burning as he caught sight of a woman striding away quickly, pushing the stroller in front of her. They were going to get barred from this shop. Thrown out by the security guards and then Amber and Miyami would definitely-_click_!

The tall blond Russian groaned as he heard the familiar sound of a photo being taken. "Ian!"

"What? I like the red set on the mannequin… oh look at that, I accidentally captured Benson too. Black ones, huh, Hiwatari's going to get- HEY! Get off!" The midget yelped, yanking his phone away from Spencer who reached for it again with the intention of deleting the dumb picture.

"You two are embarrassing." Kane stated as he got to his feet, stretching leisurely, raising a brow at two girls at the bottom of the aisle who giggled and blushed as they looked away. Pretty, he thought, but not Aspin. He was spoiled goods, he thought sadly; then shrugged ambivalently. "They've moved on. Benson's obviously got what she's come for, so let's get going."

"Not until Ian deletes that."

"Fine, you two sit here and be gay. I'm going to pay for this." Kane stated with a roll of his eyes as he headed for the counter, denying any involvement with the two Russians squabbling in the corner.

* * *

"Jesus Amber, this was not what I had in mind for a birthday party. My idea sort of involved streamers, party food, music and balloons." Miyami muttered through tightly clenched teeth as she bounced on the balls of her feet. Despite being early spring, the night was still bitterly cold with nothing between the earth and the clear inky twilight.

"Balloons!" Amber gasped, eyes lighting up with joy. "Filled with water."

"Well they weren't in my original idea, though I can't for the life of me figure why not."

Shahero scowled and stubbed her foot against the concrete ledge that the railings she held onto were firmly wedged into. She flexed her fingers and sighed. "Where is everyone?"

"Inside enjoying the music, where we should be." Miyami casually prompted only to be silenced by two severe looks.

She sighed heavily and flopped down onto the ground, grimacing when the icy cold seeped into her butt numbing it. How was operation get Amber and Kai back together going to work when one part of the equation was on the roof firing marbles at people with her brand new slingshot that Bryan had bought her? And why the hell Bryan had bought her a slingshot was beyond Miyami's comprehension. But naturally Amber had to try it out because it came with a scopey thing as well that allowed her aim to improve. So far two teachers, a prefect and the Princess of Preppies had fallen to her spectacular aim. That wasn't to mention the rather annoyed group of students who couldn't fathom why on earth it was raining marbles feet away from them. Suffice to say, Amber's aim was fluctuating.

"As Rei would say, quit your bellyaching."

"Rei would also say 'get back inside, it's cold.'"

"No he wouldn't." Shahero denied.

"Actually he probably would but I wouldn't listen."

"You would have last year."

"That was then, this is now. I'm a totally different per- OH! Hello Kevin, you're about to feel some serious pain." She cackled wickedly and rubbed her hands, almost losing grip of her new much loved toy. "Oops." Holding it up in front of her, she sighted down the black plastic barrel and slipping the marble into the elastic clasp, she pulled it back.

Letting it fly, the trio tried to keep track of it with the binoculars they'd pinched from the bird watching club (none of them knew the club existed either).

"OH!"

"SHIT!"

"Nice shot Amber."

"Um, I was aiming for his tummy, not his um…"

"Guess there aren't going to be any little Kevin's running around."

"That's a good thing." Amber declared airily, trying to beat back the guilt that was threatening to overwhelm her as the green haired boy crumpled to the ground and curled up like a boiled shrimp.

"If he finds out that was you, he's going to sue." Miyami logically pointed out, wrinkling her nose when she realized that she did indeed sound like Sonia. Was she having Sonia thoughts? Oh god, she hoped not. Next she'd be mooning after Ozuma and though she loved the boy dearly, she just didn't fancy him. Pity, he did have nice green eyes but a tuft of red just wasn't enough to win her.

"That's a bad thing." Amber mumbled passing the slingshot to her best friend, who wisely backed away.

"I'm not taking it. It's cursed."

"It's not. It was just one bad incident."

Shahero snickered and then her eyes lit up. "Well, here comes Mariam. Time to try out your theory."

Amber's face brightened maliciously and her lips curved in a smirk. "Cool." She murmured, lovingly stroking her prized cursed possession while Miyami and Shahero exchanged uneasy glances. If she started calling it her precious, they were going to have to take it from her.

Taking a step up, Amber planted her foot on the ledge for stability and with alert eyes; she studied the oblivious blue haired girl as she sauntered across the darkening quad. Amber fought back the grin that wanted to crawl across her face. This was going to be sweet. Perfect payback. So what should she aim at? Her leg? Nah, it'd just leave a big bruise. Her head? The marble wasn't close to big enough to make a dent. Her chest? Nope. That would just hurt.

"Got it."

"Got what?" Miyami asked while Shahero leaned up over the railing to get a better view of what her sister had planned.

Pulling back the elastic, the dark haired Irish girl focused her attention on her nemesis and let the marble fly with startling speed.

"FUCK!"

"OK, it's so cursed." Shahero commented blandly.

Amber suppressed a whimper. Why couldn't she ever win against this girl? "It came so close."

"Yeah she probably even felt it buzz past her nose…"

"More like heard the whistle as it dropped. Damn, Amber that was bad." Miyami didn't even bother to console her friend; the shot was so lame that Amber deserved the abuse.

"I know. What happened?"

"Shit, get down!"

The three girls dropped to the ground and continued to peer through the railings as Mariam looked round for whatever had disturbed the air around her.

"Man, it really is cursed."

Amber stifled a sigh and glowered at the blue haired girl, willing a tree branch to fall on her head. Ha, how would Kai like her then with a crater in her skull? Or blood matted to her hair? Then she flinched. OK, that was mean. She didn't really want Mariam to be hurt. Just humiliated. A nice good humiliation might help bring her down a peg or two. She deserved it for playing with her and Kai.

Suddenly there was a shriek and all three girls jumped to their feet with an exclamation of joy as the blue haired girl's legs flew out from under her and she ended up flat on her back with her skirt hiked up around her waist, much to the amusement of the boys gathered in the dark corner of the quad. Catcalls and jeers echoed through the courtyard, drowning out the cackling trio as Mariam clambered to her feet and hobbled towards the girls' dorm.

"Oh yeah, I so rock."

"Yeah, your psychic powers are immense." Shahero drawled sardonically, in a manner that showed she had been spending too much time with Russia.

Amber winkled her nose, stopping her celebration in order to look at her sister. "Huh?"

"You shooting that marble at the ground so that Mariam would slip on it. Pure genius."

Amber rolled her eyes. "Alright, so it was a fluke. But I still brought her down, so it was well worth it. This present rocks."

"Almost as much as your haircut," Miyami pointed out, reaching out to flick the ends lightly.

Shahero scowled and Amber shot her a dark look. "Don't even think about it Shahero."

The accused rolled her eyes. They had already gone through the argument where Shahero had tugged on Amber's hair in an attempt to make it grow faster, quite unable to accept that all that long hair was gone. Now it was short and shiny and Shahero was going to make it grow if it was the last thing she did. Even if she had to superglue a wig to her friends head. She and Amber always had long black hair, it was the only similar thing they had and now they didn't even have that anymore. Explaining they were sisters was just going to be more complicated than ever.

"Dammit Shahero, that hurt."

"What, I just wanted one last try. I'm stopping now."

"OW!"

"Ok, now I'm finished."

Miyami snickered, thoroughly enjoying the banter between the two girls as they traded insults, tugs and hair advice as they descended down into the school building itself. It was really nice to see Amber happy again. After that episode in the bathroom, Miyami had seriously wondered if Amber was really as ok as she pretended. The thought of a depressed Amber just wasn't fun. Of course, if they got to the party sometime tonight, she might be a happier Amber!

"Oh, I wanted to ask, is your dad getting you a car?"

Amber snorted. "Yeah right."

"Why don't you just buy it yourself?" Shahero demanded, personally hoping that if Amber got one, then she could borrow it. The thought of them going half's on a car just hadn't occurred and if it had, they ignored it.

"Or maybe your mum will."

"Ha, as if. If mum has anything to do with me getting a car, it will involve me forking out my money. Which I have plans for. Big play station plans, plus Nora Roberts is publishing books at a steady rate so she'll have something out soon. But if Dad buys one, well I won't have to pay. It'll be like a maintenance check for being out of my life for the majority of it. He so owes me."

"Actually that makes sense. You should guilt trip him more. What with the baby and Pissface, you have more than enough ammo."

"Amber, can you even drive?" Miyami suddenly asked, once again sounding logical enough that she was beginning to seriously suspect Sonia of possession.

"What's that got to do with it? I didn't say I'd drive the car. It can sit in front of my house and look nice. I just want one."

"Then, my friend, you are now known as spoilt."

"Really?" The word came out as a squeal of delight complete with teary eyes and an Oscar winning expression of pure unadulterated joy. Too bad it was completely faked. "I think I'm allowed to be spoilt on-" A shrill melody pierced the small stairwell. "Hold on a second."

She dug into her pocket and pulled out her cell phone, staring at it for a moment as though she couldn't quite believe it was hers that was ringing. "Hello?"

"_Hey."_

"Mysty, what's up?" She sighed as both Shahero and Miyami glowered at her but she simply rolled her eyes and turned her back on them. It wasn't her fault that Mystel had phoned but she had to say his timing sucked eggs. Right about now, according to her other phone calls from him, Kai would be arriving any second to catch her and her chances with him would be shot to hell once more. But Mystel was a friend and she couldn't exactly hang up on him, could she?

"_I hate to spoil your birthday, but I just got back to my room and he's gone._"

"Gone where, Mystel?" Her tone darkened and her eyes narrowed on an invisible spot on the wall.

"_Your school. My phone was lying on the desk and the message you sent was open. I'm sorry Ams, but you better find Belle fast. I don't know what he'll do._"

"What sort of state is he in?"

"_Bad_."

"Shit." She breathed before nodding. "Ok, Mysty, leave it to me. You handle your side and I'll handle mine." She hung up and turned to her friends who were watching her warily.

"And that was about, what?"

Amber flinched and bit her lip. It was time she came clean. "That was Mystel-"

"I gathered that. And do you remember the last time you were on the phone to Mystel? Kai heard you say something you didn't mean. What are you doing still talking to him?"

Miyami had a point but, "First of all, he's my friend. Second, he's also Brooklyn's best friend and the leading expert on what's going on in his fucked up little mind. And believe me, Brooklyn is very complex."

"What are you saying?" Shahero demanded. "In English, please."

"He's not handling his break-up with Arista very well and Mystel thinks he's coming here. So we really don't have time to stand about."

"Right." Miyami didn't need any more words, all she knew was that there was a chance that her cousin was in danger and she wasn't going to stand idly by.

"OW!" Amber snarled and looked over her shoulder as she stormed down the stairway with Shahero leading the way and Miyami hot on her heels. "What was that for?"

"That was for you keeping secrets again. That's what caused all of this."

"OW! Stop thumping me! That ring's going to leave a mark! Besides, Arista started- OW!"

"Don't blame Arista. She just happened to fall in love; you on the other hand are older and should have more sense."

Shahero snickered as Miyami berated Amber like an older sister, despite the fact that Amber was roughly a month older than her and a year older still than Shahero. Then she froze and caused the other two to run into her, which caused an uproar of protests which broke off abruptly as Amber caught sight of what Shahero had.

"KAI!"

Kai stiffened and bit back a vile curse. Why was she everywhere? Wasn't she supposed to be at her party? Wasn't that why he had locked himself in his room? Wasn't that why he had come to the roof because he hadn't been able to stand the silence and emptiness? And yet here she was.

"Oh fine then, walk away. It's all you're good for."

"Amber!"

"What?" Amber hissed darkly, keeping an eye on the back of Kai's head as he stood in the alcove that led to the main building. "We have to find Arista! Who do we think is more important at this moment in time? Her? Or Kai, who obviously wants nothing to do with me?"

"Look, we're leaving Kai. If you want to go up to the roof; then go ahead." Shahero's clear voice rang through the stairwell, silently pleased that she didn't have to be the one to be in situation.

He turned slowly, hating himself for wanting to see her and hating himself more for reacting to her presence still. She looked smaller, standing just on the stairs, almost in cased in shadows. Her slender figure was dressed in a low cut green top, black denim skirt and a short black jacket and black knee high boots. The dark wardrobe only served to make her eyes brighter in the golden bulb that was flickering on the wall. Then his eyes narrowed.

"What have you done to your hair?"

The harsh delivery of the question had her pulse spiking and her stomach doing that delicious little leap she had become addicted to in his presence. But then she felt the cold pit of dread. Oh god, was he mocking her? There was a sneer to his mouth and she had the disturbing feeling that he was getting a thrill out of how ridiculous she looked.

"I got it cut." She managed to spit out, eyes flaring with anger. Why, why did he have to be like this? She never hurt him! Not purposely.

"I think she looks cute." Miyami said lightly, but there was a warning in her eyes. Don't fucking screw this up, Kai. Shahero simply settled for folding her arms and glaring at him.

Outnumbered by girls and the three of them not much taller than his shoulder, he thought wryly. His eyes lingered over Amber's face for a moment. The jaw length hair suited her, made her look more impish than before. It made her eyes more bewitching than before, made her face seem more pointed at the chin, some hair had been cut over her brow bringing more focus to her eyes and the short cut emphasized the slender column of her neck.

"Yeah, yeah, Amber's a darling but Arista, remember?" Shahero prompted and Miyami answered with a jerk of her head.

"Right."

Amber sighed, she'd talk to Kai later and they'd finally sort it out. It might not come to the conclusion she wanted but something would happen. "Actually, you guys go on ahead and stick together."

"But-"

"I'll follow you, but I need to talk to Kai." She ignored the look he sent her that said he didn't want to talk to her.

Miyami narrowed her eyes and her mouth pouted in a manner that showed she was warring with herself before she sagged, and turned to follow Shahero down the steps.

Amber watched them go before turning her attention to her ex, almost screaming in frustration as she noted the door closing behind him. That bastard! That sneaky little git! How dare he just walk out on her when she wanted to talk. By rights she should just say fuck him and go see to Arista but it was likely that Kai might be able to help and he had a right to know about Arista and Brooklyn. Especially if Brooklyn showed up at the school with some buddies. She couldn't risk having the other boys find out. It just wouldn't be fair to Arista.

So with that reason in her head, she stormed down the stairwell and charged through the door. She caught the glimmer of surprise from Kai as he stood by the vending machine in the hall.

She strode over to him, not breaking her pace when he grabbed his drink and coolly turned away from her. Alright, so he wanted her to chase after him, fine. She'd chase after him and then she'd kick his sorry ass all the way to fucking Timbuktu!

He turned down a corridor and headed for the main door, biting back another urge to shout at her when he felt her following. Finally, he let the words flow caustically from his mouth but the careless tone cost him. "You stalking me, Benson?"

"No, just simply waiting for you to tire out so I can kick your ass without you putting up a fight."

He rolled his eyes, snapping open his drink and swallowing a mouthful of cold fizzy lemonade that left his mouth tingling. "What do you want?"

"I want to talk but that has to wait. Arista's in trouble."

He tensed; then paused before turning to face her, his chest tightening when he caught sight of her in the wash of fluorescent light. "What's wrong with her?"

He sounded resigned and tired and her heart went out to him. Was everything as tough on him as it had been on her? Part of her, the sadistic part, wished for it to be true. The part of her that was devoted to him did as well. If he was suffering, maybe there was hope yet. For what though, she just didn't know. All she did know that she didn't want him out of her life. Even if it was only so that they could trade barbs in the corridor, she'd settle for that and she didn't like settling but for Kai she'd settle for anything.

She approached him and took his arm, pulling him to the side, earning a glare for her troubles. He vividly remembered her pulling him into the girls' toilets to snarl at him for breaking Mariam's heart. He almost snorted at the memory. She certainly wouldn't do that again. His heart was hers now, whether he wanted it to be or not.

"Ok, what I'm about to tell you is strictly confidential, understand? You can't tell anyone, especially not your father or Tala, got it?" He glowered at her with pure dislike and she sighed heavily. God this was going to be tough. Why could he hate her so easily? It wasn't fair. She couldn't even look at him without her chest seizing up so that it became difficult to breathe. It would just be so easy to put her arms around him and bury her face in his chest; it was always so safe there; listening to his heartbeat- She growled. Not the time and besides, he'd only shove her away.

"It all started when a couple of months ago Brooklyn came to the school looking for you…" And with that she began to tell him everything that Arista had confided in her when she had first caught the pair at the Shark vs. Warrior game.

* * *

Arista rolled her eyes at Enrique as he pranced around the chairs in the centre of the floor. Someone had had the bright idea (re: idiotic) to start a game of musical chairs. Except Enrique was cheating because every time he sat down, he pulled a girl onto his lap and by the time she got free, all the chairs were gone. Hence why Arista was sitting on the sidelines. Not that she had really wanted to play much. She wasn't in a playful mood but if she didn't participate, she ended up with strange looks from the boys and sympathetic ones from the girls. And she didn't need it. She wasn't Amber. She didn't want to be centre of attention. Not that she ever was. It was always about Amber or Miyami or Shahero. They were the stars of the team. They were the stars of the school. Everyone talked about how funny they were, how clever they were, how cool. It was annoying always being compared to them and never living up.

But Brooklyn hadn't cared. He had seen _her_. He had wanted _her_. The others meant nothing to him. They were just unimportant blips that could be easily ignored. But not her. He had gone out of his way to talk to her, be around her. He would phone her at the strangest times to talk to her and she missed that. Missed that connection to him.

He had every right to hate her, to hurt her. She had broken up with him. She hadn't even given him a reason. Why shouldn't he feel betrayed by her? Hadn't she done just that? Hadn't she betrayed him by listening to her friends and letting them dictate to her? She took another gulp of punch and felt the warmth settle in her stomach, a buzz charged through her veins.

"Hey Ris."

"You're gay."

"Bye Ris." Enrique quickly muttered as he gathered his drink and scurried off. What was wrong with her? He knew he was far from being her favorite person, in fact, he suspected that she intensely disliked him but she was never so openly rude to him without even a glimmer of amusement in her navy blue gaze. And it was a pity; she really did have such pretty eyes.

"Hey, Ris, are you ok?" Aspin wondered.

"I'm fine."

"You're well on your way to being drunk."

"10 out of 10 for observation."

"Hey check the tone Arista." Kane ordered as he slipped his arm protectively around his girlfriend, hoping to disguise the stiffness in her body, a clear indication that Arista's words had stung her. Despite her strong persona, he knew his girlfriend was vulnerable to being hurt by people close to her heart.

"Oh that's right, the white knight to the rescue."

"Kane, could you leave us for-"

"It's ok, I'm going." Arista claimed mock cheerfully before she made to move around them, glaring down at the hand that clamped over her wrist. "Let go."

"Look, maybe you should sit down Arista, we can talk."

"I don't want to talk to you. I don't want to talk to any of you. I have better things to do with my time, like have a life."

"Wow, alcohol sure makes you mouthy."

"Kane!"

"No, Aspin let him talk. At least he's not pussy footing around me because he has no need to feel guilty, does he? He didn't mess things up, did he? He didn't interfere and ruin things!"

"It was for the best. You know that."

"I do? Funny, I didn't realize that but of course, you all must be right. The Octopussies are never wrong." She gestured wildly, eyes burning with malevolence.

"You're spilling your drink." Kane interrupted quietly, not for the first time wondering what he had missed. All he knew was that Aspin looked way beyond concerned and Arista's eyes were large and wet and she was slurring like that damn pirate from that Caribbean film.

"Arista…"

"You know what, fuck off. I don't need you. I don't need anyone." With that said, she began to stumble blindly off. Everyone blamed it on the drink, but it was the tears that blinded her vision, the burning ball of fire in her lungs that made it impossible to talk never mind think straight.

She pushed open the emergency exit and all but fell out the door, allowing the tears to spill and she began to gasp for breathe. Everything felt so sore and constricted. Her ribs were like iron bands squeezing around her heart and her head pounded with each step. Sucking in a breath that ended on a sob, she closed the door and fell against the railings that lined the steps. She slowly, gripping the rail in a white knuckled grip, made her way to the patio that overlooked the forest and river that ran alongside the school.

Hiccupping, she stared desperately out at the scenic night. She needed some kind of release from the pressure, some kind of balm for the hurt but nothing came on the cool night wind. A blood curdling screech from a lone owl broke the silence and she breathed in, trying to gain some composure. She had nothing to be upset about. She had ended the relationship; she had let herself be talked into ruining the one thing that actually meant something to her.

How could she blame the others for something that was her fault? She didn't have to listen to them. They weren't the boss of her. She could have stood up for herself for a change instead of doing what Miyami wanted. But she had fallen into the age old trap of obeying her cousin and now look at her.

She tensed; her senses suddenly aware that she wasn't alone, and she spun to berate whoever had dared disrupt her solitude. The words died on her tongue, the expression of anger melted from her face as she watched Brooklyn step out of the shadows wearing a another one of his infamous white shirts that only served the emphasize the paleness of his skin in contrast to his red hair. Her heart gave one resounding leap, then fell when she caught sight of the figures trailing after the Shark vice captain, mumbling and grumbling under their breath. Carlos, José and some others she recognized but whose names escaped her flanked her ex and she gulped. Oh this was not going to be pretty.

His eyes met hers across the verge and he smirked coolly. "I think we have some things to talk about, don't you?"

* * *

"Ugh, I still can't believe it." Amber snarled, not bothering to look at her companion and the bane of her entire existence as she marched down the path towards the gym. "You knew all this time and you still thought I was cheating on you. Asshole!"

Kai rolled his eyes but settled for saying nothing. Just because Arista had told him about her and Brooklyn didn't mean that Amber hadn't been sneaking around behind his back with another boy. That was cheating. She had deceived him and that in essence was cheating. And now she was grumbling under her breath about punching him if her knuckles didn't hurt. He didn't feel it was necessary to ask why there were angry red marks across her knuckles but the urge to do so angered him. Once upon a time he had been able to ignore anything and everything and here she was, marching into his life and igniting curiosity in him.

She folded her arms and hunched her shoulders. How could he even think it? She'd given him no reason to think it. He was the one who had distanced himself. And she still wanted to know why. God she really wanted to know what went on in his head. But this wasn't the time. Arista was the important person right at that moment.

"Why did she tell you?" Alright, so she wasn't exactly great at containing her curiosity but hey, she was a woman. She could walk and talk at the same time; it was a benefit of multitasking. For a while he didn't reply but she was well used to people taking time to reply. It took Bryan a minute to reply to anything, hence why the first couple of months that they had been friends, she'd done most of the talking, simply not realizing that he was formulating a concise but efficient reply. However as time began to drag on and since Kai wasn't even looking at her, she realized that he was just plain ignoring her. Git!

"You know, you used to be fun to talk to."

His eyes flashed and he glared at her. "And you used to be my girlfriend, things change."

"Yeah well, whose fault is that?!"

"You were the one who broke up with me and walked away."

"Yeah and when I came back you were with _her…_" She broke off on a frustrated growl. "Later, and I mean that Kai, we're sorting this out once and for all. I'm fed up with this shit."

"The definition of our relationship, Benson."

"My knuckles aren't that sore!" She threatened as he walked a little in front of her.

They entered the gym where loud music could be heard and for a brief moment, Amber longed to be in there with her friends rather than here with a frigid _ex_-boyfriend who hadn't even noticed the new shape of her eyebrows or the fact that she wore a skirt. Stupid boy! The first strains of a new song floated down the cold, uninviting hall and Amber sighed.

"I love that song."

"Get over it."

"Bite me!"

He gave her a cool look and she almost snarled. Not even a pithy reply? Bastard. He could at least pretend he'd once found her remotely interesting instead of studying her like a microbe. What the fuck was a microbe anyway? She'd heard Sonia say it once and it sounded fairly intelligent but damned if she could remember what it was. "What's a microbe?"

Kai sighed. He had thought he was through with these questions that came at him from out of the blue. Part and parcel of dating her had involved being asked random questions in the middle of even more random conversations. It was like she couldn't keep her mind on one thing at one time. And as per tradition, he ended up answering her. "A microscopic organism that transmits diseases."

She began to snicker and his ears burned. "Sorry, sorry, I thought you said orgasm."

He resisted the urge to sigh, to groan and to slap his forehead in exasperation while he peeked in the nearest doorway. Behind him, she sighed loudly, a heavy expulsion of breathe.

"God, Kai, where the hell is your sense of humor?"

"I left it with my heart." He bit out before opening a door and looking in.

Amber thought about the rather random answer before raising her gaze to the ceiling. Why did he have to be so goddamn confusing? "Oh for God's sake, Kai, I didn't even get to call you heartless yet. Stop anticipating me!"

"Stay here." He ordered as he stepped into the gym where the party was being held. Who knew she was so dense and she had the nerve to take the piss out of her friends for not having any 'cop on'. It was probably for the best that she didn't understand any of his cryptic comments. It would only give her more ammo to use against him. Not that she needed it. Just by being her was more than enough of a weapon to bring him to his knees. He should just split up and get as far away from her as possible.

And why the hell was she wearing a skirt? She hated skirts! He was beginning to hate them too. It was damn difficult to formulate a reply when she was strutting her stuff in front of him.

He scanned the room for Arista and cursed. Where could she be? God knows what Brooklyn would do if he came across her. Judging by what Amber was saying; Brooklyn was turning into a fucking psycho, not that that was a surprise. He always had lunatic tendencies. Fucked up out of his head was how Tala described it. Texting her, calling her and then hanging up, and filling her email box; pretty much tormenting her in order to break down her psyche. It was typical Brooklyn. The asshole thrived on playing with people's minds. It was sickening. And Arista had been dealing with this on her own? She had more courage than he had ever credited her with.

Not seeing her, he ducked back out of the hall before anyone could try to lure him inside. Oh he was well aware of Tala and Miyami's little idea of getting him and _her _back together but it wasn't going to be so easy. They had more than enough things to discuss, not the least, the fact that she had cheated on him! Whether it was emotional or not wasn't the point of the matter. She had sought out someone who wasn't him and it hurt that she would rather be with that blond haired twat than with him. He was the one who adored her. He put her before everything else. He was the one that was so wrapped up in her that he couldn't tell one end from the fucking other. But she went to Blondie, it pissed him off and then she had the nerve to wear a damn skirt.

He slammed the door shut and walked down the corridor, taking a quick look around when he didn't sense her nearby. Damn stupid little brat, where the fuck did she go? With a snarl, he headed down the corridor intent of ramming some sense into that damn stupid head of hers.

* * *

"Get off!" Arista growled, panic clenching her throat tight as Brooklyn pressed his length against her. Her back was pinned against the unforgiving wall and his breath smelt of something strongly alcoholic.

"What? Don't you like me anymore, Arista?"

His little band of idiots snickered and made catcalls as she desperately tried to push Brooklyn away but brute strength defeated her and the legs between hers prevented her from removing his right to have children. The scary thing was that she couldn't quite wrap her head around the fact that this was Brooklyn. The boy she had dated for so long. The boy who had been teased merciless by her for attracting male waiters. The boy who had kissed her to prove his sexuality only to confess to having wanted to kiss her before. The boy who made her heart leap and her blood boil just with an infuriating look. And now this boy was looming over her with a leery expression and her stomach churned as tears blurred her eyes.

"You got another boy toy now?" He hissed menacingly in her ear, tugging it none to gently with his teeth and her skin crawled. He pulled back to glare at her, eyes dark teal, hard and cold. "You can't get rid of me that easily, Belyaev."

She flinched at the tone and the very obvious threat then at the expressions of growing boredom on the faces of his teammates.

"Hey Adams, are we going to stand out here all night?" Carlos whined glancing at his watch. "The others are in the gym man, and if we don't get started soon, Balkov's going to know we're gone."

Arista's brows rose. So they didn't have a clue why Brooklyn had dragged them here. They didn't know that their infallible captain was here because he had been dumped. In fact looking more closely, she could see their nervousness at being in enemy territory and they held plastic bags holding what looked to be rolls of toilet paper and boxes of eggs. They were going to tepee the school? How pathetically sad. Or maybe they were going to steal the school mascot… Yeah because Preston really kept a Tiger on the grounds. They just had some moron (possibly the commentator) dress up in a tiger costume (That looked scarily like Tony the Tiger) and run around the football field like a headless chicken.

"What's wrong, Dicklyn? Don't they know the reason you're really here?" She drawled, drawing on all the fear and hurt and anger that had been lying dormant in her for weeks. He had put her in this position. He had been the one to pursue her and put her at odds with her friends. It was only right that he should suffer some of the consequences. He certainly didn't seem to feeling anything towards her at the moment. He was just upset he'd lost his ticket into the minds of his biggest rivals.

"Go!" He ordered, sliding a hand up to grip her tiny little neck. He'd like to snap that scrawny little neck, just one quick break and she'd be out of his life completely. He squeezed his fingers experimentally and felt her pulse hitch with a strange satisfaction. It would be so easy, and no one would ever know.

"What are you doing here Adams?" She asked, voice trembling only slightly with fear.

"We have some unfinished business, Belyaev."

"I don't think we do. I made it pretty clear. I don't want to see you, hear you or acknowledge your existence."

His fingers tightened a fraction more. "On who's orders?"

"I don't take orders. I'm not you. I don't say how high when someone says jump. I'm not a mindless idiot."

"Could have fooled me." He growled. "One minute everything was fine, next you're dumping me."

"Never been dumped before, have you Dicklyn? Well like they say, shit happens. It was fun while it lasted but I-" She broke off on a gasp as his fingers pressed at her windpipe and her vision danced with grey spots. Tears burned there and in the back of her throat an acrid taste was building. Was he going to kill her? Was she going to die? Keeping her eyes on the boy in front of her with the almost black eyes, she wished for her friends. She wished she hadn't been so mean to Miyami. She wished she hadn't said those things to Aspin. She didn't mean them. They were only trying to protect her from this… _thing_. If only she hadn't gone to Russia, she wouldn't have met him, she wouldn't have started that farce of a relationship and she certainly wouldn't have dragged Amber done with her. She closed her eyes and tried to steady her breathing but her heart pounded in her ears and the sound had her heart hitching the breath exploding from her lips. He was going to kill her. He was psychotic!

Something snapped and all hell broke loose!

* * *

_Ten minutes earlier_

Kai was going to kill her. He was going to damn well knock some sense into that pea brained head of hers. Who did she think she was running off on her own while Brooklyn was on the loose? Didn't she ever listen to a word he said? Obviously not. Amber never listened to anyone. Always had to find things out for herself and often at the expense of others. He had told her time and time again that Clonmel did things to people's heads. It messed them up. Look at him and Tala for crying out loud but she was so damn much in love with them that she couldn't see anything but the fucking sunshine and bloody daisies!

Brooklyn was the worst of them. He had a terrible temper that he tried to suppress with a cool as fuck attitude, enigmatic smiles and a certain arrogance that made him so damn irritating. Rumor had it that his parents had him on pills to keep a reign on his temper. But if Amber was right -if that blond haired freak of fucking nature was right- and Brooklyn was drinking, then that wasn't going to have good consequences. Drink and medication just didn't mix. It was a lethal concoction. Either he'd die -he wasn't exactly hoping for that outcome but life would be so much easier (only then Benson would feel the need to console that fucking prick) - or the drink would cancel out the effects of the medication. Either way it wasn't looking good for Arista or Benson if she found him first. His blood ran cold at the thought of it and he slammed another door open, sweeping the room with a frantic look.

She couldn't have gotten that far in front of him. Dammit! How was he supposed to look after her if she kept running away from him? Why did she never turn to him? Why couldn't she trust him? And like a prayer, he heard it.

"Sonchez, the boys are just down the corridor and they're going to kick your ass if they find you here. So take your boys and go!"

His heart soared, carried on a wave of relief that embarrassed him. He placed a hand on the wall and crept closer, hoping not to make a sound on the lino floor that was awash with the pale emergency lights. On the floor, he could make out his Imp's shadow merged with three others, one of which was probably Carlos's. It looked to engulf hers as he stood before her. He slid closer to the wall and wondered if he could take three Sharks. Maybe not physically, but then again, he had never used violence to make his team obey him, sheer intimidation had always worked before.

"Yeah but they're not here now and how are you going to warn them?"

"I don't have to. Any minute now Kai's going to come down here."

"Yeah right."

"Dude, why else do you think I'm not at my own party?"

"You saying Hiwatari's going to get some?"

"Some what?" Came the innocent reply.

"Seriously?"

"Well I wouldn't expect you guys to understand. You do share dorms after all, so you don't need to sneak around but me and Kai are different sexes, therefore, separate dorms." Her voice was a sardonic drawl but he could hear the pitch in tone that signaled the fact that she was nervous. Honestly, he didn't like the story she was spinning. It was too personal and too close to the truth in regards to a stage in their relationship. He didn't like the idea of the Sharks knowing anything about his relationship with his Ember. It was private and he didn't want to deal with the stupid looks, but she was making it up. He had to keep reminding himself of that. Making it up to stall for time in some hopes that he would reach her in time from getting her head bashed in.

"Uh, Kai, why're you hiding?"

He jumped the height of himself and glared at Miyami as she rocked back onto the flats of her feet -whispering into Kai's ear required her to gain a few inches- so that she stood casually beside Shahero. Expectantly they watched him and he frowned at them. This wasn't good.

"I'm not gay, bitch. Want me to prove it?"

"Stop squeezing your crotch, you'll burst it or something."

"Ha, no way has she seen a real one, Carlos. That's-"

Shahero's eyes went wide as she recognized the voices. Her eyes flared, electric blue as she stepped forward, intending to go kick some ass. Miyami was immediately on her tail only for Kai to grab the two of them and yank them around.

"Don't be stupid." He hissed. "Go get Tala and the others."

"But-"

"Tala and the others, now!"

The sharp command and the look of fear and urgency in his eyes had their protests quelling and the two girls nodded before hightailing it down the corridor towards the party.

"Get your hands off me, you bastard!"

"You know, I think you were making that up about Hiwatari."

"Go fuck yourself." Amber snarled into Carlos's face as he hovered over her, breathing foul air onto her. Her heart quaked and she was trembling viciously but she was damned if she would let him see it. Maybe she shouldn't have run off on Kai, god knows what he was doing. If he was talking to Mariam, she'd never ever forgive him.

Pudgy fingers dug into her skin and she whimpered in pain and he grinned lecherously. It wasn't even endearing like it was when Enrique did it. She squeezed her burning eyes shut when he leaned and turned her head away as his face lowered. She cringed and shuddered. She was frozen in place and her stomach churned nauseatingly. Were his friends just going to stand there and watch? Were they just going to let this happen?

She was suddenly yanked back into something warm and firm and… oh god, Kai. She turned into him and nuzzled her face against his chest, breathing in his scent and basking herself in it as if to cleanse herself while his arms banded around her.

"Don't ever think of touching her again, Carlos." Voice not quite steady, Kai held the shaking girl tightly in his arms, stroking her hair and glaring venomously at the burly enforcer for the Sharks.

"I was just showing her what being with a real man's like."

Amber's blood boiled at the casual way he spoke of what he had almost done to her. She turned her face so that she could look at him but didn't relinquish her grip on Kai. At that exact moment in time, he was her lifebuoy in a raging ocean, her teddy in the middle of a nightmare, the only thing she could hold onto to keep her safe.

"You're not a man, Carlos. I'm not sure what you are; possibly the missing link, but you're certainly not a man."

"Oh come on, you liked it. She was begging for it, Hiwatari."

Horror filled her as she listened to his cruel and hurtful lies. Did boys really say things like that? She heard it things said like that on TV and in films but… how could they say things like that? It wasn't true and it was wrong and appalling and so cruel.

Kai pushed her away like a hot coal and she opened her mouth in protest, a strangled cry escaping, but instead of turning and walking away, as she expected, he strode over to Carlos and instead of punching him, like she was sort of expecting, he… Her brows winged up her eyes widened. Ouch. Carlos wasn't going to be touching his crotch for a couple of days.

"Bastard." Carlos managed to hiss out as his team mates winced in reaction.

Kai's eyes met his, dead and cold. "If you ever touch her again, touch any girl like that again, I will cut it off, Sonchez. Look at me." Pain glazed eyes clashed with icy, emotionless brown and flinched. Neither heard the pounding footsteps!

"Kai!"

Kai didn't remove his gaze or his hand as Tala's voice cut through the silence in the hall. Barely his eyes flickered as he kept them on the quivering and whimpering boy in front of him. "He tried to force himself on her."

Tala's eyes whipped to Amber who was standing with her shoulders hunched, arms hugging herself tightly. Immediately Miyami was at her side, arms around her while Shahero had to be held back from leaping at Carlos' throat by Johnny, who seemed to be holding her more to hold himself back. His knuckles were white and digging into Shahero's arms hard enough to bruise but she didn't seem to notice.

"It wasn't like that." Amber muttered looking away when Kai stared at her with betrayed eyes. She couldn't say that Carlos tried to force himself on her that made it seem worse than it had been. It was her own fault. She shouldn't have wandered off on her own. If she let the boys believe that, then she would be no better than Carlos lying to Kai. It wouldn't be fair.

Kai let Carlos go with a snort of disgust. Why did she never trust him? Why did she never want him to help her? Why didn't she ever back him up?! He shoved the boy away and sneered when he fell over and began to whimper childishly.

"Where's Arista?" Miyami suddenly demanded looking around.

Kai froze and caught her eye. "Probably outside."

"Oh shit."

"What?" Johnny asked, keeping one arm around Shahero as he moved to place a hand on Miyami's shoulder. "What's wrong with Arista?"

"He wouldn't hurt her." Amber blurted out, ignoring yet another look from Kai, this one accompanied by a shake of his head.

"Who wouldn't hurt her?" Enrique wondered bewildered at the cold atmosphere that had suddenly dawned on them.

"You have no idea what he's capable of, Benson!"

"Who?" Kane demanded. What weren't they telling them? What were the girls and Kai keeping from them?

Amber flinched at the cold tone but instead of saying anything, she stepped over Carlos's body, kicking it cruelly as she headed towards the backdoor. Jerking open the metal bar that held the doors closed, she stepped outside and looked around for some sign of her friend.

"Arista?" Miyami pushed out the door and her head darted frantically as she searched for her cousin. "Arista, are you out here?"

A flash of blonde cut through the trees and Amber broke off at a run to meet it. "Where's Brooklyn?"

"I was just wondering that myself," Mystel admitted as he brushed himself off and nodded to the group of girls and Tigers standing just outside the gym. "I've tried… Amber what's that on your face?" He reached up to brush her cheek only to freeze, hand suspended in the air when he caught the burning gaze of the Tigers captain accompanied by the frigid look from the red haired friend. He would have been tempted to touch her face anyway, the red mark that was forming, but the way she shied away made him stop and made his chest ache.

"She's over here!" Miyami shouted as she stood at the corner of the building. Without waiting for the others, she raced over to where Brooklyn stood overshadowing her cousin with Shahero coming up beside her. She faltered and swallowed hard as the fact that Brooklyn had one hand pressed against her cousins' throat pierced through her panic struck mind. He was killing her.

"BROOKLYN!"

An inhuman howl pierced the night and Shahero leapt onto Brooklyn's back sinking her teeth savagely into his neck, hard enough to draw blood. Brooklyn yelled and reared back, releasing Arista to pry Shahero from him only for her to cling tighter. Miyami dropped to her knees beside her crumpled kin.

"Arista?" She tapped the pale cheek and shifted so that Arista's head was resting on her chest. "Arista? Come on Ris, wake up."

"Brooklyn!" Mystel charged forward and seized his friend -who had promptly dislodged Shahero from his back only for her to be scooped up by Johnny- by the shoulders and forced him to look him in the eye. "Brooklyn!"

"Gerroff me!"

"Brooklyn, look at me!"

"He's a fucking psycho." Ian muttered inching closer to Spencer and Enrique who was rubbing his arms as he stared in shock at Arista's pale face. Miyami was cradling her and sobbing softly while Arista buried her face in her cousins' shoulders and coughed violently.

"What's his problem with Arista?" The blond wondered, shooting a glare at the two sharks.

"Is she ok?"

Aspin was holding tightly onto a pale faced Kane, biting his shoulder to prevent herself from crying but if he minded having a wet splotch on his jacket, he made no comment about it. Tala rubbed Ruin's shoulders seeking comfort more for himself than for the pretty Goth.

"Arista, are you ok?"

"Of course she's not ok!" Miyami shouted, pulling Arista closer to her while Amber growled at her.

"I wanna make sure, Miyami!"

"Move!"

_Why is that the only thing he says to me anymore?_ Amber wondered, inching to the side to let Kai take a look at Arista. He pulled her gently away from Miyami and tilted her chin to look her in the eye. Her pupils were dilated but they were slowly beginning to respond to the light, her breathing was ragged and she was rubbing at her throat but other than that, she seemed ok.

"Belle…" The word was whisper soft as Brooklyn stared in absolute horror at the girl crying crystal tears in her cousins' arms. What had he done? He looked numbly down at his hands then back to the marks on her fair skin. "Belle…"

"Get the fuck away from her, you bastard!" Johnny shouted, striding forward only to be held back by Shahero and Aspin who feared he'd try to kill the red head and as much as they hated him, they weren't going to let Johnny get into any trouble. Miyami would kill them.

Instead it was Enrique and Ian who stepped in front of the red head, barring his view of the pretty girl. He made to push them out of the way but Mystel's hand was on his arm, gripping it tightly.

"Let's go man. I think we've outstayed our welcome."

"Funny, I didn't know you were welcome." Ian sneered, pulse bounding and chest heaving. It was incredibly unreal that this asshole, this wimpy fucking bastard, almost strangled Arista. She was his teammate and his friend and this asshole hurt her. He made her cry and he made the girls cry. He was scum.

He looked down at his hand and the one linked with it and found Amber standing beside him. She offered him a quirk of her lips but it didn't reach her troubled eyes which were large and thick with emotion. He squeezed her hand before glaring at the intruders. "Go away. We don't want you here."

Brooklyn glared briefly at the midget before looking at the girl beside him, the brave expression belied her inner fear and pain, fear and pain he'd caused. "IS she… is she ok?" He needed to know, he needed to know if his Belle… he couldn't even call her that. He'd hurt her, not just with words but with actions, really hurt her to the point that she could have… he could have… ended her life.

"She's fine. She'll be fine. She's one of us and we don't go down easy. Especially not to a Shark attack."

If the words hadn't been delivered in such a serious tone, if she hadn't been so damn venomous with her words he might have found some humor but… he couldn't find it in him to see the funny side. He couldn't see anything being funny again.

"For what's it worth… I'm sorry."

"It's not worth much!" Enrique scowled.

"What's going on here?"

Mystel looked up alarmed to see the tall blue haired man walking through the forest towards them with a younger man beside him. "Shit, Hiwatari, let's go."

Brooklyn took one last look at Arista, eyes meeting hers for a heartbeat before he turned and let himself be ushered away by Mystel just as Nicolai strode up to the group, eyes taking in the scene before he was kneeling beside his son.

"Arista, what happened?"

"Arista?" Hitoshi worried gaze jerked from Arista to Miyami's huddled form. "Miyami, what happened to Arista?"

Wet silvery eyes lifted to her cousin and a soft whimper burst from her lips before she threw herself into her cousin's comforting arms. "Hitoshi!" He held her tightly whispering soothing words as Nicolai gathered up Arista into his arms.

"Who did this to her?" He looked around the group and his gaze landed on Amber who was watching Arista before she shook her head. "Dunno, some sharks I guess."

There was a murmur of protest from the boys of the group but Nicolai was already taking the injured girl to the infirmary with Hitoshi following, holding his shell-shocked cousin tightly. Kai cursed quietly, voice heavy with disgust. He got to his feet and strode back into the building. Amber watched him leave and then cursed with deliberation.

"Oh for fucks sake!"

"Well what do you expect Benson, why didn't you tell-?"

"I couldn't, ok? It wasn't my place."

"Yeah well, it wasn't like Arista could speak, could she?" Ian snapped back, eyes flashing as he rounded on her.

"What's going on Amber?"

"I'm sorry, but I have my own problems to sort. This has nothing to do with you, it's between Arista and Brooklyn and I'm no longer getting involved." With that she turned only to be stopped by Tala's hand on her shoulder and he gazed down at her, searching her face.

"Do you really think you should?"

"What? Of course, I have to talk to him."

"Maybe you should just leave him alone for a while, Benz."

She frowned up at him. Why was Tala stopping her? Didn't he want her to be with Kai? Didn't he care that she was unhappy? Or maybe he knew that Kai didn't want her. Maybe he was trying to spare her pain but that wasn't the point. Even if it hurt, she needed to know that Kai didn't hate her. She just couldn't stand it if he did. She couldn't continue to live in this purgatory.

"I can't." She whispered, hoping he would understand the way he had all her life. With a sigh he nodded and let her pass, watching as she headed in the direction that the most complicated man in her life had gone nearly bowling over Ozuma, Sonia, Michael and Rei as they exited the building.

Tala looked back to his dejected teammates and wondered if he wished he was Kai at that moment, then thought against it. Kai was about to get attacked by a very pissed off and stubborn brat and Tala knew just how determined she could get when she was in that frame of mind. It was one of her admirable traits, once she set her mind on something she wouldn't give up on it. He just had to make sure she was serious about Kai before he let her go after his friend. He loved them both dearly but he wouldn't sit back and let his Benz -who could be quite naïve when it came to her own feelings- hurt Kai whose feelings were blatantly obvious to anyone who knew him. However, that was their problem. His problem was finding out what the hell Adams was doing with Arista. Funny, the cold pit of dread in his stomach was telling him that he wasn't going to like the answer.

* * *

Amber stormed up the stairwell of the boys dormitory ears pricked and intent on the carefully restrained stride of her prey as he stalked up to his dorm. She was going to give him a piece of her mind, she swore. Who did he think he was, treating her as he did? She had her reasons for not telling Nicolai about Carlos and Brooklyn. Very good reasons that had nothing to do with how she may or may not feel about Mystel. First of all, what good would it do? So the Sharks came onto their territory? Big deal. It wasn't as though their coach would do anything; he had given them the idea. And the Tigers would be the ones to suffer if Nicolai found out that they had gone to Clonmel.

Not to mention that it wouldn't help Arista in any way. She obviously still cared about Brooklyn and taking him down would only make her feel more sympathy for him. Amber knew how warped feelings could be. Kai was a big fucking asshole and she was still chasing after him. She was a damn idiot. But Brooklyn's face… he seemed positively shocked by his actions and so he should be but apart from the shock, she got the feeling that he was actually surprised. She couldn't be sure but what she did know was that Brooklyn was Arista's responsibility. If she wanted to report him, then that was her prerogative.

Amber, on the other hand, had her own problems. One of them being Kai and another being Carlos's obvious hatred for her. She didn't even know what she had done to the hairy git. So what if she had insulted him. She insulted everyone; it was nothing more than what any other player did to him. However, she supposed that out of the Octopuses, she was the least able to defend herself.

Not that that made her feel any better but Miyami and Shahero could both defend themselves. Ruin could easily reduce a man to tears with one look never mind what one hand could do. Sonia and Aspin weren't in the public eye when it came to hockey anymore. Russia could probably get into a scrap with Carlos and come out the stronger for it and Arista… well Arista was under Brooklyn's protection, because Carlos barely paid her a bit of attention. Which just left her being the bloody target for all of Carlos's assaults. She would just have to be careful from now on.

Amber turned down the corridor just as a door opened and a round of chuckles drew her attention as Miguel and Kirby stumbled out of a room with Daichi trailing. Their warm smiles slowly dimmed as they caught sight of her and both of the younger Benson's exchanged wary glances. Obviously, Kirby had been the one chosen to approach her as she detangled herself from Miguel with a quick kiss and stepped forward.

"Hey Ams-"

"Not now Kirby!"

Kirby seemed to pause before driving forward with a reassuring look from Daichi who still lingered back. "Why aren't you at your party?"

"I'm going to kick Kai's ass, so if you don't mind…"

"You're fighting with Kai again?" There was an undercurrent of disappointment to the girls tone.

"Yes."

"Can't you leave him alone? I mean you broke up with him, wouldn't it be smart for you to just give each other some space."

The tentative look and the concern from her baby cousin was sweet but…"Nope."

Kirby's brow furrowed and her eyes narrowed with temper flashing in those jewel toned eyes. "Fine. But if he ends up hating you, you'll have no one to blame but yourself Amber, I hope you realize that."

Amber paused at the bottom of the steps and looked back at her cousin with a sigh. There was no mistaking the concern that filled the teal haired girls face and Amber appreciated it, really she did but she had to talk to Kai. For some strange reason, he hated her and she couldn't let that continue. She couldn't bare the idea of him hating her. It made her chest ache.

Kirby stepped back with a shrug and Amber continued up the stairs, realizing with some disappointment that her temper had leaked away sometime during the conversation, however the slamming of a door upstairs had it roaring back! He was acting like a child. This was how they had ended up in this mess in the first place. Neither of them would talk and he constantly just walked off. Well no more. This time he was going to face her whether he liked it or not. And if he wouldn't listen, she'd force him to. He may be stubborn but she was the most annoying person on the planet. Ozuma had confirmed that detail just yesterday in Study Hall when she wouldn't stop kicking him and Ozuma's temper took a while to build up unlike Johnny who funnily enough, didn't seem to get annoyed with her. In fact he found her amusing. She figured he was just perverse; he had to be to date Mimi.

She strode up to the door and didn't bother knocking, slamming her hand down on the handle and pushing against it only to find it was locked. It was locked! The effing bastard locked it! She spluttered in indignation and stared stupidly at the door. There she was ready to storm into his room and have the mother of all confrontations with him and he locked the damn door! They never did that in the movies. NEVER!

What the fuck was she supposed to do now? She didn't have a key and Kai was hardly going to open the door for her. SHIT! She couldn't believe he had locked the damn door! That just wasn't on. He knew she wanted to talk to him and he went and locked the door and was probably lying on his bed planning on sleeping… a smirk played on her lips. Well, it just seemed that she would have to start being annoying a little earlier than planned. And using a skill she had picked up at the tender age of five when she wanted something her own way, she began to kick the door. Just a nice stub with her foot over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over-

And nothing. Absolutely fucking nothing. Didn't he even hear her? She frowned and felt another prickle of tears and the stinging sensation in her nose. She swallowed hard before closing her eyes and resting her brow against the door. He didn't want her and god how that hurt. Some part of her had hoped; had hoped so hard that she would be able to talk to him but… that idea had crashed and burned. Gone up in a fury of flames and smoke. Kai had moved on and she was left in his dust.

Running a hand through her hair, getting a jolt when she came to the abrupt end of it before she sucked in a cleansing breath. Ok, so Kai didn't want her. She could deal with that. She'd just take some time and eventually she'd be able to move on with her life.

On the other side of the door, Kai tentatively removed the earphones and watched the sliver of light reappear under the door as she moved off. However the pressure in his chest didn't ease but instead seemed to become a heavier burden. He ignored the pain that seemed to suffocate him and climbed into his bed, turning away from the door and closing his eyes, hoping the next day would somehow bring some ease to his heart.

* * *

She was woken abruptly by a hand on her mouth. Alarms sounded in her head and her first initial thought was that Carlos had broken back into the school and she was vulnerable in her bed. Her eyes flitted wildly over the dark figure braced over her and she began to claw for his hands. Fear had rendered her numb though. All she could hear was the beating off her heart and all she could think about was how she would cope with what was inevitably going to happen to her. How would she face her friends and family when they found out? How would she face Kai knowing that she had been the one to stop Carlos from getting hurt? How would she move on with her life and learn to trust again? But the biggest fear was that she was going to lose her virginity and it was going to be forced and painful and she was never going to get over it. Not without a lot of therapy. Tears pricked her eyes and leaked down the side of her face into her hair.

"You said we needed to talk."

Her eyes widened and she ripped the hand from her mouth, suddenly furious and finding energy with it. She reared up ready to hit him for putting the fear of god in her only for him to capture both hands that went for his face.

"What the hell?" He hissed, pushing her back down onto the bed and leaning over her to keep her firmly pinned.

"You bastard." She snarled viciously, bucking violently against him in an attempt to dislodge him. "I thought you were Carlos!"

He froze but kept his grip firm as he stared down at her trying to see her face in the dark. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you. I-"

"What are you doing here?" She grumbled groggily, shifting and scowling when he didn't release his grip. She blinked her tired eyes and tried to focus on him. The curtains were still drawn around her bed -she'd wanted privacy when she'd come back to her dorm- so she had no idea if their conversation had woken anyone else but judging by the stillness, she doubted it. Her eyes flicked to the bedside clock and the luminous numerals told her it was 3:20. "Jeez, Kai shouldn't you be in bed?"

"Couldn't sleep." He muttered shortly.

She nodded but inside she didn't understand why he was there. Not that it wasn't nice to have him leaning over her, having his body heat radiate onto her but still, he'd made it pretty clear he wanted nothing to with her. So why was he here now?

"You said you wanted to talk." He repeated.

She blinked stupidly at him. "You locked the door."

"I didn't want to be around you."

She absorbed that hurtful piece of information before averting her eyes, unable to look directly at him, even though she couldn't see his eyes in the darkness, she could feel them and the intensity that just seeped from him.

"Were you crying?"

Huh? What did the tears still show? "When?"

"Tonight. Miyami said you cried yourself to sleep."

She what? Oh hello, this is why having to share a dorm was a pain in the ass. Everyone eventually found out your business. "So what, she came to you and woke you up to tell you I cried myself to sleep? News flash, Kai, that was a couple of hours ago."

"I couldn't sleep."

"Yeah well I got to sleep and now you woke me up and I have no more tears to cry myself back to sleep. So thanks, thanks bunches."

"You're angry with me?"

"Well you were the one that woke me, not the other way round."

"Fine." He dropped his grip on her hands and eased off the bed and his hand was on the curtain when she scrambled out of the bed and placed a hand on his arm. He turned round to glare at her and found himself facing his ex-girlfriend who looked incredibly adorable at that moment. Her ochre eyes were large and sleepy, her cheeks lightly flushed and her short hair -god what had she done to her hair? It was so short, just grazing her jaw. She looked like an exotic imp and right now, his exotic imp was nothing short of exhausted and something inside him broke at the sight of her shivering in her light pajama's. He wanted to hold her and stroke away the fatigued that seemed to plague her.

"So that's it? You just came to see if I was crying over you and now you're going to go?" She demanded in a furious whisper. It wasn't fair. Why was he so cool when he had her all churned up inside. She couldn't think straight around him. She couldn't sleep because when she did, she dreamed about him.

"Go back to bed." He growled.

Her face crumpled before she struggled to fix her composure back into place. She raised her damp eyes to him. "Do you hate me that much?"

He didn't bother to dignify that with an answer. It was absurd and not worthy of any response. He didn't hate her, far from it in fact and that was the damn problem. He was pretty sure he was half way to being in love with her. And that was what made it all the harder to get over her.

"Tell me how to fix this." She whispered brokenly. "I can't stand the idea that you hate me." She couldn't stand the idea of anyone hating her, but especially Kai. The thought was unbearably painful. Sometimes she felt that the world could go to hell as long as he just tolerated her.

"You can't fix it." He answered tersely, turning away from her but she easily maneuvered herself in front of him and she placed a hand on his chest, noting for the first time that he was just wearing a pair of boxers and a plain t-shirt.

"There must be something. You wouldn't be here tonight if there wasn't, Kai. Why did you come?"

"I told you. Miyami said you-"

"Hours ago Kai. Did you still think I would be crying? I don't think so." She inhaled deeply before squaring her shoulders and fixed him with a steady look. "Even if that was the case, why would you have woken me up?"

"I don't know." He murmured, "But I really wish I hadn't."

"I don't understand you. For weeks you've acted like I'm the scum of the earth for something I didn't do."

"Didn't do anything?" He growled. "What about-"

"I did NOT cheat on you!" She exploded furiously. "Why would I? I was perfectly happy with you. You were the one who changed things. You were the one ignoring me."

"So you turned to Mystel?"

"No! If I was cheating on you with Mystel, then I was also cheating on you with Tala and Enrique and every other guy. I don't…" She trailed off, frustration making her tongue tie in knots. "I didn't cheat on you. The thought never crossed my mind. I befriended Mystel simply because it was handy when I was out with Arista. Playing third wheel isn't fun."

"Arista wasn't with you that day." He accused hotly, furious with her for trying to weasel her way out of this.

"God, I wanted to hang out with someone who wasn't your fucking fan! Everyone was on your side, telling me that it was just a phase and give it a few days and Kai'll be back to normal. But the truth was you were pulling away from me. You're just angry you didn't get to end it! I should be angry. You didn't trust me. You spied on me and you listened to Mariam of all people -who by the way, has been nothing but nice to me recently, can't figure why that would be- and I got dumped from the team. I'm the one who's forced to eat at certain times. Not you! Everyone rallied around you and turned against me. My team Kai! But now they're yours. Everything's yours so why the fuck are you still playing with me? You got what you wanted. I'm off your team. I lost the respect of my teammates, you won. Your revenge has been served."

His blood chilled. She thought this was just revenge. His face blackened with fury. "Not everything is about you."

"No obviously it's about you." She muttered bitterly, turning back to her bed and sitting down on it, pulling her knees up so she could rest her chin on her cool limbs.

"Do you really think that it was about revenge? Do you really think that I'm the type of person who would play with someone's emotions? You really think I hated you?"

"I don't know what to think." She admitted softly. "Everything so fucked up." She rubbed her eyes tiredly and looked up at him. "Sit down."

"We should talk this out later. It's late." He felt exhausted, emotionally and mentally and he was certain she wasn't much better.

"We'll just keep putting it off." She shifted to pull her blanket up over her body. "I never cheated on you. I never wanted to."

He sighed and sat down on the bed by her feet. "I didn't date you for revenge. You know I didn't." When she nodded silently, he tried to push back the pain that was rising steadily inside him. "You almost got hurt tonight."

"I know."

"You can't just trust people blindly, don't you understand that?"

"I do. And I know that I'm going to have face that tomorrow, so could you please not lecture me? I know I've let everyone down. Believe me; everyone has let me know that. Everyone is sympathetic to Arista but they're blaming me for something I had no control over. I couldn't tell her not to meet him, me dictating to her would force her towards him. So I thought if I tagged along, I could just monitor-"

"Why didn't you come to me?"

"Because I wanted to handle something myself. I'm fed up being sheltered all the time, always having to run to Tala or Bryan or you. Why should I have to tell people everything? Shouldn't I get to act like a grownup for a change? I don't need protecting all the time."

"I don't ask you to tell me so that I can show my manhood." He bit out.

"Good, because I don't want you flashing the school." At his dark look, she flinched and huddled further into her covers.

"I just wanted you to trust me."

"I do to an extent." She murmured. "It's difficult. How could I tell you that Arista was seeing Brooklyn? How would you have reacted Kai, I mean seriously? She was happy with him and I think he was happy with her."

"Brooklyn is not stable."

She heard the darkness in his words, his matter-of-fact tone. "See, you just don't like him. Nothing will sway you from that."

"You never liked the Sharks either, what changed."

"No I didn't like the Sharks but I also didn't like _you_ either, I didn't _want_ to like you. And I was right too. You-" She broke off on a frustrated sound of anger, her eyes blazing as they met his only for them to shift subtly at the look in his eyes. "You messed everything up! You destroyed everything. I was happy. I had friends and my team and then suddenly you're strolling in making me feel things I didn't want or need to feel."

"I didn't make you feel anything."

"Yeah you did. Just by being you. Even when you were being arrogant and a pain in the ass and smarmy-"

"You were the pain in the ass. I couldn't even breathe the same air as you without you picking a fight with me."

"You were the one who sat beside me in study hall!"

He gaped at her, gob smacked for a moment before he managed to splutter out an answer. "What has that got to do with anything?"

"Do you know how hard it is to ignore someone when they're sitting right beside you? It's alright for you. You easily ignore people. For me… It wasn't easy-" She groaned with frustration and raked a hand through her hair. "Why is so difficult to talk to you? It never usually was."

"Maybe because you're trying to keep something from me?"

She smiled wryly. She'd forgotten how intuitive he was. It didn't matter how complex she figured she was or how difficult she was told she was; he saw through her easily. It was unnerving but it had sometimes made the relationship easy. It meant she didn't have to explain herself too much. "Clever boy." She murmured with a slight smirk. "But why do I have to lay myself bare when you're not going to. You always keep things too yourself."

"So do you. If you were as open as you claim to be, then you wouldn't have kept Arista and Brooklyn to yourself and you wouldn't be off the team for not eating."

"I kept Arista's secret because she asked me too and I just don't need to eat as much as you all do. I'm trying to eat more but I get distracted."

In other words, he realized with a sinking feeling, she got wrapped up in everyone else's problems and forgot about herself. He had called her on it before and he had thought she was getting over it but alas, seemingly not.

"And what about you?" She continued. "At least I never hid my feelings; you on the other hand were so hard to read."

"I don't see how I was." He muttered tightly but his voice was little more than a growl as he glared at her, trying to ignore the way her pj top was sliding down her shoulder revealing the soft golden slope.

"Of course you were. You're always so secretive about your emotions. If you weren't, you wouldn't have distanced yourself after Valentines night. What did I do Kai? I don't understand why you suddenly didn't want to be around me anymore. If I was annoying you, you could have told me or simply broke up. At least I wouldn't- You just could have told me." She told him firmly.

"It wasn't you."

"Then what was it?"

He sighed and settled further back on the bed, his back against the wall. This seemed to be the strangest of conversations to be having at 4 o'clock in the morning in the middle of the girls' dorm. He hoped the others weren't listening because it was embarrassing enough to be explaining himself to the one person who needed it. She had told him her side of the story, maybe it was time to tell her his and yet… He didn't like telling her. It made him seem cowardly, so afraid of his feelings for her that he had pushed her away with the idea that he would be able to scoot back from the edge. The simple fact was that he still had those strong feelings for her and they weren't calming in the slightest.

"We're not good together. I thought by giving us some space that we'd be able to fix it but…"

"So you were going to break up with me."

"For gods' sake Ember," He hissed quietly. "High school relationships aren't meant to last. You know that. We were moving too fast and I needed to cool things off."

"Breaking up would have been easier." She whispered, drawing further into herself. A wisp of hair fell into her face and she brushed it aside, casually dispersing the single tear that had breached her carefully erected barriers.

"Probably."

"Right. Well it's late, you should go to bed."

He moved to get off the bed and he had just reached the curtains when he turned back. "Would you have accepted that?"

She looked up at him with dull golden eyes. "What do you want? What do you want me to say Kai? That I can't live without you? Well I'm sorry; I have been for the past three weeks!"

"What I want from you is a straight answer without any sarcastic bitchiness."

Her face became livid, eyes flashing and tone darkening. "Fine, you hurt me. You hurt me more than Tala, more than my father. Now get out."

He froze, startled by her admission and he opened his mouth to say something back only for her to sit up in her bed, expression furious.

"I told you to get out! Get out Kai! GET OUT!" She was trembling now; great big heaving gasps were wracking her tiny frame made slighter by the short crop of hair. "It's your fault! You're the one who screwed it up! You didn't trust me. You spied on me and trusted her over me and you're upset? Because of you I lost my best friend!"

"As if!" He scoffed. "Tala still chases around after you so-"

"Not Tala, you jerk! You!"

"We weren't friends." He denied vehemently before his expression darkened, eyes sparking with uncontrollable fury fuelled by pain. "That was always your problem. I was your boyfriend."

She frowned thrown off by his words. Aspin always said that Kane was her best friend, and despite feeling so strongly for Kai, she considered him one of the people she could turn to. She told him things she wouldn't even tell Tala. She felt comfortable telling him what was bothering him and she trusted him to listen to her. "What's the difference?"

He snorted. "And that's the crux of the matter. You could never tell the difference. I'm not someone you can just pick up or take down from the shelf whenever you need a shoulder to cry on. I needed you to want me, to turn to me before everyone else. But you always put your friends before us. That's not what a relationship is about. I can't be with someone who puts her friends before me. I won't play second fiddle. That's not how I was brought up."

"That's not true." She murmured, raising her eyes to meet his, searching his face in the intimate darkness created by the curtain that separated them from the rest of the room. "I never put them before you but I'm not going to abandon my friends to moon over you Kai, if that's the kind of girlfriend you want you'd have been better sticking with Mariam."

"That's not what I'm saying." He hissed furiously. Why couldn't she understand him? Why was she putting words in his mouth?

"No you're saying I cheated on you-"

"No, that was you. I never accused you off that. What pissed me off is that you chose even _him; _a shark, over me. You never choose me. It's always someone else that you turn to. I need you to need me. But you will always turn to someone else. It's not even your fault, it's just the way you are." He sighed resigned and sat down. He couldn't change her. He didn't want to. He had been attracted to her as she was, there never had been false pretences between them but he had hoped that she would eventually learn to go to him first before everyone else. "I needed you to care about me."

She gazed at him, eyes softening but unable to understand him. "Of course I care about you."

"Not enough." He spoke softly, his heart aching. "You were everything to me."

Her throat constricted with emotion so strong it suffocated her. "If I meant so much, then why did you push me away?"

He hung his head. The words got stuck in his throat but he forced them out, she needed to hear them. "You meant too much. I-" Love you? What was the point? "You care about your friends, they come first for you. Hockey needs to come first for me."

"You're wrong. They don't come first. You're all equal to me."

"That's not enough."

"Enough for what?"

"I need to play hockey."

"I know that. You're gonna play pro, for your country."

There was such pride in her words; it hurt him more than the thought of her being with Mystel. "Yeah which is why I can't- I can't be with you. That's why I-"

Comprehension dawned and with it a sort of calmness that scared her. How could she feel so calm when her heart was breaking? "You pushed me away because you want to play hockey? That doesn't make sense. How would being with me stop you? I wouldn't stop you playing hockey. I know how much it means to you. I know you want to play pro. I wouldn't stop you."

"You're going to college Ember, I'm not."

"So we'd-"

"We'd what? Have a long distance relationship? You know neither of us would be satisfied with that. It'd be easier to just break up."

"That wasn't your decision to make." She whispered brokenly.

"I had to do it. If I didn't do it then we would have just continued as we were."

"What was wrong with how we were?" She needed to know. She needed to understand why everything had fallen apart.

"If we had gone on as we were I wouldn't have left you, dammit Amber I was falling in love with you!"

She stared wide eyed at him and his heart broke further. It was lucky he had been able to step back from the void; otherwise god knows how he'd feel right now. He didn't want to tell her but she needed to know. It wasn't fair on her; it wasn't fair on both of them. But maybe with the air cleared between them, they'd be able to move on and forge some kind of relationship.

"Playing pro is my dream. It's what I've always wanted to do. I've only ever wanted to play hockey and yet, when I'm with you, I forget that need. You could-" He broke off; frustration had the words drying up in his mouth. "If we stayed together, we'd only end up resenting each other. I need to play and you need to be with someone who'll centre their world around you."

"I don't want someone to centre their world around me. I have enough things without someone fawning over me. I don't need to be adored, quite frankly, it annoys me."

His lips tilted at the annoyance in her voice. He missed that tone. That animated lilt that came when she became passionate about something. It was one of the reasons he happened to like hearing her rant and rave. Recently he hadn't been hearing her talk this way.

"Besides, it's not like I'd stop you from playing. I'm not Mariam. I know how much you need to play."

"You'd let me go, in the end?"

"OF course." She stated stubbornly. Of course she'd let him go. She understood the need to play. However, under his steady bemused gaze she began to shift.

"Fine, maybe you would."

She nodded but a niggle of doubt began to worm its way through. She hadn't let him go this past couple of weeks. Then again, if he was pursuing his dream and if he wasn't around her constantly passing her in the halls…

"I dunno. I can't say for sure. So," She began slowly, her voice soft to disguise the pain. "What happens now?"

"I think it would be best if we stayed away from each other for a while."

She couldn't breathe, couldn't douse the burning ball in her lungs. "So that's it? We pretend we don't exist?"

"It's easier that way."

"And do we date other people?"

"If you want." He answered quietly, unable to look at her while she was staring at him with hurt filled eyes. God, he loved her eyes. He loved her voice, her mouth. He was fascinated with her mouth but at that moment it was pressed in a thin line.

"I don't want. I understand what you're saying… actually no, I don't. But if that's what you want, then- I want you to be happy, so you should play hockey. But-" She gulped and concentrated on her breathing as though that could take the sting away. "I don't want to lose you from my life. I don't want to pass you in the hall and have you ignore me. I'm not saying we'll go back to how we were before, but I don't want you to hate me."

He almost laughed at that. "I can't hate you."

"But you can't be friends with me."

"I don't think so."

She looked away from him and tightened her grip on her knees, rubbing her cheek along her knees for some comfort. "Ok."

"It doesn't mean that we can't be around each other, when the others are there. There's no need for you to sit away from the rest of the team."

"Chaperones?" That at least managed to tickle her humor but she couldn't feel properly. She wasn't sure what she should be feeling. Should she be angry? Hurt? Betrayed? Relieved? "I don't think the team would be too hap-" To her horror her voice broke and her eyes burned hotly. She pressed a hand to her mouth and tried to get herself under control but she couldn't. She just wanted to cry.

Arms came around her, warm and comforting and she buried her face into the embrace. "It hurts." She uttered softly, breathing in the scent of him. She wrapped her arms tightly around him and clung to him, biting back the tears that threatened to fall.

"I know. It's for the best."

"Doesn't make it hurt less. Crappy break up Kai."

"Third one's a charm."

She snorted bitterly before pressing a kiss to his neck. He smelled like soap and sandalwood. He sighed and slumped against her, turning his face into her hair.

"Maybe in a few weeks we could hang out." She suggested tentatively, relieved when he nodded against her.

"Perhaps."

"And then there's summer, I mean we live next door Kai. We can't ignore each other."

"I don't want to ignore you. We can be friends; it would hurt too much right now, but after a while. I just can't-"

"Fall in love with me?"

"Yeah." He choked out.

"But I can still talk to you, right? Cause I really need to be able to talk to you."

He pulled back to see her face, brushing a few strands from her wet cheeks. "You can talk to me whenever you need to."

"Good. You should go; Maye tends to patrol around her soon."

"Yeah. I'll see you in the morning." He whispered, pulling away and rising to his feet. He wasn't sure his limbs would carry him. Everything ached and he felt unbearably tired. All he wanted was to climb into his bed and pull the covers over his head.

"Kai?"

"Hmm?"

"Can I have one more hug?" She rose onto her knees and the look in her eyes refused to be denied. With an expulsion of breath, his arms banded tightly around her, clinging to her as though she were a life line and her arms locked around his neck, her face pressed against the warm skin of his neck. He pulled her closer and scented her, feeling strangely calmed by her presence.

Slowly they parted. His hands cupped her face, cradling it as though it were fragile. "Can I have a kiss?"

The memory flashed back vividly of that day in her kitchen after his talk with his grandfather and she chuckled softly before nodding and tilting her head up in invitation. His mouth pressed softly against hers and she melted against him. Their lips mashed gently together, parting and changing angles as tongues twined together to arouse and soothe. Fingers glided through hair and sought secret places.

He groaned softly, threading his fingers through her shorn hair before using it to draw her back from him. Panting softly, he rested his brow against hers with a soft smile. She still tasted the same. Still melted in his arms and the desire pumping through him was as addictive as ever. With reluctance, he pulled away with a sigh.

"I'll see you around." He didn't even look at as he spoke. The burning sensation clogging up his lungs was threatening to overwhelm him.

She nodded; eyes still dark and luminous, brimming with unshed tears. She watched him leave through the curtains before sitting back down on the bed. The tears fell readily now as she lifted Joe into her arms, holding him as she cried out all her heartbreak.

The curtains shifted and she looked up, hope brimming only for it to be doused quickly as Miyami stepped in with a sympathetic look.

"Was that Kai?"

Amber nodded, unable to trust her voice.

"What happened?"

Rubbing a hand over her mouth, Amber struggled to find the right words as Miyami slipped into the bed beside her and wrapped an arm around her. "We, ah, decided to just cool off that aspect of our relationship."

"Oh Amber."

"It's not as bad as it sounds," She continued meekly, trying to be vaguely optimistic while her shattered heart bled. "I mean, at least this way we can try to be friends. He's going to play hockey and I'm going to college. We'd have had to break up anyway."

"Yeah. I guess. Doesn't stop it from hurting though."

"Hmm. Sucky thing is that… I um..."

"What?"

"I think I might love him."

"Might?"

Amber chuckled weakly at her friends bemused tone. "Ok, do, then. Anyway," She began brushing away the tears that were drying on her face. "How's Arista?"

"She's sleeping in the infirmary. She'll have some bruising, her voice is gone due to some vocal chord damage but she'll be ok or so the doctor says. Shahero's staying with her."

"Why aren't you?"

Miyami sighed and squeezed Joe's ear. "I don't think Arista would want me around at the moment and I just wanted to check on you. I'll go down later again. I wanted to get some of her stuff, teddies, I-pod. Creature comforts, really."

"She'll appreciate that."

"I hope so."

"Fuck, Mimi, when did everything become so complicated?"

"Around the moment Tala Valkov walked into our changing rooms." Miyami answered glibly.

Amber thought about that for a moment, before nodding satisfied, her eyes beginning to close as she settled down in her bed. She yawned cutely and held Joe closer, even as a tingle of excitement began to bubble at the thought of being able to talk with Kai the next day. Oh yeah, she was definitely in love with Kai. "Yeah," She murmured as Miyami stroked her hair. "I'll blame Tala, too."

* * *

**And there we go. The next chapter of SLTS. I think all the emotional drama between Amber and Kai can cool off now so I should be able to start writing more again. It took me four months to write this because I knew what I wanted, it was just too hard to get out. However, I'll try to be prompt with the next chapter. **

Anyways reviews are appreciated very much so and check out: wreklace . bebo . com for those octopussy pictures. Or my page zadien20 . bebo . com

ZD


	30. I Hate Myself For Losing You

**Disclaimer:**_** I don't own Beyblade. I do however own Amber Benson and Ruin Mulryan, Clover, Kennedie, Nicolai- you get my drift. The other Octopussies belong to Porcelain Blue, Coors, Arcada, Fayeth, Sae and Zimo and Kirby belongs to Kindred Insanity. I also don't own Naruto. **_

**Dedication:** _Happy Birthday Sarah!! This is for you for helping me with this so much, and staying up until four giving me really useful ideas. I'll look forward to hearing what you think about this. Oh and this isn't edited yet. I'll get that done soon._

* * *

_**Previously on SLTS**_

_-_

"_Look, I wasn't involved ok? I just heard it from Mariah who heard it from Salima who Mariam told once. No one else knows, I don't think Bryan told anyone and it wasn't a big deal. It was just a fling that lasted maybe a day or so last year. Kind of like a one-night stand without the sex."_

_-_

"_I'm fed up with them fighting. We use to have so much fun and play stupid pranks and now everything's crumbling."_

_-_

_Kane's eyes narrowed. "My problem is you drawing everyone into your pathetic little situations. You wanna break up with Kai, go ahead. You wanna quit the team, fine! But don't make Aspin fight your battles."_

_-_

"_Never been dumped before, have you Dicklyn? Well like they say, shit happens. It was fun while it lasted but I-" She broke off on a gasp as his fingers pressed at her windpipe and her vision danced with grey spots. Tears burned there and in the back of her throat an acrid taste was building. Was he going to kill her? Was she going to die?_

_-_

"_You're not a man, Carlos. I'm not sure what you are; possibly the missing link, but you're certainly not a man."_

"_Oh come on, you liked it. She was begging for it, Hiwatari."_

_Kai's eyes met his, dead and cold. "If you ever touch her again, touch any girl like that again, I will cut it off, Sonchez. Look at me." Pain glazed eyes clashed with icy, emotionless brown and flinched._

-

"_If we had gone on as we were I wouldn't have left you, dammit Amber, I was falling in love with you! ..._ _Playing pro is my dream. It's what I've always wanted to do. I've only ever wanted to play hockey and yet, when I'm with you, I forget that need. You could-" He broke off; frustration had the words drying up in his mouth. "If we stayed together, we'd only end up resenting each other. I need to play and you need to be with someone who'll centre their world round you."_

* * *

Hate Myself For Losing You

Kirby Preston-Lee was on a mission: a mission to seek out her cousin. It should have been easy since both of them were confined to the Academy but as she was looking for Amber, it was proving to be a little difficult. Since, the previous weekend, Amber had been hanging around with Arista more than the rest of the team. So Kirby could no longer count on spotting a Tiger to find out where her cousin was and every time she asked Ozuma if he saw her, she got a very cool answer.

Shrugging off a sudden chill, she tugged the sleeves of her navy cardigan down over her hands, tucking them into her fists. She should have pulled on her jeans but she hadn't packed spare clothes for after practice so she was stuck wearing her school uniform. It was strange though since the heating should have been on in the dormitories by now but the air was chilly and it stung her lungs every time she inhaled.

She approached her dorm and dug out her key, checking the handle out of habit in case one of her roommates was already inside. When the door didn't open, she slotted the key into the keyhole and pushed the door open with her hip. Sweeping the gloomy room with her gaze, she felt for the light switch, blinking when she found it and flooded the room with bright fluorescent light.

The room didn't look as though anyone had been in it all day, the beds were still made and books sat harmlessly on the study tables, while clothes were on hangers draping off the wardrobe. Slinging her bag onto her bed and slipping off her school shoes to replace them with her sneakers, she ducked back out the door pausing to lock it. As soon as the lock clicked into place, her phone beeped and vibrated next to her stomach.

Extracting it from her jacket pocket, she accessed the message and read the contents. Miguel wondering where she was, she mused, tapping a quick reply to tell him she'd be down shortly. So far her relationship with Miguel was going well, which surprised her. She sort of figured that they'd have fizzled out and while the thought of losing his friendship scared her, the fact that they were still going strong scared her more. She wasn't sure if she was ready for such a serious relationship. Looking at the other girls around the school, she could only see heartache but then again, she had been friends with Miguel a very long time even if a bit of it was disguised under a healthy competitive streak. She'd just take each day at a time and see what happened.

The phone rang and she shook her head as she answered. "I'll be down in a second Miguel."

"_Where are you? You're late for Study Hall, Kirbs._"

Kirby sucked in a sharp breath. "I forgot. Tell whoever's in charge that I'll be down in a little bit. I need to talk to Amber first, ok?"

"_Is everything ok, you sound a bit worried?_"

"I just need to talk to Amber. I'll see you in a wee bit, and I'll tell you then. Ok?"

"_Sure_." The phone went dead and she smiled giddily. Catching herself, she quickly wiped the smile from her face in horror. She was turning into a girly female, how weird. She didn't go mushy because of a guy, well not too mushy but if she had to go mushy over a guy, Miguel was probably the best bet. He was pretty damn gorgeous and then he had that body and that smile and those eyes… She sighed and then grimaced. She really needed to get a hold on herself.

Stomping across the hall, she knocked sharply on the door, opening it without bothering to wait for someone to answer it. She was already late, no need to make herself later. As she entered, she realized that she had made the right choice as her cousin was standing on her bed with her attention focused on the roof just beside one of the lights.

Curious, Kirby stepped over to her and looked up at the ceiling, or more specifically at the smoke alarm Amber was fiddling with unsuccessfully.

"Something wrong?"

"Battery is dead and I'm fed up listening to the stupid beeping so I'm changing it."

"Why not ask one of the caretakers?"

"Because they take too long." Amber grunted, scowling as she dug her fingertips under the lid and pulled. "Dammit, open!"

Leaning against the chest of drawers, Kirby sighed. "What about asking one of the boys?"

"No, I can do this on my own. I don't need a boy."

"O-k then. Well, um, I think it opens on the-" She broke off as the lid came off and Amber studied it with consternation.

"I think I broke it."

"I think you did."

"Shit." Scowling, she reached into her pocket and pulled out the new battery, studying it before attempting to hook it up. "I dunno why we need a battery powered smoke alarm when we have a perfectly good one hooked up to the school."

"In case of a power failure."

"Uh, generator? This is just pointless."

"Then why are you putting in a new battery. Just forget about it." Kirby replied, checking her watch for the second time. She really needed to get a move on but she had no idea how to bring up the next topic of conversation.

"I'd feel paranoid if I didn't put it in."

Kirby snickered at her cousin's defensive tone as she struggled to put the lid back on. "Better make sure that's on properly so that it doesn't fall on someone's head."

The alarm beeped twice under the pressure of Amber's fingertip as she replied: "Meh, my bed's back there so if it does fall, it's not going to hurt me in the slightest."

Kirby watched as her cousin leapt off the bed, apparently satisfied as she dusted off her hands and turned to her. "So what brings you to my dorm?"

"Can we walk as we talk? I'm late for study hall."

"Sure, I'm a female, I can multitask." Grabbing her jacket, she pulled it on over her black tanktop and olive cargo pants. She ushered Kirby out before switching off the light and pulling the door closed behind her.

Kirby waited until Amber fell into step beside her and flicked a glance at her. How did she go about asking if her cousin was pregnant? The thing was she wasn't sure she wanted to know because if Amber was, then that meant she had sex and that was just a weird thing to know. And if so, then she'd want to know how it was even if she didn't ask, she'd still want to know. Every time she looked at her cousin, the questions would be there. When? Where? What was it like? And if Amber was pregnant, well then there were the questions like: did she want it? Would she keep it? How would she cope? Oh god, Treasa was having one and James and Amber… that would be one really screwed up family.

"Your hair looks good short." She finally blurted out, earning a bemused look from her cousin.

"A week late but thank you."

"It kind of makes you mature." At Amber's pointed look, she sighed. "Look, um, Amber, I don't know how to say this so I figure I should- Are you pregnant? Because I was in the changing room and I overheard Kennedie saying that you might be pregnant and while normally I wouldn't take her word for anything, this time I kind of have evidence and-"

"BREATHE!" Amber snapped, shaking her head incredulously. "Seriously, Kirbs you have to breathe. Now what is this about me being pregnant?"

Kirby sucked in a breath before letting it out slowly. "Well, you've been complaining about stomach pains and going to the toilet every hour on the hour and I saw you chasing after Kai last weekend and he shut the door on you and-"

"And you added two and two and made seventeen."

"Seven but yeah."

"Seventeen, sweetheart. You're that far out. I mean, I have two parents who are having babies, do you think that I wouldn't know how to use contraception? Pfft, besides, I'd need to lose my virginity first which I haven't. Though I could have but that's not the point." She snickered when Kirby made a face.

"But what about the evidence?"

"I have a kidney infection, hence the constant trips to the toilet and the sore stomach and Kai shut the door on me because we fell out and then we talked and he broke up with me."

"The girls are treating you like you're made of glass."

"Oh, I freaked out on the shopping trip, I think they're expecting me to do it again now that Kai and I are 'officially' over."

"Why did he close the door in your face?"

"Like I said, I pissed him off. He came over to talk to me later and we sorted some things out."

"Is that why you're avoiding each other?"

"Like the plague? Yes." With a soft laugh, Amber covered her face before peeking at her little cousin from under her lashes. "Wanna know the official reason we're never going to be together?" When Kirby nodded slowly, she continued. "Because he wants to concentrate on his hockey and I, supposedly, distract him."

"Wow… you should really stop walking out onto the ice in a polkadot clown suit." Kirby told her flatly.

"Pfft, I gave the clown suit up ages ago, I've been using my birthday suit, so much less hassle and no laundry bills either."

"Well no wonder he broke up with you."

Amber snorted in amusement before sighing gustily. "If I find out he's dating Mariam, I'll kill him."

"What makes you think he's dating her?"

"Well, she and him had this whole _thing_- it's nothing, never mind, just me being paranoid. Besides, aren't you late for Study Hall?"

"Study Hall? Oh darnit, I forgot. Ok, can we rain check this conversation because it's really interesting and you have a way more interesting life than I do right now, so I wanna finish it."

"Yeah sure, I don't have anything planned for the foreseeable future so call by any night. I'll be studying for my exams now that I don't have a life anymore."

"Great, you might wanna get some counselling though or call Nana because she'll kick your little butt for being so self-piteous but anyway, I better go. See ya." Kirby stated waving as she backed into Study Hall, uttering her apologies to the teacher on duty.

Shaking her head in disbelief, Amber shuffled up to the doorway and peeked inside the warm, well lit room. Inside, the students she had once shared study hall with were gathered around their various desks, their heads bent over books as they scribbled furiously or read intently. She caught the eye of Enrique and stuck out her tongue as he winked at her before stiffening and ducking out of the way when Kai's head whipped up, studying the blond through narrowed eyes.

"What the hell was that about?"

She turned to the person who asked the one question she was asking herself. Why had she just hid for? It wasn't like she was in the wrong. So what if she walked down to the Study Hall with Kirby, she hadn't been coming to see him. She hadn't even thought of him during her entire conversation with Kirby but still, she just didn't want him to see her.

"Um, I was hiding from Kai."

Arista nodded bewilderedly before slipping the straps of her bag onto both shoulders and joining her friend as they headed back towards the dorms; secretly delighted she had run into Amber so that she wouldn't have to wait for the others to finish their homework so she could walk with them back to the dorms. "Why?"

"Um, well I kind of asked Miyami to swap history partners with me and I don't know if he knows. Which is stupid because it shouldn't matter. We haven't worked on it yet and it'd be better if we didn't work together on this because let's face it, when we were doing history before, we spent more time making out than doing our work. Hence why we haven't got it completed yet."

"You two made out during history homework?"

"Well he'd start explaining things to me, theories and facts and stuff and… you know, stuff happened."

"What, his talking turned you on?" Arista joked dryly before her eyes widened as she noticed Amber's flushed, sheepish expression. "Oh god, it did, didn't it? You're such a dork, Amber."

"What can I say; I like it when he talks intelligently to me."

Arista choked back a snicker but only succeeded on choking on it before she let loose the peals of hysterical laughter, leaning against the lockers to hold herself up. "I can't-" She started before gasping for breath. "I can't believe you just said that. Haha."

"Pfft, it just shows I'm more mature than most girls." The dark haired girl stated dryly before looking curiously at her. "What did it for you?"

"With Kai?"

"No, with _him._"

"Well it certainly wasn't the way he tried to choke me to death." Arista snapped bitterly.

"Well, some people get off on that." Arista shot her a dark look that made the Irish girl squirm uncomfortably. "Sorry, too soon?"

"Just a little." Came the dry retort.

"Sorry. Wasn't trying to be insensitive. I know he's a pissfaced jerk and believe me, I've told Mystel that a thousand and one times."

"Oh yeah? Could you tell him to stop phoning me? I don't want to hear _the thing's_ sob story. He tried to kill me and quite frankly, no amount of Mystel apologizing is going to make me forgive _his_ sorry ass." The silver haired girl stated viciously. "And if you can get _him_ out of my dreams too, that would help. Don't you have any, you know, spells for that sort of thing?"

Amber shrugged weakly. "I have a dream catcher if you like. What about those sleeping tablets the nurse gave you?"

"They make me groggy and we have exams to prep for. I may not be Miss Studious but I don't want to fail either. My parents are already thinking of removing me from the school, I don't want to give them a reason to forcefully extract me."

"It's a pity they couldn't hold Brooklyn but without your statement and with his supposed air tight alibi, there was nothing they could do."

Arista sighed, taking out a piece of gum from her pocket before offering Amber a piece and shoving the second into her mouth. "I know you think I should have reported him and kept on to the police but… I just didn't want the hassle. Our grandparents are friends', I don't need all that aggravation. Besides, even if I did say anything, his alibi would still hold. You understand right."

"The difference with me and Carlos is that he never actually did anything to me, Kai stopped him in time so I can't say what he would have done. That would just be me suspecting him of doing something without anything to back up that allegation."

"I guess." Arista stated, rubbing her arms to ward of the chill that had settled in her bones. It seemed nothing short of a furnace could come close to warming her again. Deep inside she still didn't understand why he had hurt her. She had provoked people before and they had never reacted like that, then again, the boys she did know came from stable families' but-

She shook her head firmly. Why was she trying to defend him? What he did was unforgivable. He had hurt her in a way that no other could. He didn't just bruise her physically but emotionally too.

"I think I freaked Kane out the other day." She finally spoke quietly, aware of the listening ears in the corridor. Ever since the incident, people had been watching her carefully and it bugged the hell out of her.

Curious Amber inched closer, ready to offer comfort if needed. "How?"

"He came in to talk to me, while I was in the infirmary but I was having a nightmare and even when I woke up, I was half asleep and when I saw him looming over me, I just wigged out, started screaming and stuff until the nurse came in and removed him."

"Oh." Amber murmured, realization dawning. So that was why Kane had been so off recently. That's why he had been biting people's heads off and snarling at her so much.

"Yeah. He hasn't spoken to me since then."

"Kane'll get over it. I mean, he has to understand that you were in a really traumatic situation. If you didn't react at all, Arista, that's when we should worry. Hell, I nearly killed Kai that night he came into my cubicle and I thought he was Carlos coming to finish the job. It serves them right for sneaking up on us."

"Yeah but even when I knew it was him, I couldn't stop screaming. He just looked so angry, I know he'd never hurt me but-"

"You have your doubts because everyone is capable of violence; it basically comes down to whether or not they have enough self control."

"I suppose, but I should know that Kane wouldn't hurt me. I've known him since our freshman year."

"I wouldn't worry too much about it, Ari, if he's really your friend –and I know he is, heck you're the only Octopussy he genuinely likes- then he'll get over it."

"You telling me he doesn't like Aspin?"

"Of course he does, but that's a whole heap of attraction piled in, he didn't have a choice with her. Though between me and you, I think someone should really tell him about her and Mimi's affair."

Arista snorted with amusement. "You know, someday you're going to say that and the wrong people are going to hear it."

Amber dismissed the comment with an airy wave of her hand. "People should be aware by this stage that the Octopussies aren't the sanest of people. If not, then I'd like to question their intelligence or whether they've been living under a rock, in which case I'd also like to question their sanity and their species because under a rock is just dirty and cramped."

Arista blinked before nodding in agreement. "It is dirty and cramped. Unless it hides a secret tunnel."

"Maybe. Hey, you might be on to something there."

A shrill melody suddenly cut into their conversation and Amber watched as Arista stiffened and reached tentatively into her pocket to retrieve her mobile phone. Just the expression on her face was enough to tell who exactly was on the other end of the line and her heart bled for her friend. It wasn't fair that Arista had to go through this. It would most likely affect her relationships with the opposite sex for the rest of her life and she might even end up in counseling forever, never mind the three months she was ordered to do by Nicolai. Sometimes fate was just cruel.

"I wish he'd stop phoning me. I thought he got the message when I didn't answer the first billion times."

"Why don't you block him?" At Arista's helpless look she sighed. "Give it here, I'll do it."

Mustering up a grateful smile, Arista handed over the phone and dug out her gameboy from her pocket, her crutch for this period in her life. If she was messing around in Mario's life, she didn't have to fixate on her own. "Did you block Kai from your phone?" She suddenly inquired, curious as to how Amber was coping with her own breakup.

The dark haired girl shook her head. "No, I still want to know that I can contact him if I need to. It's like security or something. I probably should get rid of his number but I like knowing he's there. Ok, it's done. You shouldn't have any problems now."

Taking back the phone, the girls fell into an easy silence only punctuated by the high pitched beeps and whistles from the console in the Russian's hands.

"Oh, hey what class do we have Monday morning? And I mean after home room." Arista suddenly demanded after a while, searching the quiet corridor. Everyone who had been lingering there had quickly dispersed to god knows where. When she caught Amber's dubious look, she added. "I'm trying to figure out what homework is more important. You know; priorities and stuff."

Amber dug through her school bag and lifted out her timetable. "Um, it looks to be English but I'm not sure because Daichi spilt coffee on it."

The silver haired Russian girl yanked the book out of her hand and studied it. "Um, what do we have every other Monday?"

"Oh good point." Her friend chirped brightly then faltered. "I don't know. I can't remember. I usually follow someone else, namely Kai."

"It's the middle of our second term and you can't remember what classes we have?"

"I told you, I follow everyone else. What about you?"

"Well, I follow people too!" Or get directed, she added silently, remembering the many times teachers and her friends alike had guided her from one class to another.

"Great we're two followers together… we need a leader!" Amber demanded, looking around the empty hall. "Can you see anyone who could lead us? Though it's not like it matters since it's for Monday but still… we need a leader."

Both girls looked up suddenly as footsteps clipped quietly down the lino floor and around the corner Kennedie appeared looking as prim and proper as ever with her modest length black skirt and perfectly pressed soft woolen sweater over a crisp white blouse. Her long pink hair had been twisted into a thick plait that had been fastened with a black ribbon. On spotting her, both girls groaned and hung their heads in defeat. Of course this caused Kennedie to spot them and her expression instantly brightened with recognition and cunning.

"Amber, Arista, just the two girls I was hoping to talk to."

The two girls exchanged a frantic look before Amber suddenly uttered a quiet word that sent them both into action. "Run!"

Kennedie watched them go, her stunned expression melting into a miffed one as her prey escaped. For the past week she had been trying to get an exclusive from Arista Belyaev on her attack. She knew something had happened, it was all around the school that she had bruising on her neck which was why she was wearing turtlenecks during such a mild spring and people were saying that she had tried to hang herself. Not that Kennedie knew anything for certain because no one would talk, every time she asked anyone remotely related to the Tigers they clammed up tighter than a bolt in a hole. And then there was Amber and Kai's breakup which she was personally interested in but yet again, no one said anything. She had tried asking Mariam but she seemed to be just as in the dark as Kennedie was and Clover was no help at all. With a scowl, she spun on her heel and stormed back down the corridor. Sooner or later she would uncover everything and then she'd reap the rewards namely one Kai Hiwatari and the downfall of the Octopussies.

* * *

Saturdays were often known as lazy days in Preston. The Dining Hall which was usually filled to the brim with chattering teenagers and clanking cutlery during meal times became a desolate room with only a spattering of students who woke up early to take advantage of the quiet. Of course, since the exams were fast approaching, Saturday detentions were becoming more regular and therefore certain students had to rise early while other students, such as the JV team had to wake at the godforsaken hour of nine to get some practice in. 

Hence why at ten o'clock, four male figures were making their way towards a set of tables near the back of the hall, paying no mind to the studious few huddled over books at various tables.

"…So far, Preston Academy has managed to gain a well respected reputation for keeping its students on the straight and narrow but is this likely to change? Are we expecting to see the first in a long line of teenage tearaways that Preston has been well overdue for?"

Tyson flicked a glance at Hillary as she finished reading and scowled at the page before her. "Why do you buy that crap? Everyone knows that there's nothing but bullshit in there, Hills. Even you should know better."

"Uh, Tyson, Hillary's on the paper, remember?"

The navy haired boy paused in the middle of lifting a roll to gape at his blond friend before turning his accusing gaze back on the pretty brunette. "Oh, yeah. Why?"

"Because," Hillary began with exaggerated patience, the fine line between her brows had appeared, a sure sign that all was not well with her. "I thought that I'd be doing something constructive, something that would look good on my college application-"

"Hillary!" Tyson snapped, putting down his roll in order to give this poor misguided girl some of his very important, sagely advice. "Hillary, you are a sophomore. Why do you care about college; it's ages away!"

"Tyson, if I do not work on creating a well rounded curriculum for myself, I will shorten my chances of getting into an Ivy League College!"

"Why do you want to get into an Ivy League College for? What's so great about a college covered in ivy?

"Doesn't that plant give people hives?" Dunga demanded as he scooped up more cereal while Max very wisely covered his chuckle with a sneeze.

Hillary was so dumbfounded by the sheer stupidity surrounding her that she couldn't even form words. Oh god, their stupidity was infectious. She had to get away from them right now! But before she could rise, -or she did rise, she just couldn't move- she found a hand locked around her wrist. She scowled down at Tyson who was frowning up at her again with that same strange look he had been giving her recently. It pissed her off and made her stomach flutter which was probably the reason it pissed her off. Luckily, before she could resort to violence to extract her hand, Max jumped in.

"Tyson, I don't think Ivy League has anything to do with the Ivy on the walls."

"Actually, Max it does." Daichi stated as he sat down. "That's why they're called Ivy League. It's like because they've ivy on their walls, that means they're old and that must mean they're really good because they've been around a long time."

Silence fell on the table as they stared at the usually highly strung red head. Had Daichi just said something smart? Something even Hillary hadn't known?

"The world's ending!" Tyson wailed, earning many dark looks from the serious students.

"What? Ozuma explained it to me last summer when me and Amber were fighting over it."

"Amber and I." Hillary corrected, tucking a strand of hair as she poured over the school paper-if you could even call it that. Lousy teacher electing an even worse editor. Heck, she wouldn't know news if it came up and bit her in the- Her shoulder suddenly began to tingle and she snarled. "Tyson! Stop breathing on me."

"I'm trying to see this." He growled, yanking the paper out of her grip and shifting so that he was giving her his shoulder. "Hey, I thought you were supposed to be doing an article on Kirby?"

"So did I." She grumbled furiously. "I worked really hard on that article, I stayed up late, I froze my ass off in that rink-"

"Don't call it a rink." Daichi cried. "It makes it sound girly, like figure skating at the ice rink. Just don't."

"Whatever! It was cold and my ass was numb for hours-"

"You should have called Tyson; he could have warmed it up for you." Dunga teased, wriggling his brows at her. Her face went hot and her gaze whipped to Tyson to catch his reaction but he was too busy looking at the paper and not even the comic strips either. That jerk.

"Dunga, leave her alone." Max chastised gently as he took a gulp of orange juice.

"What is this?" Tyson demanded, scanning the article through narrowed eyes. "Why does this say Amber could be pregnant?"

"Give me that!" Daichi snapped, throwing himself over the table to grab for the paper, leaning over to read what his friend had. "Amber's not pregnant!" He growled; he knew that she wasn't. If she was, well… no, not Amber. His cousin Stephanie, he could believe and someone like Clover should have had a baby a long time ago but not Amber. She was… Just no.

"Imagine if she was, first her mum, then her dad and then her… weird."

"Now that would be dysfunctional." Hillary said dryly but sobering up. "Look, it's bogus. Not only do we know that Kennedie is full of hot air and fairy tales, but Kirby asked Amber about it and Amber hasn't even done the dee-"

"WAH!"

"SHUT UP!"

"Really? I would have thought she and Hiwatari would have-"

"DUNGA! Shut the hell up, man, that's my _cousin_!"

"That's my _neighbour_!"

"Well she is eighteen," Max interjected diplomatically earning grimaces from both offended boys while Hillary looked on completely fascinated by their reactions.

"It would have been the obvious way to celebrate her birthday." Dunga replied.

"But they were broken up unless-"

"Shut up, shut up, shut up!"

"Daichi! Keep it down!"

The red haired boy flinched at his brother's command and his eyes sparked with temper as he shot a furious look over his shoulder. Not four tables away, his brother sat eating his own breakfast. Daichi sulked as his friends continued to chat about his cousin only for Hillary to divert the conversation back to how her article had been unjustly usurped. Who'd Ozuma think he was anyway? Their father? The only person who got to take that tone with him was his dad and possibly Nicolai…and Nana Molly, of course. Since Ozuma wasn't any of them, - though sometimes he looked like Nana Molly when he was constipated- he could keep his opinion to himself.

"This constitutes as slander and it's false and misleading, so if you reported it to the headmaster, she would be forced to print a retraction." Hillary's hushed tone cut through his thoughts and he turned back to study her. It was obvious this idea gave her some satisfaction as her brown eyes were glowing merrily and possibly sadistically. Girls were scary when they were allowed to talk and think and stuff.

"Yeah, but it's only slander if it can be proved to be truth, right? Or something. Knowing Kennedie, she'd ask for proof and that would help her humiliate Amber. It's not worth it." He chimed into the conversation, feeling a need to stick up for his cousin since she wasn't here herself.

"Of course it's worth it, Daichi." Hillary retorted. "No girl should have that sort of rumor hanging over her head. It's just not fair to her. I'm going to see Ms Maye immediately."

"Ms Maye won't do anything. She hates anyone involved in sports, remember?"

"Max is right, Hilly-Billy-"

"Don't call me that!"

"Maye isn't going to come down on the side of truth and justice. Better to tell some other dude. Or get Amber to act all girly and complain that her virtue is being insulted or something." Tyson continued talking over the irate brunette with a lazy smirk that told Daichi that Tyson took some kind of perverse pleasure out of taunting his supposed nemesis. _Just you watch this space_, he thought darkly, _you'll be following Miguel's footsteps into a _relationship "Yo, Dach, what's with the funny expression? You feeling sick or something?"

"Yeah-" _Sick and tired of everyone turning lovey dovey._ What happened to their vow to be bachelors and stick together? To never let a girl come between them? Hell, Joe was the worst one in the group, leaving because Kirby was dating Miguel which was stupid. He could wait it out until they broke up or find another girl but when Daichi offered up these alternatives, his friend had sneered and dismissed him as some kind of idiot. _He_, Daichi, wasn't the idiot. It was his friends who were acting like idiots. Heck, his stupid coach was all wound up over a girl and his step-cousin to boot! Maybe Amber really was a witch, he thought with a slight smirk, envisioning his cousin with a broomstick and a crooked warty nose pointing her finger and zapping poor defenseless boys to turn them into mindless love slaves… He balked as images of toga clad seniors popped into his head.

"Daichi, why are you hitting your head on the table?!"

"Daichi?!"

"I can't believe I'm related to him."

"Daichi? Is he ok?"

He groaned and slumped over the table with a miserable expression. He looked around the table at his concerned friends and thought about sending a dark look at his brother for that careless comment. "I'm fine."

"Uh-huh. Maybe we should tell Hitoshi to ease off on the practices." Dunga proposed around a mouthful of toast.

Tyson looked up from his model of a hockey play that he was devising using the unused forks, knives, ketchup and other useful utensils that could be found on the table. "Che, yeah that'll happen. He'll just work us harder."

"Sexual frustration." Jim stated knowingly as he dropped into a vacant seat and snagged the ketchup bottle from the centre of the table.

"Hey, that's my enforcer- What did you say?" At Tyson's expression, Max, who like the others had been staring at the pipsqueak blond, began to snicker loudly.

"Sexual frustration. He's not getting any, so he's throwing all his attention into sport."

The monotone explanation did nothing to help Tyson who began to glow an interesting shade of red mixed with green much to Daichi's amusement.

"Can we not talk about my brother? It's bad enough I have to spend hours with him bossing me around and getting paid for it, I don't want him to ruin my meal times too."

The table chuckled and slipped into their usual banter and conversation with the odd telling off from Hillary and soon enough the paper was forgotten or at least pushed to the back of their minds.

* * *

Of course, just because the JV team had been able to ignore the article in the paper didn't mean the rest of the school could and Kennedie seemed to be basking in the glow of her new rumor. People were sitting in the quad, soaking up the March sunshine and passing comments such as 'I always knew she wasn't as virginal as she acted' or 'So that's why Kai was so cold with her' and 'Do you think it's Hiwatari's'? Who else's could it be?' as well as 'Like mother, like daughter.' It was beautiful. Benson had gone from the virginal queen of sarcasm to the slutty princess of Preston Academy. 

Her favorite theory so far was that Amber had been bedding Tala Valkov and Kai Hiwatari at the same time! Though that would be hot, she thought with a smile as she sat down by the fountain to wait for Clover.

Feeling herself being watched, she looked over her shoulder and arched a brow at the boy sitting on the wall across from her. A hockey stick rested against the wall beside him and over his shoulder was a pair of rollerblades. His eyes were locked on her but instead of lust or longing, his wore a thinly disguised veil of disgust and loathing. How surprising. It seemed like Petrovich might actually hate her. Tsk, tsk, she thought amused. She'd never paid much attention to the Russian midget, he was hardly on her social radar, the only reason she knew him was because he followed Valkov like a lost puppy, but if she wanted to, she could make his life a total misery. It was well known that he wasn't the most popular of boys' with the girls in the school but it wouldn't be hard to let it slip that he was as small in other areas as he was in stature. Then she could watch his chances dwindle away.

Her interest piqued as she watched Kai saunter up, a perfect male specimen, she mused as she licked her top lip. He really was gorgeous; his face a picture of seriousness and concentration as he studied his blades and conversed quietly with the irritated midget. How he could even hold a conversation with such a pathetic excuse for a human was a little confusing to her but she ignored that, concentrating on the raw masculinity before her. Since the black top he was wearing sported no sleeves, she was able to admire the broad shoulders as he reached down to retrieve his duffle bag.

She watched as his firm mouth, the only soft thing about him and even that had a certain delectable hardness to it, moved as he spoke quietly to Ian who frowned and opened his mouth to retort but an arched brow stopped the words in their tracks. Now that was just sexy, she thought with a hum of approval, picking up a flower to tear off the petals. Someone who just stopped another talking with just a look, it made a delicious shiver shoot up her spine. So commanding, who knew she'd find that so attractive.

However, his interest in Benson was a little annoying, she thought with a scowl as she watched him eye the dark haired girl with interest. She flicked her hair and awaited the confrontation as Benson strode up to her flanked by the usual suspects, Kinomiya and Mulryan. Lovely.

"Good morning."

"It's actually getting close to noon; shouldn't vampires like you be holed up somewhere, in a coffin?" Amber asked chipperly, but the ochre eyes were malicious and filled with malignant intent. The look seemed to be echoed by her octopussy clones, which was sweet in a sad way, Kennedie mused, as she painted on a pleasant expression.

"Vampire, hmm, I'd say that would suit your friend more. I actually have skin color and a good healthy flush, or so my doctor says."

"Yeah but most people are flushed after sex." Ruin stated under her breath but it was carried on the wind to Kennedie's ears while Miyami chuckled bitchily.

"And what does that imply?"

"It means you're fucking your doctor." Amber replied bluntly, obviously not in the mood to play word games. Her eyes flashed angrily as she stepped closer, invading Kennedie's personal space just as Clover arrived with Tahnee in close pursuit.

"Pheromones." Ruin mumbled to Miyami when the latter wondered how the two wannabe's knew to appear now. "Let's them know the Queen Bee is in trouble."

"Interesting."

"Why are you telling everyone I'm pregnant?" Amber finally demanded, really not in the mood for little swipes here and there.

Kennedie tilted her head back to look up at the Irish Plague though her eyes flicked over to the moody bluenette who was slowly straightening, his dark eyes intently locked on Amber, he didn't even so much as glance in _her_ direction. His attention was just on Amber; who she was talking to didn't bloody matter.

Did Amber notice the way Kai watched her? The way his attention was focused solely on her despite Ian trying to catch his attention? The way Tala, who had just arrived on scene, followed his friend's gaze because Kai hadn't greeted him?

'_It would be sweet if it wasn't so pathetically sickening. What does she have that I don't? I'm prettier, certainly smarter. I've damn well got more experience than she does. I'm not frigid and I have a better figure than she could ever have which I didn't have to starve myself to get.' _

"Uh, Kennedie, are you even listening to me?"

"What? Oh right, you're still here and you're blocking my view."

"Your view? Of what? A wall?!" So saying, -or shouting incredulously- Amber spun on her heel and found herself glaring at Kai. The glare melted away –how disgustingly sweet- only to be replaced with one of calculation as she rounded on Kennedie once more. Oh joy of joys.

"Your view is of Ian? Yikes, now that was a surprise."

"Not Ian, though I can see you two would be well suited. I was referring to the tall, dark and handsome one."

"The pillar? Oh come on, Ken, even Ian's got to be a better shag than a pillar. I've heard of people who do the deed with corpses but with brick work, that's just a whole other barrel of weird."

Kennedie blinked dumbly. A pillar? How did she get a pillar from that description?

As if to answer, Amber happily explained. "It's tall, I'll grant you that and it's only dark because it's made of wet stone and well if you go for stoney columns, I'm sure you'd consider it handsome."

Ruin snorted out a chuckle while Clover pondered the meaning of what had just been said. Kennedie nudged the blonde because, let's face it, it could take a while for Clover to get it. Tahnee just sneered. "I knew you were frigid but really, if you tried a little make up and wore a skirt once in a while, you wouldn't have to resort to getting your kicks from inanimate objects. Some desperate guy is bound to feel you up at some stage; if he's drunk enough." Was added as an afterthought.

Amber stared at Tahnee for a moment as if surprised the girl had spoken. Honestly, Kennedie was too. Tahnee never really got involved, she just liked to stand there and look superior and out of everyone's league. She was a poser, a wannabe and someone who never directly got into anyone's face. It went against the grain. But seemingly Kennedie inspired some loyalty or else the silly bitch was up to something. Since Kennedie believed herself to be quite intelligent, she decided to keep an eye on her sultry 'friend'.

"Well, according to your friend Kennedie, I've not only been felt up, I'm also knocked up."

Kennedie rolled her eyes, suddenly bored of the conversation and since she could no longer look at Kai, this conversation was putting a blot on her day. "You said it, I didn't. I just implied that you could be, given the evidence. Constant complaints of a sore stomach, being forced off the team, a new diet, frequent use of the toilet, oh and your boyfriend dropping you like a hot coal. Which wasn't surprising, I expected him to do it sooner, but who could blame him."

Amber growled; fisting her hands and Kennedie figured she was probably imagining them plowing into her face. "First of all, I am NOT pregnant. I have a kidney infection, that's why I have a sore stomach and why I have to go to the bathroom and everything else isn't any of your concern. We're not friends so mind your own beeswax."

The pale pink haired girl waved her off. "Honestly, I don't care what's going on in your pitiful existence Benson, so go away."

"Come on Amber, she's not worth it."

Amber glared at Kennedie, opened her mouth to retort something before silently agreeing with what Miyami had said. Kennedie wasn't worth it. Heck, Kennedie wasn't worth much. She was a pitiful excuse for a human being and a lousy reporter at that. Since she, Amber, had already spoken to Mrs. King, there was sure to be a retraction printed in the next edition of the paper and then Kennedie would have to swallow her pride and take back those accusations.

"Actually, since you're in such a mood for sharing, why don't you tell me all about Arista's neck injuries and the fact that Brooklyn Adams was taken in for questioning about an assault on a local school girl?"

Amber bit the inside of her cheek. Kennedie was going to become one of those irritating journalists, just like that one in Scream; and maybe like the film Scream, Kennedie would get what's coming to her but not die, because Amber wouldn't wish a murder on anyone.

"It's none of your business."

"If you don't tell me, I'll just have to find out another way." Kennedie smirked, her tone resonating with a singsong quality.

"You know, there's only so many times you can use the excuse 'oh, I tripped and my mouth fell on his dick.' I wouldn't try it too often." Ruin advised helpfully.

"I don't like your tone, Mulryan and I wouldn't try too hard to make an enemy out of me."

Ruin snorted. "Gee, and here I was thinking we were bosom buddies and by the way, I wasn't trying 'too hard'. When I want to make an enemy out of you, no, when I want to destroy you, you'll know. You might be in a thousand pieces at that stage, but at least you'll know."

Miyami chuckled; she could so see what Tala saw in Ruin. She could be so cold; the arrogant ice prince had to like that. "Let's go Amber."

"Yeah," Amber mumbled, her eyes suddenly becoming morose as they swept the courtyard. Kai had been there a moment ago but now he was gone. He obviously didn't care about the rumors going around but then again, Kai had never really paid much attention to the rumor mill in Preston. He preferred to discover if things were true on his own. Still, when the rumor was about her and their relationship, you'd think he'd say something at least.

The trio turned their backs on the other girls and wandered down the path towards the town, intent on doing something with their day before the others had to go practice for the game that night. God, the school should have been paying attention to the game and not to stupid rumors but everywhere Amber went, she could hear the students of the school watching her and considering about whether the rumor was true or not.

"Gossip sucks." She stated bluntly. "Having a kidney infection sucks more. Having a kidney infection and not being able to take medication sucks the most."

"Amber, give it a rest." Ruin sighed heavily, rubbing her neck. All this stress was giving her a headache and Tala was the only one she trusted to give her a massage. The last time she trusted Arista to try, the girl had attacked her neck with such enthusiasm that she nearly tore a ligament. It wasn't worth the hassle but Tala was busy with the boys and she promised to keep an eye on Amber for him so she'd have to live with the pain.

"Did you notice how Kai just walked off?"

Miyami sidled up to her friend and placed her arm around her shoulder. "Look, Kai probably just didn't want to get involved, especially not with Kennedie. She looks like she wants to eat him. It freaks the hell out of him."

"I'd known that if he'd actually talk to me but it's like I'm dead to him."

"Rath, he said hello to you the other day in the hall."

"That wasn't a hello; that was a grunt."

"Which is basically hello, how are you and you are so damn beautiful in Kai speech." Miyami translated, having become quite fluent in the grunting language since she'd befriended the aloof Russian.

Amber wrinkled her nose before moving to stand by the wall, turning her head up to soak up the spring warmth. The ozone layer may be disintegrating and global warming may be causing the icecaps to melt but it was nice to have some warm weather after all the rain they'd been having recently.

"I'm worried about Arista."

"Why, what's wrong with her? Has she said something to you because she's not really talking to me?"

"No, she's acting like everything's pretty ok but it's not. I know and she knows it. She won't go anywhere alone and she doesn't like being alone."

"Hence why she's down with Sonia at the track." Ruin surmised.

"Right, because she has company but she's also not in a big group of people especially male people. She gets jittery a lot and she keeps zoning out and I don't think she's sleeping properly either, never mind not eating right."

"Wow, you can say that about others' but you don't notice when you're not?"

"Alright, let's stop the pick on me day please!" Disgruntled with her friends apparent lack of sympathy for her plight –which was fine because they all had boyfriends who weren't selfish pricks and she could call Kai a selfish prick because he was and he broke her heart!- Amber folded her arms and scowled at a brick on the wall opposite her.

"What Arista went through was really traumatic. You know that and I know you know that it'll take her a long time to get over it." Ruin stated calmly, her eyes fixed on her childhood friend watching as the girl squirmed guiltily but after a few moments, Amber sucked in a breath and the immature nature seemed to be washed away to be replaced with a more adult expression. It fascinated her to watch the way Amber shifted facets so easily but without any ulterior motive. Most people who could change that quickly made her suspicious but Amber had always shifted quickly. She had the type of temper that blew up fast and could disappear quickly but when she was truly furious, that temper could simmer behind the seams until it burst out like a boiling wave onto the nearest person. Usually Tala or herself or her mother. Some people could handle it and Amber was careful about who received the brunt of that fury.

"Right." Amber replied, voice steady and calm. "Ok, you guys have a game tonight and I have a feeling that Brooky-baby might make a show-"

"WHAT?! You can't be serious." Miyami snarled; eyes flashing crimson at the idea that that heinous bastard might dare to show up on their turf. If she so much as caught a glimpse of ginger hair, she'd castrate the bastard with a butter knife-

"MIYAMI! You can't castrate him or peel him with a paring knife or any of those things."

Skinning him with a paring knife, why hadn't she thought of that, Miyami wondered. Because it was an Amber thing to think of, naturally.

"So that's why you brought us two with you. I was thinking it wasn't because you wanted to go shopping."

"Exactly. I couldn't exactly tell you in the dorm with Arista right there and I knew if I said we'd go into town there's no way she'd come with us. But someone will have to tell Aspin because she's not exactly speaking to me right now."

"Can you blame her?" Miyami demanded; flicking her silver hair out of her face as the breeze kicked up a notch. "She's pissed because you and Arista are always off with each other or you're with me but both of you barely give her the time of day. Same with Sonia."

"She's the one who spends copious amounts of time with Kane. And we all know he's not exactly mister sociable at the moment. He nearly bit my head off yesterday for looking at him."

Miyami groaned and raked a hand through her hair, so that it slid appealing around her face. "Kane's just upset he wasn't there to help out, he feels-"

"Impotent?"

"Amber." Ruin growled, pulling the sleeves of her dark denim jacket over her hands so that only the fingers peeked out, curled around the cuffs. "Have you been keeping tabs on Brooklyn?"

"Of course, I'm not letting him come here again without prior knowledge. The minute he does something rash, Mystel phones me-"

"And you wonder why Kai won't talk to you!" The Japanese girl exploded earning a dark look from the only sane member of the group. How was she supposed to conduct a decent conversation when her two companions kept going off on tangents?

"Kai knows I didn't cheat on him and I'm not giving up my friendship with Mystel!"

"Sometimes you have to compromise something to make a relationship work!"

"What did you compromise?" Amber demanded, planting a fist on her cocked hip.

"My compulsive stalking of red heads, of course. I had to go cold turkey and everything."

"Oh yeah, you were a bitch that week… are you sure you're not still cold turkeying?"

"OI!"

"Stop it!" Ruin snapped, a muscle twitching in her cheek as she tried to retain her sanity. She didn't need this headache so early in the morning. She hadn't had her coffee yet because she had been snatched away by Amber on the rampage and she hadn't even gotten to spend any time with Tala, because he was keeping Kai company. Why did people have to make their lives so difficult? She made a mental note to find Tala later and it didn't matter what was happening, she was not sacrificing her relationship, her friendship with Tala, just to appease everyone else. She wasn't selfish but she had her priorities.

Besides, it wasn't fair for everyone to just look to Tala for some sort of guidance. He had as many problems as they did but he put them aside to keep everyone on track. He wasn't even vice captain. Their vice captain was too busy with his budding romance and with keeping it a secret to take charge of the team.

As for Hiwatari, well she had to admire the way he kept a cool head, even with the team becoming an emotional wreck, he managed to snap them out of it during practices but whenever practice was over, he withdrew from them all. If Tala didn't drag him out of the dorm every so often, Ruin wasn't sure what he'd do. She could see why Tala was friends with Hiwatari though, the two of them sparked off each other charmingly when they were together. The times she had spent with the two of them were some of the best times she had spent in the school.

"Sorry." Amber mumbled, turning her attention to the water that rushed under the stone bridge they stood upon. "I know Kai probably doesn't like the idea that I speak to Mystel but I like Mystel. He's nice and funny and cute and if I wasn't fixated on Kai then I'd probably be crushing on him but I can't deviate between two people. I'm not made like that. I guess it's a blessing and a curse. After all, as long as Kai is around, I'm not likely to get over him."

"Don't you think you should try?" Ruin wondered quietly, resting her chin on her palm as she leaned over the bridge watching the leaf Miyami had dropped in meander through the glossy pebbles, carried by the current of water.

"How?" Amber questioned; her voice not more than a whisper. How did you get over someone?

"She's in love with him." Miyami explained easily, as if it were completely natural but the simple words made Amber's stomach flutter. People weren't supposed to fall in love so young. You could care deeply of course but to her, in love with someone meant forever, which wasn't going to happen. Especially not when he had broken up with her but before that, well when she tried to imagine herself a few years in to the future, she could so easily see Kai being there. Of course, she couldn't know what the future held for her and maybe there would be something that they just wouldn't be able to deal with. Like family or something, her father hadn't been able to cope with the idea of being a father and a husband, so he obviously hadn't loved her mother enough to stay with her.

"I know but moping about him isn't helping you. Maybe if you tried to date Mystel-"

"Give her some time, Ruin; it's only been a week." Miyami growled, understanding Amber better than her stoic friend. Ruin could switch off her emotions or block them away and while it worked for Ruin, it didn't work for everyone else. It had taken a long time for Amber to actually truly become interested in someone and that wouldn't just disappear. It needed time. The best thing her friend could do was to become busier. If she had plenty of things to do, she could avoid Kai and turn off her feelings for a while. Hence why Miyami was doing everything in her power to keep Amber occupied.

"Look, right now I'm just concentrating on taking things day by day. I don't really have time to worry about Kai or any other guy. Arista's a little more important to me right now."

Ruin sighed. So yet again, instead of confronting her emotions, Amber was throwing herself into another project. It was so typical. She had done the same thing when Tala had gone, throwing herself into her gaming and skipping meals. It wasn't healthy and it wasn't smart either. She looked over Amber's head at the petite silver haired girl and shot her a pointed look.

Miyami sighed and sucking in a deep breath mustered up a cheerful expression. "Well are we going to sit about all day moping or are we going shopping?"

"Shopping was just a ruse." Amber muttered exasperatedly, only to shrink back at Miyami's dark look.

"You should never use shopping as a ruse." She growled, causing Amber to inch closer Ruin. "Now we are going shopping and you are going to enjoy it."

"But we went shopping last weeken-"

"You are going to enjoy it!"

"O-k… we're going shopping. Yay!" When Miyami smiled lethally and began to march down the street towards the town, Amber exhaled loudly, glancing at the bemused Goth beside her. "Well, Mimi's finally gone off the deep end."

"Yeah, well after the past couple of weeks, I can't blame her."

Wrinkling her nose, Amber tried to think up a good come back but all explanations led explicably back to her and Arista so she really didn't have anything she could say. Feeling her stomach squirm with guilt, she trudged after Miyami and vowed that she'd enjoy the shopping trip and more so, that she'd make sure her best friend enjoyed every minute of it.

* * *

The library was surprisingly full for a Saturday afternoon but it was spring and for some reason, teachers always felt like giving more homework and tests during the spring. Housewives cleaned and teachers became homework nazi's. Of course, the sudden down pour of pelting rain didn't inspire much outdoor activity so the male members of the Tigers had decided to hole themselves up in the warmth and coziness of the old building. 

"IAN! Give it back!"

And cause as much chaos as possible.

Ian snickered and danced out of the way, chucking his prized possession over to his accomplice. His target huffed angrily and spun on her heel to march over to the blond Italian leering cheekily at her.

"Enrique, give me the stamp."

"For a price." Enrique offered charmingly, hiding the stamp behind his back as the pretty red head studied him shrewdly.

"What kind of price?" Her soft lilting voice queried suspiciously and his grin widened.

"A kiss!" He declared as if just thinking of the idea. His eyes ran down over her face and lingered on her mouth. Due to much investigation, he happened to know that she wore mango lip-balm and he had a craving for citrus fruit today.

"No negotiations!" Ian growled, stomping his foot before he caught himself. Did he just…? Ugh! He shuddered physically. _I'm turning into Benson!_

"Come on, Salima. Just a little kiss and I'll give you back your stamp." The blond cajoled smoothly, shaking the stamper in front of her for a brief moment.

Salima blew out a breath and looked for some kind of reinforcement but Mrs King had complained of a migraine and had retired promptly to her home. The other student helping her was Emily and she was in the special room chronicling something or other, Salima wasn't really sure since Emily had been muttering under her breath very much like a mad woman. Salima just didn't deal with raving eccentric people, it was a personal rule.

However despite that rule, she was dealing with two really irritating seniors who just wouldn't return her stamper. How were people supposed to check out books if she didn't have her stamp? How would they know when to return the books if they didn't have the date stamped on the front? There was a system and they were ruining the system!

"Enrique, please." She tried again, pleading with the tall blond but when she reached out a hand to take the stamp back, he seized it and- She yanked her hand back from his lips with a startled 'eep'. "Enrique!" She really hated when he teased her.

Ian scowled watching the blond flirt with the tomato head and realizing that his fun had been cut short, he stormed over to his table with a face like thunder. Seizing his backpack, he tugged out his rather battered Naruto manga and sat down. Since he had stolen one from Aspin not too long ago, he'd actually been intrigued by the tale so he had invested in a few of his own. Since a lot of his money went into creating pranks and buying equipment for them, he didn't have many manga's to his name but the ones he did have, he read over and over.

For some reason, despite Naruto's goofiness, he felt an affinity for the boy. Like Naruto, he wasn't the best in his team and he was constantly overshadowed by people like Tala and Kai and sometimes even Michael even though he knew he was good. And like Naruto, people had a tendency to put him down and dismiss him as being worthless. And just like Naruto, the only girl important to him was in love with the better looking and better player. Not that he was in love with her or anything, that's what he and Naruto didn't have in common.

"Enrique, please give me the stamp."

"Just a peck, Salima."

"Enrique!"

Ian's eyes snapped to the two toned bluenette sitting quietly in the corner, legs propped up on an adjacent chair while his eyes studied the open text book before him and his hand took notes in tight script. He didn't even look at the blond but even so, Enrique sighed and handed over his toy. It didn't surprise Ian. Kai just took control, it's what he did. He just wished Kai would do the same when it came to Amber. It would have been so easy for him to order Kennedie to back off in the courtyard earlier but no, the guy simply walked off.

"Hey Ian, what's with you?" Tala asked as he dropped down into the seat opposite him. Bryan took the other seat and immediately took out his MP3 player before tuning out the world.

"Nothing." Ian replied quietly, turning his attention back to the manga. In the various squares, Kakashi-sensei -who was like a Coach Hiwatari type of person for Naruto and his friends (only way cooler!!)- was facing down a man with a big sword, sort of reminiscent of Cloud Strife's sword only not made up of different pieces.

"Yeah? That nothing seems to have really pissed you off."

Ian jerked his shoulder sulkily. Tala's questioning was interrupting his reading and it was getting to the good gory bits.

"Fine." Tala sighed, picking up his phone and studying it. "Do you know anyone who'd have a charger for this? Mine broke."

Bryan lifted his gaze from his book and frowned. "Try asking Spencer. He might be able to fix it for you."

"There's a thought. Look after my bag; I'll be back in a while." So saying, he pocketed his phone and strode out of the library, completely oblivious to the looks several females gave him as he passed. Ian shook his head in disgust. How pathetic. If he had those kinds of looks, he'd… well he wasn't sure what he'd do. He'd probably not waste as much time pranking and he'd spend more time with his tongue down a girls throat.., man it must be real boring to be Tala. He'd rather be himself.

But a girlfriend wouldn't be so bad. Just one to prove that he could get one, to quell the voices of insecurity

A quiet lull fell on the library now that the excitement had died down. Salima had retreated behind the counter and was typing something aggressively on the computer. Silently Ian wondered if it was a sexual harassment complaint against Enrique; now that would be funny. Would serve the blond idiot right.

A book slammed shut with some force and he looked over to where Aspin was sitting with Kane at a round table in the corner. It wasn't surprising to see the two, they were practically joined at the hip in his opinion, but for some reason, Ian found it strange that she no longer spent time with any of the other Octopussy's. Though given Kane's frigid treatment of Kai, it made some sort of sense. What with Amber and Arista spending more and more time together and with Sonia constantly practicing and the other girls playing hockey, Aspin must have felt kind of lonely. Not that he was going to offer her a shoulder to cry on or anything. Aspin was kind of scary and standoffish at times. Plus she had a violent streak. He once saw her chase down Kane in little more than her underwear before pounding him into oblivion for being a pervert... Ian never saw fit to point out that Kane probably enjoyed every moment of his beating.

The silence fell again, only broken by the clacking of the computer keys and the drift of music from Bryan's earphones. It sounded as if he were listening to _Smashing Pumpkins_ but Ian wasn't sure since the volume wasn't on too high unlike some people.

Tilting his head back, Ian looked out at the dismal weather outside. Fats drops of water tapped and '_plinked_' at the window as the breeze swept up, a sharp contrast from the beautiful morning. The trees outside swayed and churned in the blustering wind that shoved and pulled at them before whistling through a gap in one of the window frames. It was the type of afternoon more suited to winter than spring.

The main entrance door swung open and a young girl swept breezily into the library, waving to Salima before heading for the study section, her eyes sweeping over the studious group and alighting on one in particular.

Because Ian's eyes had been turned in that direction, once he had looked away after recognizing the female, he caught the subtle jab of Aspin's elbow against Kane's ribs and the flinch that passed over the bluenette's face. Aspin's expression tightened and her whole body went on alert as the girl all but skipped up to her target.

"Hey." She spoke, her voice was quiet but there was no hiding the excitement in her posture.

Ian put down his manga and subtly watched the scene out of the corner of his eye. What was Mariam doing here and why was she talking to Kai? Hadn't they broken up? Obviously Aspin was thinking the same thing as she glared wholeheartedly at Mariam.

"I need to show you something."

Kai raised a brow and looked around the area as if expecting people to be watching, which they weren't since they all quickly averted their gaze. Ian stared hard at the picture of Sakura protecting the old man until he felt more than saw Kai get to his feet and follow the girl off to the side. As he passed, Ian casually looked at Aspin, noting how Kane was trying to convince her to ignore them.

Rubbing his neck as if it were tense, Ian angled it so he could spy on the couple. At least he was attempting to be subtle about his spying unlike Aspin who was steadily growing more and more agitated as Mariam rooted about her schoolbag. Kai stood behind her looking faintly bored and slightly confused, well as much as someone who had the facial expressions of a fish could, Ian thought with a smirk.

The sudden silence caught him and he slid his eyes over to Bryan and with amusement, he realized that the great big Russian had turned his music off and was listening as well. He was just so much better at pretending he wasn't interested, Ian decided with growing awe, wondering if Bryan would show him. Hell, no wonder Amber was good at that stealth stuff if Bryan showed her how to be so damn cool about everything. If Ian hadn't been sitting so close, he probably wouldn't have noticed that Bryan wasn't listening to his music anymore.

"I just got this back from my French teacher." Mariam was saying with growing excitement.

Kai took the paper from her and scanned it briefly with his oh-so-serious eyes. "An A+; congratulations."

"Thank you, I wouldn't have been able to do it without you." Hell the girl was all but salivating over the paper, who knew an A+ was so good. Ian, of course, had never received one himself so he didn't know how he'd feel if he got one. Probably suspicious. If he ever got one, it would more than likely be the result of an Octopussy prank. Not that he was in anyway paranoid. It wasn't paranoia if it was the truth but these thoughts were cut off as Mariam released a squeal of joy and flung her arms around Kai before promptly planting a kiss on Kai's mouth.

A stunned silence fell on the library as every eye in the place fell on the couple. A chair scraped back and Ian glanced up to see Kane trying to subdue a now standing Aspin. Her expression was one of utter fury which was kind of amusing but Ian's attention was pulled back to the couple who were now very slowly coming apart.

Kai's expression was one of dazed shock while Mariam's hands were pressed before her lips.

"Oh god, Kai, I am so sorry. I just… oh wow. Um, I'm really stupid. I-"

"It's fine Mariam." He stated with a soft shake of his head and his hands came up in a gesture of peace. "It's fine."

"Yeah but-"

"I want to talk to you. Now!"

Ian's head snapped around so fast he was certain he heard his bones crack but that was nothing compared to the pain Hiwatari was going to feel if Aspin got her hands on him. Shit, she looked ready to kill him.

"Aspin, leave it alone. It's nothing to do with you." Kane stated quietly, eyes warily watching Kai's as the two toned bluenette stepped in front of Mariam as if to defend her from Aspin's bubbling fury.

"Do you have a problem, Grant?"

"Yes, I want to speak to you outside, now." Aspin growled, shrugging off Kane's hand and stepping forward so that she faced down Kai on her own. She was brave, Ian gave her that much, because Kai looked peeved. Peeved being a complete and utter understatement but given that Hiwatari rarely showed any expression, the fact that he looked peeved had to mean something.

"I don't have anything to say to you." Kai retorted quietly.

"Aspin, this is all my fault-"

"Save the act, ok Mariam. I don't care." Her eyes turned back to Kai and narrowed. "Either we talk outside or we talk here, with everyone watching. You choose."

Though he didn't look like he liked it, Kai turned on his heel and if he were anyone else, Ian would have accused him of stomping to the door, before yanking it open and disappearing through it, leaving it to swing shut behind him.

"Aspin-" Kane started reaching for his girlfriend.

"No, Kane, there are some things that need to be said." Aspin replied, leaning down to kiss him softly; then she too followed the other boy outside.

"Mariam?" Salima uttered the name quietly from her place standing behind the counter. She had stood up when she felt the tense air and now she didn't seem to have a clue what to do.

Mariam snapped out of her stupor and blinked. Turning, she offered her friend a wane smile before her eyes ran over the people before her. If he were her, Ian thought, he'd leave. No one here really liked her that much. After that whole panty thing with Amber, Mariam had lost a lot of sympathizers though why she needed one, Ian wasn't sure. It wasn't like she couldn't find another boy to date.

Something crossed over her face, too brief for Ian to identify it and then she lifted her bag and fled up the stairs with as much grace as she could muster. Ian watched her go and then turned back to his manga. It was funny, manga was supposed to be all action and farfetched stories but some days, the drama at Preston was much more interesting.

A small smile began to form on his lips as he closed his book-

"Don't even think of it Ian." Kane warned, watching him from his seat.

Ian sighed forlornly and turned back to his desk, frowning when he noted that it was empty. Uh, where was Bryan? He looked round but didn't spy the lavender haired boy anywhere. A scowl settled on his lips. No fair! Kane let Bryan go but wouldn't let him? Now that sucked! No doubt about it, he and Naruto always got the short end of the stick.

* * *

Aspin swept into the empty classroom and used the few vital moments before Kai followed to compose herself. What on earth had she been thinking? What on earth was she going to say to him? She pressed a hand to her mouth and stared out at the single patch of blue sky surrounded on all sides by grey. She felt him before he entered the room and her body tensed before she turned around, struggling to think about a good starting argument but the sight of him standing nonchalantly by the teachers' desk had the temper going from simmer to boil again. 

"Well?"

The careless disinterest that coated the words made her upper lip curl in disdain. "What on earth did she ever see in you?" Aspin wondered with barely hidden disgust. Kai didn't react, no flash of temper or offence, in fact if anything, he just became colder which only drove her on. "You're cold and emotionless. You obviously don't care about anyone but yourself. You act like your gods gift to the world and let's face it, you're anything but."

"Is that all?"

She shook her head. "They talk about you as if you're something impressive and I'll admit, for a moment, I was convinced. I saw you with her and thought, hey you're actually ok but it must have just been a front. There's no way you cared about her if you can just move on so quickly. And to Mariam. Did Amber know? Did you even think to let her know about the two of you or did you have a nice laugh about it behind her back?"

Again there was nothing from him, no explosion of justification, no smug smirk of admission, just infinite coldness. How did Amber keep her warmth around him?

"What happened in there has nothing to do with Amber." He finally stated; his tone laced with boredom.

"It has everything to do with her, but you could never understand that because you don't feel anything." She turned away from him and braced her hands on the window sill before her. "You know, I never had to worry about Amber or Arista. They were always too busy concentrating on pranks or irritating Ian or playing hockey to even bother with boys. Every guy in this school was beneath their notice. So I dealt with Shahero's break up and put the pieces back together there and put up with Miyami's pining after Johnny and that was fine."

There was nothing but silence and if it weren't for the physical presence of Hiwatari behind her, she would have believed he had gone. "And then you show up and now the two of them end up with the biggest fucking bastards this side of hell!" she snarled whirling on him, eyes blazing with the emotions of everything she had tried to bottle up.

"I mean Shahero's relationship is worrying, her being with a student teacher is pretty bad but then we have Amber and Arista. The two, who I always thought had their heads screwed on straight but no, no they were the most vulnerable, but at least with Brooklyn, you have to admire him. At least he didn't hide his intentions behind false pretences. He hurt her, physically hurt her so that she doesn't even trust any of the guys anymore and do you know how much that hurts them? To have Arista, little Arista, who they've always treated like a little sister, fear them?

"But that's nothing. That's nothing compared to the fact that you cut Amber up into pieces and you still show no remorse. She's gone from being a tomboy, Tala's faithful little shadow, to the pregnant school slut and still you don't do anything. Would it kill you to just get off your high horse and admit you didn't fuck her? That she isn't another conquest to add to your little list?"

Infuriated with his silence, the cold, forbidding pressure that had settled in the room, she snarled. "Is that it? Can't you deal with the fact that she never slept with you? That you weren't good enough for her?" There was a muscle twitch now in his left cheek. Finally something was getting to him but she hated the fact that she had to stoop so low, to insult her friend to get a reaction. "She was always too good for you. You weren't even fit to touch her, you were just different. Too bad it wasn't the good kind of different."

Without saying another word, Kai turned and walked out of the room leaving Aspin alone in the classroom with not a sound except her frantic breathing. She covered her mouth to suppress the jerky breaths and sunk to the floor, curling her body up in defense.

"Aspin?"

Her head jerked up and she squeezed her eyes shut tight as the overwhelming emotions threatened to break over her. Kane crossed the floor quickly, dropping to his knees in front of her and easily pulling her into his arms.

"Hey, are you ok? What did Hiwatari say to you?"

She shook her head quickly, burying her face into the warm skin of his neck breathing in her scent of his deodorant. "He didn't say anything." She mumbled.

Kane ignored the shivers that shot down his spine as her lips grazed his skin and pulled her flush against him, pressing a kiss to her brow. He'd never seen her like this, he thought frantically before frowning. No he had, when she'd hurt her knee and then again when her father had died. She had gone to pieces those times but for the most part she managed to keep herself composed. Whatever she had said or done today had crumpled that well constructed composure.

"I said- I said some things I probably shouldn't have and if Amber finds out she'll hate me but god, Kane, how can someone be that unfeeling? Do you know that he was in the quad when Amber fought with Kennedie? And he walked away. That's what they were saying; that he walked away instead of coming to Amber's defense. What on earth is he thinking?"

Kane sighed heavily and rubbed some heat into her arms. "Shush, it's ok." He soothed against her hair.

"But it's not. Arista's a mess and Amber is being torn apart by gossip that he could stop but he doesn't. That's not how you treat someone you're supposed to care about. And then he kisses Mariam-"

"Mariam kissed him." Kane pointed out fairly. He didn't know what was going on in Kai's head but then again, it wasn't any of his business. Kai was his captain and his teammate but Aspin was his girlfriend and Amber was a childhood friend. There wasn't really a contest.

"It doesn't matter. He won't do anything. Amber will just have to be more selective in future but at least he'll serve as a warning for the next guy." Aspin whispered, nuzzling the spot behind his ear in a gesture that comforted her as much as him.

"Hmm." Was her only reply as the two stayed sprawled on the floor, holding each other and listening to wind outside.

* * *

"What are you up to Mariam?" 

Startled out of her book, Mariam stared up at the figure leaning against the column in front of her desk. He made a forbidding image with his grim expression and sharp eyes, the broad shoulders and large hands added to the imposing figure.

"What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be with your friends?"

"I asked you a question. What are you up to? I hope you know that I don't trust you in the slightest, and I can see through your silly little acts so don't even try it with me."

She smirked at the suspicion in his tone. "Always so quick to judge others in your likeness, aren't you? No one's ever doing things for harmless reasons, are they? Except for your precious Amber."

"I hate repeating myself." He growled quietly, standing straight and stalking over to her table. Those large hands planted themselves on the edge of her desk and he loomed over her threateningly.

"You don't scare me." She whispered softly, her sharp gaze steady on his. Even so, his proximity made her blood spike and her pulse jolt, her stomach clenched in that familiar way and she caught her lower lip between her teeth before she could help herself. God, she hated that instinctive response.

Those lavender eyes dipped at the action before sweeping back to hers with that indescribable heat that always made her body burn before. He blinked and the heat was gone, replaced with cool indifference and she jerked away from him, cursing him for that damning ability. She'd forgotten, dammit. She had moved on and she refused to be dragged back down just because he knew he could tangle her up with a look.

The strange thing was that he was here, alone. For the past couple of years he had worked hard so that they would never be alone with each other. And yet now he had broken his silent vow and all because of his precious cousin. Wasn't that always the way with Bryan, she thought sourly.

"I'm not doing anything. Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't Amber and Kai break up?"

"Last week."

"Last week?" She shook her head, leaning away from him so that she could regain control of her emotions. Folding her arms across her red top, she studied him. "Last week they were barely able to look each other in the eye."

"They broke up completely last week." He stated firmly. "So if you're going to start your manipulations, -out of respect for your ex-friend-, hold them off for a little while. I'm sure you'll still have him eating out of your palm if you leave it a few days or weeks."

"I hate repeating myself, Bryan, but for your slow mind, I will. I'm not doing anything. That kiss in there was just a kiss. I didn't plan it, but I was happy, excited even. It was spontaneous. It didn't mean anything."

Bryan smirked, his mouth tilting very lightly but his eyes remained cool and aloof as always. "I'm just warning you, you don't want to get between them."

"Excuse me?" What was he saying now? She wondered, tucking a royal blue strand behind her ear. She lifted her face to observe him and froze when those aloof eyes lingered on her cleavage for a heartbeat. God, he was an asshole, she thought with a frown, fighting the urge to move her arms. If she unfolded them, he'd realize she wasn't as immune to him as she tried to pretend. Though for the most part it wasn't pretence, it was sheer fact. She just wasn't attracted to statues.

"Continue chasing after Kai like that and you're going to make a fool of yourself."

"Aw Bryan, if I didn't know any better I'd think you were jealous."

"It's a good thing you know better."

She chuckled softly and leaned back in her seat, crossing her legs so that she could watch him without hurting her neck. "Hmm, that I do."

He studied her before giving an eloquent shrug of his shoulders which could mean absolutely anything in Bryan language. He wasn't big on speaking which was why she had once spent so much time trying to read through the lines. It wasn't easy but once she'd understood most of the nuances of his expression. She'd never compare to Amber but then she hadn't wanted to be that close to him.

With a small smirk, she lifted a finger and ran it down over the centre of his mouth. His eyes darkened and narrowed on her and a smug feeling welled up inside her. "You know Bryan, if you weren't so silent and broody, you'd be considered a great catch."

"Good thing I'm silent and broody. I don't want to be caught." He replied darkly, unwillingly drawing closer to her.

God when he wanted to be, he could be so sexy which was just strange. She couldn't understand his appeal to her, when he was no where near her, she barely spared him a thought but when he was crowding her like this, she couldn't stop thinking about him. Part of the appeal, she admitted was his height and size. Compared to him, she could be considered delicate and fragile, just the thought of being hauled up against him caused a thrill to snap through her blood.

"Mmmm," she hummed pressing her tingling lips together, amusement dancing in her eyes as they latched onto his. "Someday you will be."

"Don't play with me, Mariam; I'm not one of your toys." He growled into her ear, his hot breath against the side of her face, the scrape of his lips against her ear caused her to suck in a breath and her body to react violently. He sauntered off with an infuriating smirk as she let out a long, slow breath.

"Dammit," she sighed.

Why was it that he always affected her like this? She didn't like him. She could be attracted all she wanted, he was an enigma and god he had a body on him but what about personality? She could barely have a conversation with him and he didn't have a sense of humor, not like Kai, but he could make her blood simmer with a look and her body tingle with his presence. It was irritating and confusing and it damn well was not going to happen again. She'd make sure of it.

With a soft laugh, she leaned back in her seat and shook her head. Now why was she getting all worked up about this? She wasn't afraid of Bryan. She had no reason to be. There wasn't a doubt in her mind that she could handle anything that Bryan Malkovich might see fit to throw at her. After all, she was Mariam Tikashi and she could handle any guy.

* * *

Hitoshi heard her long before he saw her sitting in the smoking area with Russia, taking shelter from the stinging rain that was blowing over the quad. They seemed to be deep in discussion, the red head listening to his girlfriend while puffing on a slim white cigarette. It was something she was supposed to be giving up, he remembered, but Russia was always someone who needed a vice. 

He hunched his shoulders against the chilly pellets that assaulted his exposed skin as he made his way over to the unlikely pair. And they did look very different, he mused, but the two had an indescribable bond that couldn't be broken. Of course, that didn't necessarily mean he approved of the friendship much. Since Russia was someone who got addicted to things easily, he always worried that Shahero would pick up some of those bad habits but if he mentioned so much as a hint of his concern, he knew his girlfriend would naturally take her friends side. So he kept his thoughts to himself and kept a wary watch on the red head.

Whatever they were discussing, must have been important because neither seemed to notice his approach but instead, they continued to talk, Shahero growing more agitated while Russia shook her head and replied calmly. Obviously, they weren't planning one of their notorious pranks, so what else could they have been discussing that made Shahero look so upset. If there was one thing Hitoshi hated, it was seeing Shahero miserable. She just didn't suit the emotion very well. She was someone who should always been smiling, with mischief glittering in her eyes.

As he drew closer, parts of their conversation drifted to him.

"…so y'll talk t' 'er den?"

"…better than the others… what happened to me…" He frowned. What were they talking about? What happened to Shahero? He'd only been gone for a few hours but then again, what with the school administration being twitchy about student/teacher relationships, he wasn't around her nearly as much as he would like. Anything could have happened when he wasn't around.

"…two different people… react da way y' did…"

"…police won't do any good…"

"…she's 'fraid…"

Arista, he realized suddenly, they were talking about Arista and how she reacted but what had that to do with Shahero? She hadn't been attacked, had she? As he went to move forward, Shahero's head jerked up and her eyes latched onto him. He watched panic and perhaps fear flicker over her face as she muttered something to Russia who glared at him

Composing herself; hiding whatever it was that worried her from him, Shahero smiled. "Hey!" She called cheerfully. "You finished your meetings already?"

"Yeah." He replied, stepping into the edge of the smoking area and shaking the rain from his face as he wove through the tables towards them. "Ah, Nicolai wanted to see you." He told Russia, who grumbled under her breath about 'mandatory pee tests' as she got to her feet.

"Catch ya later."

"See you in the changing rooms, if I don't see you before." Shahero replied, watching her friend leave before she turned to her boyfriend, frowning at his intense scrutiny. "What? Do I have something on my face or what?"

"No." He replied. Now wasn't the time to ask her about something she had never deigned to tell him before but he was curious. Maybe he could ease her into telling him and that way he wouldn't feel as though he had been eavesdropping -which he hadn't.

"Ok, what's wrong?"

He shook his head, slipping into the abandoned seat and crossing his feet at his ankles. "Nothing. Just-" He rubbed his chin. What exactly could he say to her? She knew something was bothering him. She always did know. It was uncanny and slightly unnerving. "The match tonight." He finally blurted out.

"The match? With the Rejects? Like that's anything to worry about; we'll kick their butts no problem." Shahero scoffed with an unladylike snort.

He raised a brow and gave her a pointed look. "Yeah, you better. Dan called Nicolai, there's talk of a scout being there tonight to watch the match. This could be a big chance for you guys; a chance for a scholarship to a university and a chance to play pro."

Shahero frowned, pondering his words. Play pro? Jeez. Now that was a big deal. It wasn't something she was so certain of herself. She loved the game but she wasn't sure it was something she wanted to do full time but a scholarship on the other hand would come in real handy. Especially with the new baby on the way, and with her and Amber going to college at the same time, it would put a serious drain on the family funds. Though Amber always claimed that her dad would help her out so that Hiroshi and Treasa could concentrate on Shahero and the baby, but Shahero knew that wasn't fair or right. Besides, she'd feel slightly weird getting financial help from Treasa. She wasn't her mum, not that she didn't like the woman. She did. It just wasn't the same.

"Hey, wait, if the Rejects are there, won't you-know-who be there?"

Hitoshi shifted uncomfortably. He had hoped she wouldn't remember that piece of information but Shahero had a memory like an elephant when it suited her and a goldfish at other moments. "Yeah, she'll be there but that doesn't matter."

"You sure?" The idea made her slightly nervous. Sure, she knew Hitoshi's reasons for sleeping with the woman but she was his first and that meant something even if he denied it. She shook her head pushing the thoughts away. She'd deal with that when or if it came. Hitoshi said he loved her and she believed him, hell he put up with a lot from her and he was always there when she needed him, even if he didn't always know what he was comforting her about. Besides, she needed to concentrate on her game.

He nodded and she smiled when he took her hand and brought it to his lips. Once again she was left fighting a blush but she was slowly getting used to his odd romantic moments. And they were a nice change when she was otherwise occupied with exam stress and her team.

"It's pretty lousy timing for the scout." She mused softly, playing with the dark blue hairs on his forearm. "The team is a mess at the moment. I heard from Emily that Aspin and Kai had a huge row over something or other and Kane and Johnny are just waiting to beat the shit out of someone. And then there's Amber and Arista who aren't even playing. Mariah's good but she's still no match for Arista."

"How is Arista?"

Shahero sighed and cupped her chin with her free hand, her elbow resting on the cold metal of the table. "I don't know. She's always with Amber and she acts like everything's ok but I don't see how it can be. She's doesn't even seem to be reacting and she doesn't seem to be angry and she's not doing anything about it."

Hitoshi, who had been told by Shahero about the events of that night when he and Nicolai had stumbled on his unconscious cousin, grimaced. "People relate to things differently. Unless you've experienced the same thing, you can't possibly know how someone will react."

Shahero bit her lip and Hitoshi felt his blood run cold at her next words. "I did."

"You did? You did what?" He asked slowly, not wanting to believe what he was beginning to realize. It couldn't be possible, could it? No. Not Shahero. Not her.

She hadn't meant to tell him but he should know, she decided. After all, he told her about his past so it was only right. "It wasn't the same, he didn't try to kill me but it was similar." Taking a deep breath, she quickly explained. "I was sexually assaulted about two years ago, actually a year and ten months to be exact."

"What? Who?" How had that happened without him knowing? Granted he had left by then but still, he lived next door, surely he would have known. He should have noticed but he hadn't and instead he had flirted with her and-

"Hitoshi! Whatever you're thinking, forget it and his name doesn't matter because _he_ doesn't matter. He's long gone and I'm –well I'm not over it but I've moved on and I took a some counseling and I'm not scared anymore. I dealt with it and I've come out stronger because of it."

"But why didn't you tell me?"

She mustered up a smile to hide the fear building inside her. What if he rejected her because of this news? Some guys couldn't cope with knowing that their girlfriend had been assaulted. It was like they saw them as tainted. But she wasn't tainted. It wasn't her fault and if he did reject her, then he wasn't the guy she thought he was. He wasn't good enough for her, she told herself firmly even if a piece of her heart broke at the idea of him leaving.

Still, she gathered the courage to tell him. "Because it isn't an issue anymore. If I didn't want you to touch me, Hitoshi, you wouldn't. You didn't force me into a relationship with you and I don't regret being with you, so don't make an issue out of this. Don't let him win."

Hitoshi sighed and raked a hand through his hair. How did he feel about this? Did this affect his relationship with her now? A year and ten months was a long time ago, that was true, but it wasn't nearly long enough to deal with such a situation. Covering his mouth he sighed. "What happened?"

For a moment, she didn't answer, she simply played with a silver ring on her thumb and thought about what she could say. Finally she lifted her head to look at him. "I don't really want to talk about it. Not that you don't deserve to know, it's not that, it's just that we have a game tonight and I don't want to dredge it all up and have that hanging over me. It's just… it was a long time ago and I'm over it. He didn't rape me though what he did wasn't right and it hurt me more because he betrayed my trust." She became silent for a moment, eyes gazing into the distance. "I don't think about it much, I know it happened, but- I dunno, it's hard to explain, I just don't dwell on it but this whole thing with Arista, well it kind of brought it back."

Hitoshi nodded but inside he wasn't sure how to feel. It didn't repulse him but it disgusted him to know that someone had hurt her like that. That someone who had Shahero's trust and adoration had betrayed her. It just didn't make sense to him and the worst part was that he hadn't been there for her. He should have been there.

He reached over and caught her hand, intertwining his fingers with hers. "You don't have to tell me now but someday, if you want to tell me, I'll listen."

"That means a lot but you don't have-"

"This doesn't change us though." He replied seriously. "I've wanted you for too long to let some piece of shit take you away and there's also the fact that I love you."

She snorted with amusement and crossed to him, letting him pull her into his arms for a hug. She pushed away the memories that tried to escape from the dark box she had repressed them into, knowing that she would have to go into it in a lot more detail when she finally talked to Arista. After all, if it could help her friend get over what happened to her, then Shahero was willing to do whatever it took.

"Do any of the others know?" He wondered out loud. If they did, why didn't they tell him? Hadn't he the right to know? What if he had unknowingly done something to upset her? What if, due to his ignorance, he had driven her away? Didn't he warrant some sort of forewarning?

"Uh, yeah Amber knows and Russia and Ruin-" She frowned trying to remember who she had told or who had found out. "Johnny and Kane too, they were the ones… they helped me. I think that's all. I didn't want people to know, do you understand? I didn't want people to pity me and say, oh there goes the girl who was almost raped or… I just didn't want all of that. I dealt with it. I dealt with him my way, on my terms. Nobody else needed to know. Ok? And you won't tell anyone, will you?"

"No, of course I won't." But still, why hadn't he been told? Why hadn't she told him? If she had told him he wouldn't have pursued her, well not the way he did. He wasn't a complete saint. He still would have gone after her, he just would have been more gentler or something. He would have done it all differently. But he hadn't known and he couldn't change the past. And if he tried to change the present, she'd be angry with him and accuse him of pitying her.

With a sigh of resignation, he tipped her head up and pressed a soft kiss to her mouth before nudging her head back onto his shoulder. He'd think about what she said later, right now she needed him to comfort her, not demand answers or fling accusations. This wasn't about him. It was about her, so his disbelief and anger and pain would have to be pushed aside for the moment.

She smiled, burying her face into the crook of his neck and inhaling his scent. She felt something inside her expand a little more and her heart fluttered at the strange sensation. She supposed, deep down inside, she had always known that Hitoshi wouldn't push her away over something that had happened so long ago but part of her had feared that by telling him, he would fly into a furious rage. Lots of guys would have but Hitoshi wasn't some ordinary teenage boy, she had to keep reminding herself of that. It was one of the things she was growing to love about him. He kept her steady and safe and most of all loved and how could anything from the past tarnish that if she didn't let it? All she had to do now was convince Arista of the same.

* * *

"**Second period is just about over and for those of you who are just joining us… where the heck were you? You've just missed the most fantastic forty minutes ever and it's only set to get better. For those long time fans of the Tigers who were losing their faith you'll be happy to hear that the team is back on form. With a score of 8-0 and a scout out there in the crowds, Coach Hiwatari must be feeling pretty smug. I would be if I were him. All that time and effort put into making this team shine has really paid off. Even missing two valued players, the team is showing just why they are the lead contenders to steal the trophy from the Sharks.**

**The only blight on what should be a terrific night is Captain Kai Hiwatari. God knows what got into that guy but his head just isn't with the game tonight. Maybe there is some truth to the rumors about him and his ex girlfriend and one time team member Amber Benson. Whatever has happened, Kai just doesn't seem to give a shit about the game. His passes have been sloppy and his temper has gotten him in more trouble than enough. And one a night when there's a scout out there in the crowd, what a time to lose your cool. It'll be interesting to see what Coach Hiwatari will do now. Will he pull his son or will he be able to pull his son out of this funk because let's face it, we could all do with seeing something great from this star player."**

Nicolai studied his team with a sense of intense satisfaction. Since October he had been working on forming a team and finally tonight, they had shown him just what they could do when they put their minds to it. All that fear and worry about what would happen tonight between his team and the Rejects seemed so miniscule now. It was almost laughable and in fact he had laughed when, within the first minute, Shahero had shoved Queen out of her face and had blasted the puck into the back of the net. After that, it was plain sailing.

He felt like dancing but since that would only freak out his team, he refrained. But he couldn't describe the utter joy bubbling inside him, this need to just hug them all because his dream was finally coming true. This was the first team he had coached completely on his own and he had finally proven he could do it. He could keep a team together, create plays and win matches without bullying them. The triumph he felt was immense and the excitement and pride on their faces was just as stimulating.

"You guys are doing great. I have never seen you guys play so well before, not even when you played against the Sharks."

"It's the Rejects." Enrique pointed out pithily and the others gave a few shrugs and nods.

Their cool attitudes didn't diminish his feelings though. Of all the games that the Scout had to see, he couldn't have chosen a better one. They were like one mind out there, each moving at the right moment, knowing where the others would be without so much as a look. It was amazing. Especially knowing how chaotic their personal lives was at the moment, but it seemed as though they were keeping their problems off the ice. They were playing like pros.

"Hey this is the first time you haven't had to give out to us." Miyami suddenly pointed out. "We should mark this day down, with a red marker."

"Red letter day." Russia drawled leaning back against the wall.

"Just don't start getting big headed. The Rejects are going to be pulling out all the stops now. They have nothing to lose so they're going to be going all out, keep this up and you'll really give the Sharks something to fear. Hell, I'll even bet Balkov's cursing the air blue."

"Huh?!"

He chuckled at their blank looks before his eyes fell on his son. Typically Kai wasn't even paying attention and wasn't that the problem tonight. His son might as well not be there for all the good he was doing. With a sigh, he realized he needed to have a chat with his captain.

"Ozuma, I want you to run through those plays again. Mariah, keep your stick straight and hunch down a little farther. Don't come out so far from the net. Trust your defense to keep the puck away." The pink haired girl nodded determinedly, glancing at the enforcers who all sat up a little straighter. "Russia, remind me to work on your leg muscles and stamina. You're looking a little worn out there but you're doing great. All of you are doing great, so keep it up. Kai. My office. Now."

The tension rose as surprised, the team turned their gaze to their stoic leader. They'd never seen a student taken aside for a lecture in the middle of a match. It was unheard of and Kai was his son; they never really thought he'd take him aside like this. Fascinated they watched their captain.

Kai simply pushed away from the wall but didn't unfold his arms as he strode sulkily toward the small office.

Nicolai left them to their thoughts and followed his son inside the square room, closing the door behind him and pulling the blinds shut. "Would you please tell me what's wrong with you? You're out there playing like a zombie. Where's your heart Kai?"

"Give it a rest Dad. I'm playing my-"

"Don't say your best because we both know you're not. There's a scout out there Kai, a scout who'll give you a scholarship to play in a university team where'll you'll get spotted for the pro circuit. It's what you've always wanted."

"What's the point? Grandad's got my life all laid out for me. I'm going to college for a business degree, not to play sport."

Nicolai frowned, easing his hip onto the corner of his desk. He studied his son closely and frowned. There were shadows under his eyes, his face was paler than usual and strained, his shoulders tense and there was a spark missing from his gaze. "That's not like you."

"It's the Rejects Dad, who gives a shit. We're ahead so stop giving me grief about it. I'm not the only person on the team, let them carry some of the weight for a change, it'll do them good. Besides we'll win, we always do."

"Sheer dumb luck for the most part and you're winning tonight because they're carrying you. Tala is picking up every damn fumble you make; Russia's playing enforcer because you're not even aware of what's going on around you. Bryan's had to cover more ice because your passes aren't making it far enough and everyone is picking up the slack so that you don't have to. It's a team sport Kai, and you're either a member or you choose a sport where it's just you because they don't need you leaning on them and pulling them down. 8-0 is good but there's been times when it could have been more and wasn't due to your carelessness."

Whatever. The word wasn't said but the look, the attitude, his posture, said it all. Nicolai sighed. There was nothing he could say, his son never liked pep talks and right now he wasn't in the mood for false reassurances. So instead, Nicolai shrugged and walked to the door. "Maybe I'll just keep you on the bench. You're tired and you're mind isn't on the game and if that's your attitude, you don't deserve to be on the ice."

Kai's face went dark with temper; then it closed down to an icy blank mask as he jerked a shoulder and strode towards the door. Nicolai opened it and stepped through, prepared to tell Ozuma to take over leadership when the door to the changing room swung open and a miniature tornado swept through in the form of Amber. Eyes blazing, she swept the room with her gaze before they locked onto the defeated form of her ex.

"You, in there, now!"

He shot her a cool look, unimpressed by her commands. He caught the look that his father gave him, the curiosity burning in the gazes of his teammates and with a low suppressed growl, he turned and strode back into the office, holding the door open in mock politeness as Amber swept past him.

Shutting the door, he raised a brow and waited for her to launch her attack. What he hadn't expected was the sharp slap delivered to his face. His head snapped to the side from the sheer force of the smack and his cheek stung furiously. The temper that had been simmering inside during his father's lecture bubbled close to the surface as he looked back at her, hand raised to tentatively touch his cheek. When he read the intent in her blistering gaze again, he was ready for it and caught the hand mid-swing.

"Don't do that again." He seethed, squeezing her delicate wrist firmly. He wanted to hurt her, he realized. He wanted so badly to wound her, to see the pain flash across her features. Though it sickened him to realize that, he honestly couldn't bring himself to care. He squeezed it again.

Face flushed, chest heaving and eyes burning with vehemence, Amber met his gaze squarely and instead of saying anything, she simply fisted her free hand and ploughed it into his stomach.

"Bitch." He choked out, bending slightly at the waist as she struggled to yank her hand from his grip.

"You deserved that." She hissed, pulling against him.

He snarled and shoved her against the wall, grabbing her free hand which she tried to punch him with again –only this time she aimed for his face- and securing it with the other above her head. His lower body pinned hers to the wall as she bucked and wriggled in an attempt to free herself.

"Fuck off!" She snapped, yanking and twisting her body in an attempt to dislodge him. "You bastard, let go!"

"Not going to happen." He growled darkly, pressing closer so that she couldn't move anymore.

"I said let go!" Summoning every bit of her strength, she bucked against him, her hips pushing against his but he was an immoveable force and his hands were like manacles about her wrists. Panting hard from the exertion, she glared up at him, hating him with everything inside her. "I hate you." She breathed, hating herself just as much for allowing herself to get so damn upset. Tears filled her eyes, clouding her vision and her lips trembled as a shuddering breathed clawed its way up from her diaphragm.

His own breathing labored, Kai scowled down at her. "What the fuck are you playing at?"

The condescending tone and the accusation stroked her fury and she began to struggle once more in earnest, ignoring the heat that flooded her body and the electricity that jolted through her every time her hips brushed his. "I hate you. You asshole!"

"For fuck sake Ember, would you quit fighting me?" He snarled, pinning her more firmly so that they were pressed together, centre to centre and his breathing hitched, his body pulsed and he swallowed hard. She was glaring up at him, all angry defiance and something inside him broke. Instead of pinning her to the wall, he was suddenly holding her tight against him, head buried in the crook of her neck, breathing her in so that everything inside him settled and cooled, no longer burning like a fierce ache that couldn't be soothed. Nothing he seemed to do would quiet the darkness inside. It devoured him, gnawing on his insides until he was ready to explode from the pain and the anger and the hatred. And then suddenly it was quiet, so unbelievably quiet and he could think again. He could breathe and breathing felt good.

Stunned by the sudden shift, Amber stood still in his embrace. What the hell? Hold on a damn second, she thought furiously. She was angry with him, she had every right to be, the guy pretty much treated her like a leper these last few days and now he was hugging her like she was the most important thing in the world to him. She squirmed and wriggled out of his grip, frowning up at him as he stepped back, his bangs shading his gaze from her and that pissed her off.

"Sorry." He said curtly, shoving in hands into the pockets of his wide black shorts.

Amber blinked at him. Who the fuck was this? He wasn't Kai. Kai didn't act like a wounded puppy that had been kicked too many times. He certainly didn't apologize either.

"What's going on with you?" She finally demanded.

"Nothing."

"Nothing?" She repeated dumbly before shaking her head. Dammit, she was not going to be pulled in by this routine. She was here for a reason and she wasn't going to be distracted either. "Ugh! What the fuck are you playing at out there?"

"Go away Ember." He squeezed his thumb and middle finger against his brow and scowled. He didn't need a lecture from her, hell he didn't need her here at all. It was hard enough getting through each day without thinking about her; he didn't need her showing up like a bad omen. So he fucked up. Did she think he needed her to tell him that? Fuck no. So she could take her skinny ass and piss off. "Just fuck the hell off and leave me alone."

"Oh leave me alone," She mimicked derisively, "you sound like a damn whiny brat. What's wrong Kai; can't stand to hear the truth? You're playing like shite out there. I thought this was your big dream. Your hearts fucking desire! I mean that's what you told me and now you have your chance to show the world how damn awesome you are at playing hockey and you choke. What, couldn't you think of a better reason to break up with me? I mean, if the reason wasn't so damn lame, I would have thought it just a cheap line. But I can think of so many better ones. 'It's not you it's me.' Or 'you're-a-frigid-bitch-and-I-want-a-cheap-tart-who'll-satisfy-my-every-need', but oh no, you pull the, 'I-have-to-concentrate-on-my-hockey-career'. Liar!"

He glared at her from beneath his bangs and for a brief heart stopping moment he could understand exactly why Brooklyn might have hurt Arista the way he did. It popped into his heart for a millisecond as the only way to shut her damn trap.

"And the sad pathetic thing is that I believed you. Fuck, I actually wanted you to do well with your hockey; I even came down here to see you play. But I guess I'm just a naïve idiot, right? I mean, everyone else had it right. You broke up with me because I couldn't satisfy your needs, but of course, if you dumped me for Mariam, the team would-"

"Ember shut the fuck up!" He snapped, temper rising heatedly. "You have no clue what you're talking about. So go away before you make a bigger idiot of yourself."

Amber faltered and she closed her mouth quietly. He was right. She wasn't making any sense but god, how was she supposed to be coherent when she was feeling so messed up inside. She had been fine, perfectly ok actually with the break up, despite the rumors flying round. Yes, it hurt when he didn't back her up but she was sure he had some reason for it but then she heard from Aspin that he had kissed Mariam and then when she came to watch him play, she had to watch him make an ass of himself on the ice. It just hurt! And that hurt and betrayal turned to anger, a fury so ripe that she hadn't been able to sit through anymore, she just had to confront him and damn the consequences. He was…

"If you think of hitting me again…" He trailed off, not even needing to give her a threat. The words were enough. The glint in his eye, promise enough.

"You'd deserve it. Do you have any idea of how foolish I feel? Everyone's been tiptoeing around me since we broke up and there's me, laughing it off because what else can I do? I need to support your dreams right? I want you to play hockey so doing anything to counter that is selfish. I put up with the talking behind my back, the false sympathy and the rumors because I don't want it to upset you and all this time, you've been playing me. You know, I thought you couldn't hurt me anymore than you did. But I was wrong. So very wrong."

Defeated and hurting, she turned away from him and strode to the door, biting her lower lip to stop herself from breaking down. She'd just opened the door when it shut tight, a weight pressing against it. From the jittery nerves dancing along her spine, she knew that he was right behind her. She could feel the long line of warmth from his body pressing against her, -despite it not touching hers- as he held the door shut. The myriad of nerves along the base of her neck flared to awareness as his breath coasted over the fine hairs.

"I didn't lie." He murmured and she closed her eyes and swallowed the bitter longing that welled up inside her. "I can't be around you; I need to concentrate on my hockey."

"Then why are you… what are you doing out there?"

"I don't know." He whispered. "I can't think straight. My head's sore and my eyes… I'm tired. I'm just tired."

"Aren't you sleeping?"

She felt him sigh and the action caused a shudder to sweep down her body. "Not really."

She turned to look at him, concern chasing away the hurt, and found herself caged in by him. One arm was stretched over her head, a hand pressed against the door above her while the other was placed against the wall just inches from her side. He wasn't looking at her, almost as if the words he was speaking shamed him.

"You have to push that aside. There's a scout out there Kai and if he sees how good you are; then you'll be one step closer to achieving your dream."

"But at what cost?" He finally demanded.

"What do you mean?" She wondered.

"I- I don't know what I mean. Never mind." He said quietly, stepping away from her so that she was suddenly confronted with the cold air seeping into the gap between them that suddenly felt as wide as the Grand Canyon. "You should go."

That dismissal pissed her off. She fisted her hands and glared up at him, tempted to hit him again but he looked so morose, she just knew he wouldn't even try to defend himself. It just wouldn't be fair. "Kai Nicolai Hiwatari, I swear to god you are the most frustrating person in the known universe. And we really don't have to time to drag this all out because you have a game to play but if you play like this, you'll be off the team and then you'll never play pro. Now why are you not sleeping?"

"Because I can't sleep without you!"

"Huh?! Kai… Look, you have slept plenty of nights without me… actually every night without me."

"I-I…" He sighed and strode away.

"And that doesn't explain why you kissed Mariam." She pointed out, folding her arms and scowling at his back.

"I never kissed Mariam. She kissed me and I didn't kiss her back. I _don't_ want Mariam."

"Boy you really are tired." She murmured softly, even as a glow of warmth began to grow in her stomach. He was pouting and looked so adorably sulky. "I get cranky too." She told him matter-of-factly with a quick flex of her lips.

That forced a half laugh from him and a truth. "I miss you. I didn't realize how much I would."

"Oh… well, I miss you too."

"But I can't be around you. Not without wanting to…" he licked his lips before finishing the sentence, tone hushed with guilt. "…you know. Stuff."

Stuff, she imagined, was something like crap. It stood for anything and everything but she gathered that in this case 'stuff' stood for all that romantic crap that couples who desired each other did. She bit her lip and sighed. Yeah, she could understand that. It was like Kai was a magnet and she just wanted to go to him. Didn't matter what mood he was in, she felt compelled to be near him and the nearer she was, the closer she wanted to be. "Ok…so… how about we hang out but with a chaperone. I mean, you're not going to jump my bones if there's someone with us. Or we could practice together." She suggested quickly, trying to think of some way to solve the problem. And why wasn't she angry anymore? How come she couldn't stay angry with this boy? It was weird. She usually could keep a grudge for ages but Kai just seemed to cool her temper. Strange, and not just a _little_ scary.

"What, one on one?" He raised a brow and gave her a pointed look.

Ok, yeah, empty ice rink and the two of them alone… well there probably wouldn't be an _ice_-rink left with that scenario. All that heat between them… "We could work on our history project together?"

His look became even more pointed with a dash of arrogance, the old Kai peeking out. "In the library? Yes, because that worked so well before." He drawled sardonically.

"Well, we don't have to sit in the same spot," she grumbled petulantly; then she sighed at his look. "Ok fine. Do you have any better ideas? No; so you've worked yourself into a state where you can't even concentrate on your hockey. So… this is just weird. Everyone else who breaks up never wants to see the other again." She growled.

"This is different."

"Yep. We didn't break up because we wanted to. Obviously we still care about each other but we can't be together, can't be friends either because it won't work with us, yet. It's like we need to be weaned off each other." She muttered to herself, earning an amused look from Kai. "Have you got a better explanation? Yeah, I didn't think so. So get off your high horse or I'll kick you off." She sighed and began to pace.

She didn't even really have time to think about all of this because Kai was needed out on the ice and there was only so much time that Nicolai would give them. Only so much time that Kai could use to impress the scout; and, he _should_ be out there impressing the scout. Hell if she had the chance, she probably wouldn't even do a line change. She'd stay out until she collapsed with exhaustion, but alas, she'd probably never get to play in front of a scout; not with the slow way she was _not _gaining weight.

"I'm sorry about not saying anything about the rumors. I should have said something."

"Oh, the 'I'm pregnant' rumors? Meh, you probably had the right idea. Ignore them and they'll go away. Besides, sooner or later they're going to cop to the fact that I'm not gaining any baby weight. Heck I'm not gaining any weight. Not to mention that I plan to let Ian find a sanitary pad in my school bag next month."

"What?"

"Well, if I was pregnant I wouldn't be having my period, now would I? Come on, think about it. Hey!" She stopped pacing to look at him. "How about this, you can't sleep at night and thinking about it, I'm not sleeping well either. And that's because usually I fall asleep after talking to you. So how about we phone each other just before bed at night. That way we can talk and keep up on each other's lives and with you on one side of the school and me on the other, you can't jump my bones and I can't jump yours."

"Talk, on the phone?"

"No mentally-" She broke off and bit her tongue before replying. "Just go with it, or at least give it a try. We like talking to each other, right? I mean, I have loads of things I want to tell you but because of the whole, we-can't-be-around-each-other-without-a-chaperone-thing; I can't really talk to you. This kind of solves things and then with time, we'll be able to talk in person because we'll be used to not being a couple."

He frowned at her. It made sense, in an Amber-esque sort of way and he could admit he missed talking to her, missed hearing her voice and her thoughts and the strange way she put words together to explain her rather random thoughts. He missed it all.

Maybe she had a point.

"Plus, you're still my phone a person for free thing on my phone, so I won't waste credit."

"You're a scrooge."

"Yeah, well I'm not going to be a rich professional hockey player; I have to watch my money."

He chuckled at the indignant tone and sighed. He liked the idea. He liked knowing that he could talk to her. God, he really missed her. It was like everything inside had been dead and empty inside and now it was beginning to look bright again.

"So are you feeling any better?"

He nodded and she smiled, prompting a smaller one of his own. "Thanks."

"No problem." She forced the lump from her throat. It was so hard, trying to be cheerful but if it helped him; then she'd do it. "So I'm going to go and watch the end of the match and you are going to phone me tonight at a quarter to eleven to tell me how things go with the scout? OK?"

"Do you think it'll work?"

She sighed heavily. Were there any guarantees in life? "Well something has to. This isn't normal. Just don't kiss Mariam again, or let her kiss you." She quickly added. "I don't like it."

"I won't. I don't want her anyway. She's not you."

"Damn right she's not."

"How's Mystel?" He asked pointedly and she flushed.

"I haven't seen him at all, I just phone him to know how Adam's doing but I'll tell you all about that on the phone tonight. Ok? So go out there and have fun and wow everyone." She offered another smile and a wave as she headed for the door only to turn and throw her arms around him. She knew it wasn't any good to either of them but she needed to offer comfort and be comforted. His arms wrapped around her, strong and firm and reassuring. She breathed him in and let his scent fill those empty places inside her, if only for a little while. Her body fit perfectly against his and she could feel his heart beat, strong and steady and in that one moment, everything felt right.

Finally she pulled away and opened her mouth to say something only to find it covered by his. A blissful, mind-numbing second later, he was sauntering off, confidence oozing with every step. Gathering his bag, he glanced back at her and chuckled at the dazed look in her eyes.

"For luck." He explained.

"Yeah well that doesn't help you one bit."

"You'd be surprised."

"You prick!"

"You love me for it."

"You wish."

"Aren't you going to wish me luck?"

"I hope you break a goddamn metatarsal!"

"Aw, I didn't know you cared."

"Ass." He chuckled at her halfhearted criticism and grinned as he walked down the corridor, his brow quirking imperially as he caught Aspin's dark look of suspicion as she leaned against the wall opposite him. He walked past her, intending to say nothing, then stopped, pulling a leather-bound book from his bag.

"This is for you."

"What is it?" She asked coolly as she studied it, refusing to take it from him yet.

"Kennedie's diary. Every plot she's ever come up with, every nefarious deed she's carried out is all written in there. Give it to Shahero or someone to post on the school site if she ever, and I mean ever, does anything to Amber again."

Aspin blinked taking the book when it was thrust into her hand. She watched him walk back towards the arena and frowned down at the diary in her hands. Kai Hiwatari… would she ever understand him?

* * *

The crowd was roaring and screaming and to someone outside the arena, it probably sounded as though there was a massacre being committed. Inside the figures in teal and blue streaked from one end of the ice to another, chasing a little black puck barely visible to anyone at the back of the stadium. Up close, at the side of the rink, Nicolai watched the disc fly over the polished ice only to be flicked towards the centre by a stick. 

"Come on," He growled, his eyes flicking to the black box sitting over the ice. On the bottom in luminescent numerals, the score shone: 12-0. Just two more goals and he'd have beaten the Sharks score. And wouldn't that stick in Balkov's craw?! "Come on! Ian, pass it!"

Ian slapped the puck down the ice only for it to be intercepted by Foxy on a break away. Say what you want about the kid, Nicolai thought, but he was a speedy little bugger. Suddenly a figure slid in front of him and Foxy faltered a second before continuing on, the figure in front of him matching his move easily despite moving backwards. Another figure joined the first and Foxy suddenly realized he was facing down two Tigers, and not just any two.

Nicolai smirked as the Rejects Captain almost tripped over his own blades and that casual mistake allowed Kai to slip in and steal the puck, taking it down the ice with him before he passed it to Tala and evaded a tackle by a short bulky enforcer.

"**That's Jason Harring on the ice, and that's bound to have made a crack. Tala Valkov with the puck, he passes to Kai Hiwatari. Oh and that was a spectacular maneuver out of the way of the second ****defenseman. He takes the shot and… HE SCORES!! Number 56, Kai Hiwatari scores for the Preston Tempest Tigers. I don't know what Coach Hiwatari said to him but it sure lit a fire under that boy. It's clear to see why he led the Sharks to all those victories. Let's hope he can do the same for the Tigers. Oh- and Valkov's on the ice. He took a nasty fall- NO! Looks like James Fox, the Rejects Captain is being booked for unsportsmanlike conduct. It's at times like these that I wish we had a camera to replay what just happened."**

"Number 07, James Fox, Unsportsmanlike Conduct." The Ref declared as he delivered the unrepentant captain to the box.

The crowd booed and hissed while the reject players on the ice and Gideon hurled obscenities and shouted that the call was unfair. Nicolai nodded in approval, the attack having been unprovoked and shot Gideon a disgusted look as the man muttered insults under his breath.

"Nice goal, Kai." Miyami grinned as she leaned forward on the bench. Kai leaned against the board and nodded breathlessly, his eyes searching the crowd for Amber's face. She was giving out rather angrily to her cousin who was sitting in the row in front of her, complete with a lot of finger pointing and dark looks. He chuckled as Sonia simply shook her head and Tyson joined the argument so that Amber was pointing at and lecturing Daichi with one finger and telling Tyson to stay out with another.

"So you two work things out?"

He glanced at his silver haired friend while keeping an eye on the referee who was debating with Selena Kaye over the booking. "Yeah, I guess. Hey Dad, what's Kaye up to?"

Nicolai shook his head. "She's wasting time. How're you? Still ok to play a little longer? Gideon's probably going to call a line change-" As if on cue, Gideon shouted out to his team. "I'll call mine in another few minutes so they're fresher towards the end."

"Sounds fine to me. Sorry about earlier."

"Score another goal and that'll be enough of an apology."

"Gee, you're not tough on your son at all." Miyami teased good-naturedly, waving at Russia who was rolling her eyes and making faces at Queen's back.

Zeo and Tala were chatting quietly, the younger boy probably asking if the red head was ok and not too hurt. Kai took note of Wyatt leaning on his stick and studying the crowd intently. He didn't need to follow the boy's gaze since he had been looking up there not a moment before but it was interesting to note the boy still seemed to have some interest with Amber and that thought unsettled him a little. He had no claim on her anymore, she was free to see who and what she liked, but god, he didn't have to like it.

He looked up into the crowd again, catching sight, with some amusement, of an uneasy Clover.

He wondered if she had noticed that Kennedie's diary was no longer on the table where she'd left it. It probably hadn't been wise of him to take it but he was someone who was taught to take advantage of an opportunity. He was also smart enough to know that Kennedie Banks kept a diary. She was too vain not to, especially with lackey's that she obviously didn't trust. Where else would she share her most private thoughts and plans? Where else would she find praise for her epic revenge plots?

So when he came across Clover reading the book in the library–the diary being the only book she ever read, he'd heard her telling Tahnee about it once-, his interests had been piqued. And when she had sulkily gone to spit out gum at the request of the librarian and had left the diary lying on the desk with no one else around, it was like fate tempting him to take it. It was just too easy.

So he had taken advantage of the moment, grabbing his bag which he had returned to get in the first place and when he passed the desk, he simply lifted the diary and took it with him. Every single thought, every future plot all recorded neatly in Kennedie's own identifiable script, with her name inscribed in gold on the cover. It would be like Octopussy gold and hopefully it would make amends for his pitiful behavior this past week. It had just taken Aspin's words to make him realize how stupid he had been. It was just a good thing Amber knew him better and wasn't that a scary thing to know. His Imp knew him just as well as he figured he knew her. Definitely scary.

"Oh come on, ref, we're growing old here!" Johnny shouted startling him from his thoughts.

"Think we should dig a hole for Mr Dickinson now or wait?"

"If we wait, he'll be all skeletal and decrepit."

"Guys, behave." Nicolai ordered, his lips twitching at Shahero and Miyami's mournful tones laced with mocking respect. His eyes flicked to the Headmaster who was sitting on the edge of his seat, with his hands clasped and an expression of utter rapture on his face. The old man sure loved his hockey.

"Aw come on, Ref!" This came from Kane who was thumping his head lightly off the wall in front of him.

Michael covered his face with his hands and muttered under his breath. "Sometime today."

"Would you stop looking at Kaye's breasts and restart the damn game." Ruin growled through clenched teeth.

"Foxy still has to serve two minutes right? He's not actually serving that now, is he?" Enrique wondered.

"Don't give her ideas." Rei warned, folding his arms and sitting back with an expression of disbelief. "Coach-"

Nicolai nodded. "This is a joke."

"Don't do anything rash, dad." Kai warned. "You know what can happen."

Nicolai stopped his movement to leave the box and sighed. Kai was right. His impatience could cost his team. He wouldn't do that to them. His eyes moved over the opposing team and he noted the glimmer of triumph in Gideon's team. Looking around, he caught sight of Hitoshi up in the stands, back against the wall with a frown marring his features.

"I need Hitoshi's number."

Miyami reached for her pocket then flinched apologetically. "My phone's in my bag."

Nicolai scowled, putting his phone away only to look up when Shahero recited the number from memory. Of course she knew it but he didn't like to be reminded about their relationship. Technically he didn't even know about it. Without saying anything, he entered the number and rang.

"Why doesn't he have the number on speed dial?"

Kai gave Miyami a funny look. "Dad doesn't know how to work the damn thing. He knows my number and mum's off by heart, the same with other important ones, any others and he gets the phone book."

"Weird."

"Don't even talk to him about text messaging. The only texts he knows are text books."

The team snickered while shooting Nicolai, who was talking in muted tones to Hitoshi, bemused looks. So there was something new to their coach. He didn't know a thing about technology.

"Right, things should be starting soon." Nicolai stated, shoving his phone back into the pocket of his slacks ruining the line of them with its bulk. "Look, you've won this but there's still time to rub their noses in it, especially for this debacle. They're treating us like we're less than them, we're not the ones called the Rejects but until we beat the Sharks, we're still going to be known as second rate. It's time to show them just how good you can be. You're a good team and this is the time to show that it's not just luck that has carried you this far."

"Sir!"

Ian muffled a snicker, they sounded like they were all going off to war with Nicolai as their leader, all they needed was the salute.

"Now we've got a powerplay but they've got fresh players. We need to take advantage of them being one man down. Tala and Kai, you two try to keep the puck up in their side and take your shots if you see the chance. Bryan, Spencer, I'm saving you two, when you get on the ice, keep any of their forwards away from Mariah but don't block her vision. She doesn't know how you two move, she can't anticipate everything the way Arista can."

Kai nodded, purpose flowing renewed within him. This was what he had been striving for all his life ever since his father first took him to a hockey game. On that day, he had vowed that someday he would be on the ice, he would be on posters in kids bedrooms and he would be on the TV advertising the best gear. Of course, all that sounded pretty shallow now but he had been six at the time and he didn't have to do all that stuff, all he wanted to do now was play.

How had he forgotten that?

How could he have forgotten the kick of adrenaline just seeing the arena before a big match? How could he have forgotten how much he loved the smell of the ice and the clear air? How could he have forgotten the way the ice gleamed when it was freshly buffed? Or the charge in the air when the arena was packed with fans? Or the goosebumps he got when he was charging down the ice on a breakaway?

His eyes traveled up the rows of seats, over the hundreds of faces he didn't recognize or care to until he found the one that mattered. He caught her gaze and rolled his eyes towards the referee, feeling a tug at his lips when her own curled in that cute way they did when she was reluctantly trying hard not to smile but couldn't contain it.

"Oh for god's sake, stop making goo-goo eyes at Benson. It's sickening." Ian gagged.

Kai glowered at the stumpy little prick but even as he did, he caught the black look Johnny and Kane exchanged at his expense and he wondered at it. Now what was that about? Kane and Johnny had no claim on Amber but the two had been overly temperamental these past few days, anything could and probably would set them off. He just didn't need their attitude turned on him, he had more important things to worry about.

Shaking his thoughts clear, he pushed away from the box vaguely hearing the well wishes and calls of 'good lucks', and headed towards the middle of the ice for the face off. As he approached the circle he was joined by Tala.

"So Amber looks pretty cheerful." His red head friend pointed out amicably.

Kai smirked, recognizing the almost casual question as a cool interrogation. "I told you, what passed between me and Ember is none of your business."

"Look, I like you two together; you're good for her but…"

"But?" Kai asked, his teeth beginning to clench. He was getting just a tad irritated with people always butting in to their business even if it was with the best intentions.

"But if you're supposed to be concentrating on hockey; then…" Tala trailed off wondering how to express himself properly so that he didn't offend his friend. Kai was the closest thing to a brother he had and Amber had always been his best friend, more even. They were the closest two people could be without being involved romantically. "Just be careful with her, Kai. She's not as tough as she acts."

Kai threw him a fulminating look before focusing back on the ice as the referee approached, ushering the Rejects up. Kai slid into his usual stance, acutely aware of Russia and Tala flanking him with Ian and Kane hovering behind them acting as guard between any Rejects and Mariah. Bracing himself, he readied to block the Reject in front of him –who he recognized as King- when the puck dropped.

The puck was dropped to the ice and immediately King's stick flicked out and scooped it back to one of his defensemen. Kai snarled and whipped round to chase the right wing –who had the puck now- up the side just as Ian slammed in to him, leaving the puck, a black dot on the white ice. Tala swung his stick back and knocked the puck to Russia who swept it down the ice.

The crowd was on their feet chanting, Foxy was sitting in the penalty box shouting to his teammates while the Tigers were shouting and screaming cheers and encouragement.

As Russia ducked under one enforcer, Ian and Ruin fled to the box, to be quickly replaced with Bryan and Spencer who immediately set to work, knocking down one reject after another. Passing the puck to Tala, Russia shoved Queen out of her road in order to get a better angle for a shot. Queen shouted and went after the red haired Irish woman.

Tala took the puck round the net and when he was in position, he looked up and locked eyes with his helpless cousin, stuck behind the Perspex screen, before he slapped the puck towards the net. The arena held its breath as the goalie dived and for a heartbeat, everything stood still. Then the alarm blared and the Tigers and fans alike burst into a round of riotous cheers as the band burst to life.

Kai hurried over to congratulate his friend who was performing a low sweeping bow in front of the penalty box. However the sound of the commentator stopped him and had him wheeling round to seek out his cousin. What he saw made his exasperation grow. What the hell was Russia doing?

"**That is Russia Kennedy and Caroline King duking it out in front of the ****nets and if I were the goalie for the Rejects, I would not be- Told you."**

Kai hissed in a breath and rushed over to try to pry his cousin away from Queen. He gripped her around the shoulders and began to tug her back, mindful of her swinging limbs. "Dammit, Russ, what do you think you're doing?"

"Dat bitch started it!"

"Don't care." He bit out. "What does thumping her prove?"

"Don' pull dat moral high ground shit with me, dear cousin."

Kai frowned down at her as the referee skated over to guide her towards the penalty box. What had she meant by that? Was that some kind of reference to his playing earlier? He had been bad, barely concentrating on the game but he hadn't started any meaningless fights though there had been some questionable moments.

"**That's five minutes major game misconduct for fighting. Russia Kennedy and Caroline King will be spending the rest of the game in the penalty box. There's not much longer to go and the Tigers have really proved their right to be in the finals. With only two more matches to go, there's no doubt in my mind that they will go up against the Sharks. At any rate, there's no chance that the Rejects will come back from this devastating defeat. I don't think they've ever lost this bad before, this will be a blow to their self esteem especially since a lot of past Bakuten players are attending this elite school. It's a shame for these underdogs but maybe they'll have their chance again next year. And there's the alarm signaling the end of the game. The Tigers come out strong but kudos to the Rejects who really gave it their all against an incredibly strong team. We'll see you again soon for the match between the Tigers and the Warriors. "**

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**

Music blared from the loud speakers positioned on the stage where the band had set themselves up, playing for the group of students who'd gathered in the lounge. Or Brooklyn supposed it was a lounge, it had worn couches and a TV. Ping-Pong tables had been pushed back to create a clearing for dancing and the study tables had been aligned together to create a buffet table of sorts.

He shifted his position to get a better view of his most distinguished adversaries. Valkov was seated at the end of a couch with the very delectable Ruin Mulryan sitting on the arm. They were sitting closely, their arms intimately entwined as they spoke with Hiwatari. The ex-Shark captain was subtly amused with their conversation while shooting the lead singer of the band a few appreciative looks.

Brooklyn frowned and focused on her, raising a brow when he realized it was Benson. She must have cut her hair, he mused. It looked good on her and her voice was surprisingly nice, clear and strong with a certain throatiness to it, something completely different to her speaking voice. It was as he watched her smile at a few faces in the crowd and saunter up and down the makeshift stage with the microphone to her mouth that he realized that he'd missed having her around, poking fun at him and generally getting up to all kinds of mischief with Mystel.

Then he frowned. If she hadn't just abandoned their little plan, then Hiwatari wouldn't have found out and Arista wouldn't have broken up with him. Christ he missed his Belle. He missed her like a fierce hollow ache in his chest. He felt so empty and numb and the only fire he could fill it with was always lost a few moments later. The self righteous assholes were right. Drinking didn't help. He only served to humiliate himself by getting drunk and when he woke up from his stupors, the pain was always there. No, he wasn't going to drink anymore. He had promised Mystel, hadn't he?

Besides, drinking wouldn't get his Belle to forgive him. What he had done had been unforgivable. For Christ's sake, he had almost killed her. He didn't harm things, he didn't even harm spiders but Belle… she had just destroyed all his control and he had just wanted to shut her up. He didn't really remember it either. He had just been so angry and then suddenly there she had lay in her cousins' arms pale and barely breathing. He had ruined everything just because he couldn't control his temper. Maybe his parents were right. He should have kept taking those drugs; he couldn't live with this darkness anymore.

His gaze swept over the students and he sighed heavily. She wasn't there and he had been so sure that she would be but she hadn't been at the game either. He had been so careful to not be spotted, so that he wouldn't scare her off but she hadn't shown up. Maybe she was in her dorm. None of them would there now; this might be the perfect time to talk to her.

With a determined nod, he turned on his heel and walked down the stairs from the rooftop where he had been spying on them through the skylight.

Everyone would be busy now. He had seen them all inside. He could go to Arista, convince her that maybe now would be a good time to talk. Without all of her friends to poison her against him, maybe he could convince her just how sorry he was.

He pushed open the fire safety door to the corridor and closed it quietly behind him. The music had gotten louder, he noted. The song had changed and it had a louder chorus with someone screaming some lyrics in the midst of it all. He pushed open a thick swing door and froze suddenly when a tall figure strode round the corner muttering into a phone. His head shot up sensing he was not alone and Brooklyn flinched in reaction.

The red head moved slowly, murmuring a farewell as he folded the phone and slowly, carefully slid the phone into his pocket with a strained deliberation. The eyes narrowed and his jaw clenched hard as they focused on him.

"Tell me that I'm seeing things," Johnny chuckled bitterly, his laugh sounding harsh, like broken glass. "because not even you could be so stupid as to show up here, of all places. So I must be drunk."

Brooklyn scanned the area looking for an easy method of escape. He didn't want to deal with McGregor. He didn't want to draw attention to his being there; it was the last thing that Arista needed. She didn't need to see him; it would only hurt her more. "Look, I don't want to cause trouble."

"Arista." Johnny suddenly spoke, as comprehension dawned. "You came here to see Arista. Are you fucking kidding me?! You nearly kill her and then you come to see her?"

"I didn't… mean to." He finished softly. Even as he heard the words, he knew that they sounded pathetic and weak. McGregor was right, he had tried to hurt Belle, had succeeded in hurting her. "I… I just needed to know. She isn't answering my phone calls- I just needed to know… how is she?"

"You bastard." Johnny hissed viciously. "You think you have a right to ask that? Get the fuck out of here and don't come back."

"I only wanted to-"

Before Johnny could say a thing to the arrogant shark, a blue blur rushed past him and Brooklyn was suddenly knocked back a step. Brooklyn sucked in a breath as scarlet pain exploded behind his eye lids. His jaw felt numb with pain and his head snapped violently to the side, so fast that he felt something in his neck snap. Seeing stars, he swayed on his feet.

"You bastard. Who the fuck do you think you are?" A voice demanded but Brooklyn had a hard time concentrating when another pain throbbed in his gut. He should defend himself, he could almost hear Mystel demanding that he fight back but he couldn't. Why should he defend himself? Had Arista? No. This was justice. He deserved this.

Kane snarled and drew back his fist, sending it straight into Brooklyn's face again, enjoying the feel of flesh cracking under flesh but the bastard wasn't fighting back and that was taking away the satisfaction.

"Fight back, you prick!"

Johnny watched impassively. As a decent person, he should have been jumping in there when he realized that Adams wasn't fighting back but he didn't, or he was taking his time to do it. It wasn't like Adams had been so keen on letting Arista fight back.

Kane shoved hard and Brooklyn stumbled back, left eye beginning to swell and lip cracked so that red blood and saliva dribbled down and stained his chin and white shirt. Another punch sent Brooklyn reeling back into the wall and for the first time, the boy let out a shout of pain, crumbling forward and breathing shallowly.

Kane sneered but Johnny stepped forward, laying a hand on his shoulders to stop him. "Leave him, he's not worth it."

"He's done worse to Arista, Jay, for god's sake, he almost killed her. He deserves everything he gets."

"He's right." Brooklyn slurred, rising drunkenly to his feet. His face was drawn with pain, the blood having drained from his face. "He's right. I deserve it all."

"Little fucker," Kane hissed, looking back at Johnny, disbelief prominent on his features. "Do you hear this? He's acting like he's a fucking martyr."

"I hear it." Johnny growled, his own fists clenching. Too bad Kane got in there first. It would be too unfair if both of them beat him up but still, he watched as Kane slammed his fist into Brooklyn's jaw sending him back against the wall. The whole time Brooklyn hardly flinched while Kane was hitting him but as soon as he hit the wall, an agonized cry escaped his lips and his face crumpled in pain. Johnny frowned and stepped forward. That wasn't right. He shouldn't have reacted like that, he thought, as Kane grabbed the neckline of Brooklyn's shirt and drew his fist back to punch the defenseless red-head once more. Johnny cursed and grabbed the hand, halting it mid-flight.

Kane turned to him, eyes wide with betrayal. "Johnny? What are you doing? He-"

"I know what he did." Johnny grunted. He didn't want to pity the prick but if he wasn't going to fight back… "Just leave him, he's not worth it. Think about Arista, she wouldn't condone this."

Kane snarled and shoved himself away from Brooklyn, knocking the boy back against the wall again eliciting another cry of pain. "What the fuck's wrong with you?!"

"Nothing, it's just my back." Brooklyn muttered an explanation, tentatively reaching behind him to touch his back, hissing and jerking his hand back in pain.

The glimmer of something wet and red on the boys' fingers surprised them. Johnny yanked the ex-shark away from the wall by his shoulder and turned him round, scowling when he noted that there were bloody red blotches spreading across his white shirt.

"Shit."

"What happened to you?" Kane demanded shocked. He watched as Johnny easily overpowered Brooklyn in order to pull up the fabric and examine the wounds. Brooklyn growled and twisted in his grip, using every method possible to get away but Johnny hadn't just been beaten up and Johnny wasn't losing blood. Brooklyn was, so it took no effort to restrain him. All the same Johnny cuffed him around the ear.

"Hold still, you bugger." He muttered leaning forward to study the angry red lacerations. "Holy fuck, what are these?"

"Nothing," Brooklyn choked out, fear suddenly closing his throat as panic began to flood through him. He didn't want them to see, he didn't want them to know and pity him. Dammit, he wanted them to be angry. He wanted them to hate him, not examine him like he was one of them. He wasn't and it was none of their damn business. Putting some extra effort into his struggles, he managed to yank himself away from Johnny and he whipped round to face them, tugging his shirt so that it didn't stick to the seeping wounds. "They're none of your business, ok? So stay the fuck out of it."

"Gladly, just as long as you stay the fuck away from Arista."

Brooklyn mustered up just enough disdain to sneer at them. That's right; the precious Tiger's always looked out for their own. The precious fucking Tigers always stuck their noses into everyone's fucking business. It was that goddamn nosiness that cost him Arista's affection, not that he deserved it, he though bleakly, stumbling away from them, intent on finding his way out of the school without having another showdown.

Johnny and Kane watched him go with varying degrees of confusion and shock. Turning they, regarded each other. "What the hell happened to him?"

Johnny frowned, rubbing a hand over his suddenly bone dry mouth. "Shit, I don't know, but if you ask me, those cuts looked a lot like the type you'd get from being whipped."

"Whipped? What you think he's into S&M or something?"

Johnny regarded the blue haired boy with a baleful look. "No, I think someone took a fucking belt to him. That's what I think."

"Who the hell would do something like that?"

The red head Scot shrugged. "Dunno, but I bet you T does."

"Shit," Kane barked out a repulsed yet fascinated snort of laughter. "you think it was a teacher or something? Or his captain?"

"I don't know," Johnny bit out gruffly. "but if it was, well, it kind of explains why they're all fucked up."

Kane shuddered in disgust, raking a hand through his hair as he scanned their surroundings warily. "Shit yeah, but that doesn't let him off the hook for Arista."

"Of course not, but let's just stay away from him."

"Hey, you don't think they did stuff like that to, you know, _them_, do you?"

Johnny paused for a moment before shaking his head. "I don't want to know, way I see it, and if it did, it's their business. I'm not asking them."

"Me neither." Kane mumbled, shoving his hands into his pockets, hissing when the scraped skin caught on the fabric. He'd have to get some ice on it and start wearing those fingerless gloves again. The last thing he needed was Aspin finding out what he'd done to that prick, it would only be a matter of time before Arista found out and he wasn't going to be responsible for driving her back into Adam's arms.

* * *

Brooklyn winced and sucked in a sharp breath. Dammit, his shirt was soaked through and it was already drying to the skin. He wasn't looking forward to having to peel it off, that would just be another pain. Then he'd have to get rid of it without Mystel noticing; damn, he shouldn't have gone to Preston. It's not like anyone cared that he was sorry and Arista hadn't even noticed him. She hadn't even showed up. 

He pressed his finger and thumb to his eyes, fighting the burning and the wave of tiredness that crept over him. He missed her. He missed looking at her. He missed being around her. He missed hearing her voice. It was like a churning in the gut that nothing would sate; a gnawing hunger that nothing would fill.

He let out a heavy sigh and he shoved his key into the fire-door at the back of the dormitory. Technically, it was only an exit door but he had finagled the key from the caretaker two years ago and it had proved highly useful. Though he never quite figured out why it never set off an alarm every time it was open but he supposed that was just sheer laziness on the part of the dorm monitors. Besides, there were security men patrolling the grounds with torches and CCTV cameras so they probably figured it was pretty safe.

Closing the door, he ambled up the quiet corridor. Everyone was fast asleep already, it was almost 2:30 and lights out occurred at ten. He was way past curfew; he snorted out a soft chuckle. Yeah, way past curfew. Mystel wasn't going to be happy. He snickered. Mystel was like a wife, always nagging and always worrying.

His snickering continued as he meandered up the hall, bracing himself against the walls and pushing away from them again.

103, 104, 105, 106, 107, 108, 106… Where was 109? Oh no, that 106 _was_ 109… huh? Whose bright idea was it that 6 should be an upside down nine? Or was it the other way round?

Oh who cares? He demanded gruffly, flinching as another wave of pain wracked through him. Dammit, he was going to have to get Mystel to re-bandage his wounds and that would lead to more questions. If only Suzuro hadn't thrown him up against the wall. He would have been fine.

He slipped his hand into his pocket and pulled out his key, blinking his eyes to stop the wavering vision. Finally seeking out the keyhole, he unlocked the door and stumbled inside, all but whimpering in pain as he closed the door, resting his forehead against the cool wood. Suddenly he froze and with a sharp intake of breath, he turned slowly and frowned at the pair on the bed. Well shit, he thought grimly as he found himself staring at the guilty expression on Mystels' face and the stoic expressionless façade on Garland Thorntons'. Oh double shit, he thought as the room began to spin and he caught the way their expressions melted into ones of shock and worry just before his world turned black.

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**A.N.** Heh Heh… um, yeah I guess you're all pretty angry with me for the long wait. Well let me explain. After the last chapter I planned to wait a month or so before I wrote again, surprisingly, while it didn't seem like it at the time, that chapter just drained me of all emotion so it seemed so simple to just take a break and throw myself into my course work. Then when I tried to write, I couldn't feel anything. I couldn't feel the characters and everything I wrote just seemed flat and believe me, I wrote a lot. I had one chapter almost complete but when I got to a certain point, it was like… nothing, just a complete blank and there was no getting past it. So I reread it and realized that it wasn't right. The characters weren't right, the dialogue was wrong and the interactions were alien. 

So I dusted that and decided to try again. I must have 7 different versions of the start of this chapter sitting on my computer. Then I got this beginning and liked it but the next scene was off, even the beginning of this scene wasn't right so I had to rewrite that, and Sarah can vouch for this. Actually a lot of my friends can. So I rewrote that. And then I got really into writing this around September but then there were scenes that were tough, so I tried to write and ended up deleting them until I got what I wanted and here you go, I'm posting this before I get a chance to find more flaws. This whole perfectionist thing is killing me. In future, I think I'll get someone to read my chapters and tell me –in an unbiased manner- if the chapter is good or not because I can't tell anymore.

I'm not trying to excuse the wait, I know it was terrible but I have a lot on so please be patient. I'm in no way abandoning my writing, certainly not SLTS, it's my baby and I have loads to write for it. However, I have no internet and there're no beyblade stories on that inspire me in the slightest, I'm sorry to say. Well bar, Arcada's because it's just… I dunno, addictive and when I finish I'm revved to write my own story, it's that good but she's being lax on the updates too!! **ARCADA GET YOUR BUTT IN GEAR!** Lol. Sorry, but yeah, I posted, you have to post something.

Oh and I started college again. Yes, I'm 22 and I'm going back to college, smart ne? But I'm doing an intense preparatory course for university where I'm going to study English and History in Galway. So that's really something I've wanted to do for a while and because I'm achieving that goal, hopefully I'll be inspired by the school like feel to write more for SLTS. I won't say the next chapter will be updated soon but I will try. Thank you all for being patient with me and if you want to email me or PM me, feel free. I will always try to respond as soon as I'm on line because I don't have any internet at all, anymore. I'm relying on my best friend Erin and the internet café in Sligo because college doesn't allow us on Hotmail. Sigh.

**N.B.**Oh yeah, this is for anyone who didn't like the fight. Ok, before I get reviews and complaints about Kane and the way he acted, well I just want to point out that in my head, Johnny is more verbally antagonistic towards people instead of just a brawler, though he has his moments. In this situation, Kane just saw red and attacked. Maybe Johnny would have slugged Brooklyn but Kane got there first and since Kane has always felt rather protective of Arista and because he was the one who saw the look of fear on her face when he approached her, he's the one who over-reacted.


	31. The Meaning of Sex

**Disclaimer: I don't own Beyblade. **

You can all thank my friend Stephanie for the inspiration to write Sonia's opening scene – dark corridors, after hours sneaking around, fun! And more importantly thank you to the girls on the **beyblade resurrection** forum for keeping the fandom alive and making me feel like I should continue to contribute to it. Seriously you girls are awesome!

****WARNING**** Some of the topics dealt with in this chapter may not be for young eyes and therefore I've upped the rating due to a conversation that will be held that to me, seems pretty graphic but would probably be discussed. So if you feel uncomfortable around the issue of sex and its logistics, please feel free to just skip that scene since it's not completely necessary to the plot. ****WARNING****

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**Summary**: Previously on SLTS - Kai and Amber officially, officially broke up after they had a talk during the Ice Hockey match. Kai gave Aspin a diary revealing all of Kennedie's darkest secrets because she was spreading rumours about Amber being pregnant with his child; Ian thought he should have said something sooner. Brooklyn came to Preston in the hopes of gaining a glimpse of Arista who broke up with him due to peer pressure and the fact that he tried to strangle her on school grounds - however, he was caught by Johnny and Kane who roughed him up a bit only to find out that Brooklyn has been whipped. They're only left to assume who it could possibly be that did it to him. Brooklyn stumbles back to his dorm to find Garland and Mystel sitting waiting for him, Mystel having told Garland everything because he can't deal with it on his own anymore. On the same night that Brooklyn tried to hurt Ris, Carlos attacked Amber only for her to be rescued by Kai. Now the Tigers are on high alert for any more trespassing. And Joseph told Mariam that at the end of the year he's going to move away to live with his father. **  
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The Meaning of Sex

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Sonia hated walking around the quiet corridors of the school at night but as a prefect it was one of her duties and like all her duties, she took it very seriously. She might not like it but that didn't mean she wasn't capable of patrolling the halls of the school to the best of her ability. Still, she wished that her partner hadn't cried off at the last minute. More than likely he was in his own dark corner with whatever girl he had managed to charm into accompanying him. Sometimes she really disliked Mitchell Graham. It was a pity she hadn't been partnered with Robert or Oliver. They were dedicated to their jobs and never failed to amuse her with their interesting views on school life in general. Especially Oliver.

She raked her fingers through her hair and sighed loudly, stopping for a moment to listen but the air was still and the corridor was quiet, the only sound coming from the buzz of the electricity. A red flickering alerted her to the camera in the corner and she lifted her gaze to it before lowering them again to focus on her path.

For the past couple of weeks she had been assigned to making sure the girls in the second floor dormitories put their lights out, stopped talking and didn't sneak out after curfew. Now, however, she had been relegated to the main building; making certain no students had managed to sneak inside to take advantage of empty classrooms. She flushed darkly. What was she supposed to do if she came across a couple in a compromising situation anyway?

A clank below her had she freezing on the spot before her brain identified the sound and her body took off running. Pipes clanging meant water running meant that someone was in the bathrooms. Shoot!

Her feet made barely a sound as they pressed against the tiled floor; her eyes unconsciously searching the darkness for any hints or signs as to where her quarry might be. It was likely that they were downstairs in the second floor bathrooms of the east wing. She pushed through the double green swing doors – which ideally should have been locked but after the incident four years ago, no caretaker would risk locking a student in again in case there was another fire (though there were fire exits everywhere if only students would pay attention) – and raced flat out to the staircase, her fingers latching around the cool black railing as she swung her body round and hurled herself down the stairs. Her fingers were already holding down the number four button as her hand brought the phone to her ear.

The phone rang twice before it was answered and she was breathing steadily as she landed on the second floor. "Robert, east wing, second floor bathrooms."

"**Hold on**." The boy stated curtly. Murmurs were exchanged and then his breathing could be heard on the line again. "**Lights are on**. **Stay where you are**."

She faltered, her eyes sweeping up to the west wing across the quad. Somewhere along that long building with the small square windows, Robert was looking out at her. "But –"

"**It could be Sharks**."

What he didn't say was that what happened to Arista or Amber could happen to her. Her blood went cold. She was on her own. She shivered. "Alright. I'll stay where I am."

"**It's not worth getting hurt over. If it's some students breaking curfew then the camera's will pick them up**."

Not necessarily, she thought, but she didn't say anything. They were all aware that the cameras were often taped over by the time people realized a crime was committed and went to check on them. It seemed ridiculous that a private school such as Preston would be recycling its security tapes but with the economic climate and the fact that Preston wasn't doing so great money wise anyway, the school board was more concerned with keeping the school open. Still if Maye would retire, families like the Mulryan's would more than willingly contribute generous donations.

"Alright Robert," She ground out through clenched her teeth and pulled her torch out of the loop on her belt. "I'll stay here."

Robert didn't reply, didn't bid her farewell or give any inclination that he heard her before the sound of the dial-tone met her ears. She slumped back against the cold, clammy wall and wondered what she should do next. Stay where she was or go somewhere else? Wait for Robert or hide? She bit her lip. Why was she afraid in her own school? What kind of messed up world made a girl scared to wander the halls of the place she called home? What kind of sick people made someone this paranoid?

Her phone buzzed in her hands and she jolted, her entire body rocking within her skin. She half laughed at herself, stupid. "Hello?"

"**Where are you**?"

Typical Ozuma. He was just as curt as Robert but his words sent a stream of warmth running through her. Typical her, she mused with a reluctant smile. One word from Ozuma and she was putty. "On the second floor of the east wing."

Footsteps echoed down the corridor and they were coming directly towards her. She stiffened and backed up towards the stairwell.

"... sex. Seriously." A girl's voice floated through the still night air and Sonia slumped.

"**Sonia**?"

"Prom." Another girl answered. "You know how it is. Everyone goes with their dream date – or not, if you're Holly Baxter; I heard she's taking that guy Hovis or something and she is _not_ happy – but for those who do get their dream date, they have sex and get pregnant."

"I think all of us have heard of condoms at this stage."

"Obviously not. Didn't you hear about that girl on the Senior Ice Hockey team?"

"No, what about her?"

"**Sonia**?" Sonia's grip on the phone grew tighter as her heart accelerated and her ears strained.

"She was dating the captain and then she got pregnant. He broke up with her, says it's not his. I don't blame him. A girl on a team with that many boys... well, there's bound to be orgies all the time."

Sonia blanched. It was bad enough that she had been insulting her friend but to then go so far as to call Amber a slut and to infer that the team had orgies – there were cousins on that team! Her boyfriend was on that team! Her boyfriend was Amber's cousin! Ew.

She stepped out of the shadows. A burst of satisfaction exploded within her as she heard their gasp of shock and the way their bodies stumbled to a halt. Frantic eyes ran over her face trying to recognize her in the gloomy light before they slumped, relieved.

"Sonia." The first girl pressed a hand to her chest and shook her head, a reassured smile curving her lips. "Jeez you startled me."

"I'm so glad we ran into you and not one of those other stuffy prefects."

"Me and Jenny K were just checking up on Jenny's biology project."

"I totally freaked out. I thought I'd forgotten to switch on the heat lamp for my experiment and Mrs. Monroe would give me an F. I can't get an F; I mean my parents would just... I don't know what they'd do. I mean, I don't get F's."

"It's true, she doesn't. But she didn't want to go on her own."

"Yeah this school is definitely scary at night."

"But we'll be heading back to our dorm right away."

The two Jenny's were pretty much one entity in two bodies, or so Aspin had once described them. They shared a uni-brain which made it simple for them to carry on a conversation and finish each other's sentences and while, in any other situation, Sonia might have laughed with them, she just really wasn't in the mood for them tonight.

"I'm taking your names."

"What?" Their twin expressions of shock made her lips twitch but she quickly ducked her head, picking out the notebook from her pocket and using the small pen, she began to leaf through the pad until she reached the correct page.

"Sonia – you can't – we – we've _never_ broken curfew before. Like ever!"

That was true. She shouldn't be writing their names down. She had let others off before but tonight – tonight they had insulted her friend and inferred things about her boyfriend, his family and their team. She couldn't let that go. It was petty and childish and a corruption of power. But she just didn't care!

"Sonia please! We'll get detention for this!"

"You broke curfew." Sonia bit out. "That can't be ignored as easily as being late for class or skipping to the bathroom without a hall pass."

"Puh-lease! You let others off. I know you have." Jenny B all but screamed.

"Yes, well I shouldn't have. I'm sorry."

"That's not fair!"

"Life's not fair."

The words were on the tip of her tongue, flaring brightly in her brain but she didn't say them. No that right belonged solely to the figure that had walked down the steps behind her. Sonia tensed.

"Ozuma –"

"I don't want to hear it Jenny B. You two were caught and that's it. Go back to your dorms now. You will see the headmaster tomorrow morning to discuss detention. If you don't show up, you will be summoned and the punishment will be higher. So go."

Grumbling under their breaths, the two girls, one dark and one light, shoved their way past Sonia almost bowling her over in their mad dash to reach the stairs. Sonia bit her tongue aware of Ozuma's fingers burning into her waist as he steadied her but she didn't say anything until she could no longer hear the girls' footsteps.

"You ok?" He queried, slowly urging her to face him.

She didn't reply; too busy trying to keep a reign on her emotions. He shifted uncomfortably, his runners squeaking against the tiles and then his hand was warm on her chin tilting up her face until she was staring into the vibrant jade green eyes; though in the dark they looked almost black.

"Sons."

She shook her head weakly, her bangs fluttering with the movement. "I'm a bad person." She blurted out, her words sounding loud in the quiet corridor, echoing off the white walls.

"Why? Because you gave them detention? They broke curfew. That's what happens."

"They broke curfew by one hour," she stated pointedly, "Had it been anyone else, I would have just let them go on to their dorms. I wouldn't have written them up. I'm a – I'm – I'm Hitler!"

Ozuma jerked back at the ferocity of her words and then to her startled amazement, he threw his head back and laughed. Laughed! Furiously embarrassed, she tried to wriggle out of his tight grip but his arms only wormed tighter around her, pulling her against him until he had her trapped firmly against him, his cheek resting on her hair. His chuckles died away and he sighed almost contentedly as he pressed a kiss to the crown of her head.

"Hitler, Sunny? You?"

"I let the power go to my head." She complained, upset with her own lack of ability to control her emotions. She had just reacted, just like Amber or Shahero would have done. That wasn't like her. She was mature and responsible. That was what a prefect was. They didn't let emotions rule their judgement. That was why she was a good prefect.

"I doubt it but what makes you think you did?"

"I wrote down their names."

"Doesn't mean you have to give those names to Dickinson."

"I do. They're in the book. If they're in the book, they have to be shown." That was her rule. Everyone knew that, even her friends knew it. Didn't stop them from stealing her book and erasing their names or burning the book like Arista had done during their second semester last year. She still wasn't sure she forgave Arista for doing that. Walking into a biology lab to find your friend perched Indian style on a lab-desk, holding your book over a Bunsen burner and cackling like a maniac was possibly the quickest way to end a friendship.

"Well why did you write their names?"

"Because they broke curfew," She grumbled, rubbing her cheek against his chest, listening to his heartbeat which seemed to say 'tell the truth, tell the truth.' It was a bit fast. She sighed. "They were gossiping. I don't usually care but they made comments. About Amber and about you and the team and they implied things."

"What kind of things?" He asked, his hands tracing soothing patterns along her back, over her thin sweater, a flimsy barrier against the heat of his fingers.

"Bad things; _perverted_ things."

"Like?" Was he amused?!

She pulled away and angled her head so that she could look up at him through her lashes. "You – you're enjoying this! Don't! It was bad. What they said – it was wrong."

"Sonia, there's been a lot of things said recently. I doubt they said anything new."

"Not the point." Why couldn't he see that? What they said was a black mark against his character. She couldn't stand anything being said that made him sound bad. He wasn't bad. He was honourable and fair and oh-so-good. Guys like him were few and far between and the fact that those girls were slandering him hurt.

"Look, it's no big deal. We can handle the rumours and allegations. Kennedie's just being bitchy. Apparently she lost her diary and that's making her worse than usual."

Sonia wrinkled her nose. She hated hearing that name; she hated being reminded of her connection to that name. "She said that Amber probably slept with the entire team." She blurted out. Oh, she hadn't meant to say that.

Ozuma stilled. "Oh. But there are girls on the team." He added, after a moment's thought.

The look she gave him clearly said 'well, duh'.

"Oh. Shahero and... that's just wrong."

"I know."

"I hope they get Maye for detention. Better yet, let's tell Shahero and Amber and then they can get detention with those two."

Sonia pondered that for a moment and then shook her head. "No, I haven't gone that far over to the dark side yet."

He placed his arm around her as he guided her back up the stairs, chuckling lightly. "Ah, but we'll get you there yet, Sunny darling. We'll get you there yet."

* * *

Miguel had heard the term April Showers but he'd never really experienced one before. Normal people avoided the rain; they hid in their homes and found some kind of shelter. Normal people did not run in the rain and normal people did not force others to run in it. His eyes travelled across the water logged football field to the hazy shadow standing under the shelter provided for the coaches. It was official. Hitoshi Kinomiya was not normal.

He was a –

"Bastard!"

Exactly.

Miguel nodded in agreement and slowed his pace to match Daichi's as the two boys jogged slowly around the pitch. The idea had initially been to run as slow as possible until Hitoshi realized that the rain was NOTgoing to let up and allow them back inside, however, it soon became clear that they would not be going inside anytime soon; still it was a matter of pride that stopped them from speeding up.

Mud splattered the back of their trousers and soaked through to their skin; water plastered their hair to their heads and ran down their faces. There was no hiding from it. So Miguel found something else to focus on.

"Stop looking at my cousin's butt." Daichi growled, temper rising not only from the fact that it was six in the morning and he was running in the rain but also because his friend wasn't showing his cousin any respect. "She'll kick your ass if she catches you."

Miguel's lips curved in a smirk but he didn't look away. He was bored and even while she was wearing waterproof tracksuit bottoms they still managed to look snug. Her dark hair hung in a limp ponytail and tossed off little droplets with every flick of her head.

"Dude, we need to inject some hotness into the team." Tyson complained as he joined them, eyes rolling at the sheer masculinity that dotted the perimeter of the football team.

"Just be lucky you aren't on the football or baseball teams."

"Why? Because they're losers?"

"No, because they're all boy teams... but yeah they are losers too."

"I dare you, Daichi, to say that to the captain of the Senior Football team." Miguel goaded.

"No way, I like my balls where they are thanks."

"Well when the football team sees what we've done to the field, they're going to kill us." Tyson grumbled.

"I say we take Hitoshi out to the field and shove him face first into this sludge."

"It could be worth getting permanently grounded for," Tyson mused thoughtfully.

"He'll just make you run more laps," Joseph stated as he jogged by them and fell into step with Kirby.

Miguel watched them curiously but Kirby was too lost in her own world and Joseph didn't make an effort to draw her out of it. For a few moments they jogged together and then Joseph moved on.

"When's he leaving?" Daichi wondered.

"I heard it's at the end of this year."

Miguel shrugged. "When I asked he just bit my head off."

"Don't sweat it dude, he just sees you as competition for Kirby."

"... wouldn't Joe be the competition?" Daichi wondered. "Miguel's dating her after all."

Daichi, he mused, had such a way with words and reassurance. Even Tyson groaned and slapped his forehead which only made Miguel grin. He was secure in his belief that Kirby didn't like Joe in that way but the idea of Joe leaving because Kirby didn't like him in that way seemed a little melodramatic. What was this, the O.C. or another one of those girly teen based drama's? So what if Kirby didn't like him in that way? She wasn't the only girl in the school, and who was to say that there would be a place on a hockey team wherever Joe went. To Miguel it just seemed stupid to throw away a potential scholarship to a uni because of girl trouble.

"So... did you hear about the sex talk that the seniors are being subjected to?"

Daichi nodded with a wicked grin. "Yeah I heard. Think we could sneak in?"

"You need a sex talk Daichi?"

Daichi flushed hotly and glared at Hitoshi as they jogged past him. "No! I just wanted to tease Ozuma about it. He's a virgin."

"How do you know?"

"Hitoshi can talk. He's dating jail bait!" Tyson bit out.

"Yeah! And well... he has to be. I am not going to be the only..."

"Che, I don't know why you're all saying things like that. You're all virgins in my book." Dunga stated plowing through them.

"Oh yeah? Like you've had some!" Daichi screamed, using Miguel's shoulder to right himself.

"Only with his hand." Jim snickered.

The three boys chuckled as the blond jogged past them and three more boys lapped them, including Max who tried to encourage them to run faster but they weren't inclined to. Let the others tire themselves out; they were not going to run full out in a muddy, wet field at six o'clock in the morning because of Hitoshi's whims.

"So why a sex talk?"

"Isn't it a little late for some of them?"

Daichi shot them a glare and they immediately denied that they'd been thinking of the Amber rumours. "Well, their prom is coming up and everyone knows that's the day that everyone goes out and has sex... or that's how the Maye is portraying it."

Tyson snorted. "How would Maye know?"

"Fair point. How would she have a clue? Prom sex is a big fucking myth."

"And you would know, Daichi?"

Daichi considered that for a long moment. "It's way too cliché and besides, anyone who's a virgin on Prom night is probably not going to give it up just because the films say they should. I don't think half as many people have sex as Tv says. I bet that most of them get drunk and then crawl into a corner and sleep."

"It would be a pretty crowded corner if you think about it."

"SHUT UP Tyson!"

A flash of teal out of the corner of his eye had Miguel's laughter fading away and he picked up his pace to fall into pace with Kirby. She glanced at him in acknowledgement but didn't slow her pace or say anything in greeting. This was his vice captain, not his girlfriend. In this mode, Kirby did everything to better herself as a player and she didn't suffer fools or jokers lightly. In this mood, which the boys also termed PMS mode, Kirby was likely to pull rank in order to get the boys to do what they were supposed to do.

He continued to run alongside her until she realized that he wasn't trying to pull her into a chat with the boys. Curiosity flickered in her eyes, her brows narrowed and her lips pursed until she gave in and plucked her earbuds from her ear. Immediately a buzz of noise that he recognized as some kind of rock could be heard.

"Something up?"

"Nope, just wanted to jog with you."

"Ok. Actually I wanted to ask you if you have any game plans for going up against the senior team. That game is coming up fast and I know that Coach Hiwatari postponed it a little because of the attack on Arista and because he wants to see how Amber's doing. To be honest, having Amber won't really give him an edge over us, Russia's more of an asset."

"Our main problem that I can see is their defence. Spencer and Bryan are tough as individuals but they're hell together. Nothing can stand against them. They'll take the majority of us to pieces."

"And they'll feel no remorse doing it," Kirby agreed. Having been on the wrong end of Bryan's checks most of her life; she knew just how they could knock you for six. "But Goki and Dunga are good. Dunga is almost as big as Spencer... width wise. I think Tala and Kai are dangerous. Add Rei into that mix and you have - "

"We have Max and Tyson. Kai and Tala are good but Max and Tyson on a good day are their equals."

"You really think so?" A thunder snapped and growled over head and she turned to stare at it wonderingly. "Hitoshi better let us get inside soon or we'll all be down with the cold."

"Have you noticed anything strange with him?" Miguel asked under his breath, eyes flicking to the quiet figure standing on the other side of the field, sipping his travel cup of coffee and studying the clipboard on his lap.

"Stranger than usual? Let's face it Hitoshi's coaching skills aren't exactly conventional compared to Dan's."

"He's completely absorbed with that clipboard and it's not team strategy that he's looking at, and every time we come close to him he gets jumpy like Daichi in a sugar factory."

"Good comparison. Have you tried asking him about it?" At his quiet look she chuckled. "Yeah I don't think I would either."

"Alright kiddies! Fun times over. Meet me in the changing room for a debriefing."

"Debriefing... what does he think we are? Agents?"

"Soldiers in the battle against Varsity."

Kirby snickered before veering to her left and joining the rest of her mud covered team as they moved toward the Sports Building.

* * *

Luckily enough for the Varsity team in Clonmel; they did not have early morning practice because if they did, Brooklyn Adams would be hauled up in front of Balkov for insubordination and failing to show up. Mystel scowled at his teammate as he returned from his shower and resisted the urge to '_thwack_' the boy with his damp towel. Not only would that have been faintly gay but it would have just been a waste of energy.

Besides... there was also the fact that since Brooklyn was lying on his stomach, his scars were revealed in shocking clarity.

His blue eyes wandered to the pine bedside cabinet pushed against the pale grey wall. In the top drawer was the medicinal antiseptic Garland had gotten for him to put on the wounds but Mystel still wanted him to go to the hospital but nothing would force Brooklyn to go there. Apparently Brooklyn had suddenly discovered a self flagellatingpart to his personality and now considered his pain penance for his treatment of Arista.

Sighing, he drifted to the iPod dock he had placed on his study-desk. Picking up his _Nano_, he began to scroll through the playlist until he found the song he wanted: _Learn to Breathe_ by Thousand Foot Krutch. For some reason the song seemed perfectly apt for his situation.

As soon as the music began to play through the speakers he heard the stirring from the bed opposite his. He glanced over his shoulder to see the red head propping himself up on his crossed arms to have a look around, aquamarine eyes bleary. On spotting him, he smiled.

"Mysty!"

Mystel groaned. Great he was going to be dealing with perky Brooklyn today as opposed to Mopey Brooklyn of yesterday or Arrogant 'I-don't-give-a-fuck' Brooklyn of the day before. Personally, he preferred the latter. That one at least got up and went to practice and told Carlos where to fuck himself because Carlos needed well laid out instructions otherwise he got antsy and tried to hump José in the corridor... or any defenceless female, he added darkly.

"Are you getting up today?"

"Eh, I'm too tired. You can take my notes for me."

Mystel froze then slowly straightened and turned. "No. I can't. This is your senior year, so try to put a little effort in and by the way, practice was rescheduled until this afternoon. So you have to get up sometime."

"I'm injured though." Brooklyn stated, waving a hand in an aimless gesture to indicate the closing wounds on his back.

"Only when you want to be," Mystel muttered under his breath as he strode to the closet and began to pick out his uniform. A knock on the door sounded and he cursed softly before going to answer it, heaven forbid Brooklyn from doing anything.

The door opened and Garland popped his head in, taking a scan of the room and frowning at Brooklyn's sprawled form. His attention switched back to the harried blond with a grimace.

"Everything ok?"

"Sure. Brooklyn's just in his Prince-mode." The blond growled, shutting the door and motioning for Garland to take a seat while he took out the medicines from the locked cabinet and the antiseptic cream from the drawer. He handed them to Garland then sat down as his captain sat down on Brooklyn's bed to investigate the wounds.

Brooklyn made a face but showed no other outward signs that he found the task annoying. For the past week they had been going through this same debacle in order to keep things hidden from Boris. For the past week Brooklyn had contracted a 'very serious and contagious flu' that meant he couldn't train. However that excuse would only last so long.

"How long do we have to keep doing this?"

"We have to keep doing this so that you don't get any more scarring than you have."

"I seriously think we should go to the Doctor about this."

"And say what? Oh hi there Dr. McDreamy, I just wanted to show you the really cool beating that my Coach gave me!"

"McDreamy?" Garland mouthed to the frustrated blond who was now hovering over them.

"Don't ask." Mystel sighed. "How would you explain those scars to your parents?"

"Ma, Pa, look at the neat scars my coach gave me. Aren't they swell? All that money you donated really paid off, huh?" Brooklyn smiled blandly but his eyes were glum despite his light hearted, sardonic tone.

"Yeah, try that. See how it works." Mystel grumbled, tearing a packet of bandages with his teeth then sitting back on his heels with a sigh. "We can't keep covering these up with bandages; they need to get some air to heal properly."

"Yes mother." The red head flashed a charming but biting grin.

"Give it a rest Brooklyn. You think this is all a joke but it's not. You need to stay away from Balkov!"

"Balkov might like to stay away from me. I should really report him you know. Maybe I can tell the police he did this."

"He'd deny it and likely have some alibi hidden away."

"Yeah another student he decided to beat."

Mystel groaned at his friend's flippant attitude and ran a hand through his hair. Turning on his heel he stalked into the bathroom and slapped his palms to the cool tiles over the sink. He hung his head for a long moment as he gathered his bearings. Nothing he said seemed to get through to Brooklyn. It was almost as though he'd given up.

"You ok?"

He glanced over at Garland who had entered the small bathroom the two boys shared. "Yeah, thanks. He's just being... difficult."

"Don't you two be doing anything in there; I'll need a shower soon. A quick blow job is about all I can allow you."

Mystel squeezed his eyes shut, clenched his fists and sucking in a breath, counted slowly to ten.

Garland simply shut the door and ignored the wolf whistle from outside. "He's pissed off at himself and hurt, probably scared too. Balkov... I can't believe what Balkov did to him."

"What I don't get is why is he targeting Brooklyn? After all, there must be other boys in this school who have done things to have warranted this kind of punishment." Mystel mused as he sat down on the toilet, allowing Garland to wash his hands.

"You want to know what I think?" The blond nodded. "Alright," Garland stated, drying his hands on the cream towel. "I think there are other boys and have been for a while. Why Brooklyn? Because he's strong but he's got such issues he'll take the beatings but won't tell anyone. He's not weak but Balkov would relish showing his power over him. It's not sexual... at least not the way others would see it but the power he has over Brooklyn is a kind of turn on for him."

"Why not you? Me?"

"I'm a black belt and brown belt in many forms of self defence; do you really think I'd allow him to raise a belt to me? As for you: well answer me this, did you parents ever spank you?"

Mystel flushed and grinned sheepishly. "Yeah but only when I was really young and had done something pretty bad. Afterwards Mum would come into my room saying sorry and then I'd feel guilty and apologize too."

"Do you think Brooklyn's parents spanked him?"

His eyes flicked to the door where Brooklyn was now singing 'I'm every woman' and shook his head. "No, they wouldn't agree with it. They'd psycho analyse him first."

"Exactly, so in a way Brooklyn wants to be disciplined because in a way it shows that someone cares about him. I think now though, he's beginning to realize just how unhealthy it is. I just wish..."

"Yeah me too. I doubt Valkov and Hiwatari suffered either. Do you think _they_ knew?" The words were spat out venomously.

Garland shook his head; then shrugged. "We can never know. But it seems weird that Hiwatari's dad was coach and no one knew and then both boys leave at the same time?"

Mystel nodded, lip curling in disgust. "Yeah. Funny coincidence. Shit."

"Come on! One blow job I said. Nothing more, you perverts. If you get any stains on my towels you'll have hell to pay and I'm not picking hairs out of the drains!"

Mystel snorted and motioned for Garland to open the door and both boys stepped out just as Brooklyn slunk past them, a wicked smirk on his lips but his eyes were bleak as if he knew exactly what they were saying.

* * *

"Jeans, jeans... where are you? I know I have some... jeans! Woohoo! _Feels like I'm standing out here on my own_!" Amber sang as she bounced around the empty dormitory trying to step into a pair of jeans and pull them up.

Shifting feet, she made to pull the jeans onto the other leg when she lost her balance and she went flying backwards. Her elbow rapped hard against Arista's bedside locker and her back smacked painfully against the wooden floor. A hard square almost hit her face and she groaned. "OW!"

The stupid room was a death trap, she mused, struggling to her feet. "_Sometimes, I feel so alone_. _Feels like I'm standing_ - " She pulled the jeans up and fastened the button before leaning over and picking up the square piece of card with a faint scribble of writing on it in blue ballpoint pen. "Hospital – 12:30."

Her eyes flickered from the card to the locker and then back again. Arista had a hospital appointment? Why? What was wrong?

Nothing. It'll be routine, she told herself. Even if it wasn't, it wasn't her business to know because it was Arista's appointment but...

Was she going alone?

Despite her mother working in a hospital, Amber couldn't ever imagine going there on her own if her mother wasn't around. Granted when her mother was there she liked to pop in just to have a nosy around to find out if it was anything like Scrubs. She soon found out that it was and it wasn't. Mostly it wasn't though and that had deterred her from going there again. Still, it was more interesting than going to her father's office for a day.

Her fingers crept for her phone and she sighed. She might as well make sure nothing happened to her while she was at the hospital, especially if she went on her own. Her fingers darted over the buttons, keying in the number from memory and she waited for the call to be answered.

"**Hi**."

"Hey. How are you?" Funny, she'd never felt awkward talking to Mystel before but now that she and Kai had seriously called it quits, she felt just a little weird. Kai would so not be happy with her for making contact with the enemy.

"**Not so good. You**?"

"Oh why? Is everything ok?" Code for: Has Brooklyn attacked you too? God she was a terrible person.

"**It's nothing. What can I do for you**?"

For some reason Mystel just sounded so different on the phone. He didn't sound chirpy or cheerful; in fact he sounded tired and fed up. Was she that annoying to him? Had he just been friends with her because she'd been Kai's girlfriend or was it because he was angry with Arista for breaking up with Brooklyn? Or was it something else entirely? "Well I just wanted to tell you that Arista might have a hospital appointment," And even as she said the words she realized that she might be doing completely the wrong thing. It wasn't even her business to tell Mystel.

"**And you want to make sure Brooklyn won't be there to harass her, right**?" Mystel's tone of voice was biting, cutting as glass. "**Well I'm sorry I can't do that. I might have to take Brooklyn to the hospital myself**."

"Why? He didn't strangle himself did he?" Oh god, oh god. Mouth, brain – engage!

"**Funny but no. Actually he was beaten up.**"

"By who?" Who on earth would... no...

"**You might like to look on your end for the answer to that**."

"No way! My boys would never do that. Besides, none of them have been to Clonmel recently. Kai ordered them not to."

"**Yeah and they always listen to Kai the Almighty, right? Well you're right, they didn't come to Clonmel. Brooklyn went to Preston and came back with some nasty bruising.**"

Her stomach felt like a lead weight while her body began to shake. "You can't know that it was one of my teammates. It might have been someone else or maybe he fell down a flight of stairs."

"**It was one of your lot. He told me and I know the names but you can find out for yourself Benson. Ask your boys and find out which of them ganged up on him.**"

With that he hung up before she could accuse Brooklyn of lying; the words had been on the tip of her tongue but instead she simply closed the connection and shoved the phone into her pocket. There was no way the boys would have done that. None. They weren't bullies. They weren't like Carlos and yet... wouldn't they feel they had reason to? And if Brooklyn had come onto their territory, who would blame them for showing him off the premises and if they accidentally got a little rough?

She shook the thoughts from her mind and grabbing a jacket, she placed the piece of card back down onto the locker and set about getting ready for the day ahead. She wouldn't have her answers yet but before the day ended, she'd know exactly what had happened.

* * *

Snacking on a slice of toast, Ian chose a table near the back of the empty classroom and after deposited his bag onto the empty chair; he hoisted himself up onto the table and sat on the edge swinging his legs as he watched the classroom begin to fill. Up on the blackboard the letters S.E.X. had been drawn out in chalk and then coloured in to make them more eye catching, as if the word wasn't eye catching enough.

"It's not like we don't already know what sex is," A girl was saying to her friend as the duo weaved through the scattering of tables towards a corner to his left. "We're seniors."

"Exactly and we did it in biology already. What more can they tell us?"

"How not to get herpies?" Ian suggested, smirking which earned him a disgusted look as the two girls flounced off. He hated preppies. The school, however, was full of them and they were just one of those horrible daily things he had to put up with, such as cold floors, smelly teacher breath and Amber.

"Speak of the she-devil and she appears," he mused, watching as his ex-teammate stomped into the room and caught sight of him.

"Yo." She greeted, throwing herself onto the table beside him and sitting with her knees spread – granted she was wearing trousers but still...

"Benson, when are you going to start acting like a man?"

"Whenever you get a growth spurt. Since I don't think that's on the cards right now, I think I'm safe." She leaned back on her hands and studied the cracks on the ceiling. "Say Ian?"

"What?" Kendra Harrington was wearing a luminous yellow thong today; maybe it would glow in the dark. He could probably arrange a power cut and get Enrique to take a photo if it did.

"How are the boys these days?"

He jerked his gaze away to stare at her. "I'm not gay."

He turned his attention back to Kendra as she leaned over a bit more. She should probably wear a longer skirt if she was going to do that much bending. Especially since Kyle Rutherford, a fullback on the football team was doing thrusting movements behind her much to the delight of his friends; she didn't seem to notice, too busy drooling over Matthew Bass's cock.

"I wasn't implying that," She snapped, leaning over to see what he was looking at. "Ugh, you're such a sleaze bag."

"Hey, she's the one bending over. Don't they hurt though?"

"Like a perpetual wedgie."

He grimaced. Why did girls do that to themselves? Eye brow plucking, waxing, and too tight underwear... weird.

"Back to my point though, have any of the boys been acting weird? Out of character?" He sent her a flat look and she sighed. "Fine, then. It was just a question. I'll ask them myself later."

Kendra, finally realizing that she was flashing the room – Ian believed she knew all along, shameless hussy – stood up and smoothed down her skirt before taking a seat close to the two girls who had entered previously.

Ian turned to scowl at the girl beside him who was humming under her breath. "Why do you want to know if the boys are acting weird? Surely you'd know."

Amber jerked a shoulder. "I just figured maybe they said something."

"Yeah well if they did I wouldn't tell you." He caught the way she rolled her eyes and slipped off the table so she could take a seat. He silently copied her as Mrs. Tate entered the room followed by Kai. A quick glance around the room showed that Kane and Aspin had taken a seat at the other end of the room. If he had noticed them before he would have gone over and sat with them – then again, maybe not; Kane had been in such a bad mood lately, god knows what idea he would come up with.

"Alright class settle down!" Judy Tate stated as she moved to the front of the class and surveyed the writing on the board. A soft noise of disapproval escaped her lips as she huddled over her desk and began to rearrange her sheets. Idly Ian wondered just what kind of underwear she wore under those prim skirts before Kai passed across his vision, startling the boy. Flushing, he dropped his gaze to the A4 pad in front of him while Kai took a seat in front of Amber.

"Hey Kai?"

Not taking his eyes from the front of the room, Kai leaned back a little in his chair and inclined his head. His stiff posture being the only indication that he was paying attention to the girl behind him, who was leaning forward over her book and playing with a pen, her expression a mask of concentration as she whispered under her breath.

"I need to talk to you later."

She sat back and Kai nodded, slumping in his chair and sliding his legs out in front of him. Ian had stopped doing that once Johnny began to point out how they didn't stretch that far.

"Alright." Tate began, clearing her throat and walking to the front of her desk, hitching up a hip and studying the class calmly. "Today we're going to be having a talk on the topic of Sex." She paused and as if on cue, a series of jeers and whoops burst from some of the assembled adolescents. Quirking a brow dryly, she awaited them to grow some brains before finally opening her mouth to continue, just as the door burst open and Bryan stalked in taking a swig from a take-away cup.

"Don't sit down yet Mr. Malkovich." Tate ordered, standing up straight and looking around the room. "I want to divide the class. Girls I want you on this side," She declared, pointing to her left, "and boys I want you on that side."

"Why are we being split up?" Amber wondered, grabbing her stuff and holding it to her chest as she slipped out of her seat and shoved it under the desk. "It's not like I'm about to jump over my desk and rape one of you."

Ian flinched and Kai stiffened before both boys glared at her. She widened her eyes and jerked a shoulder. "Well I'm not."

Ian watched as she sidled over to the other side of the room as Bryan took the vacant seat beside him, placing his cup at the corner of the desk. Sighing, Ian reached across and nudged the cup away from the edge.

When Bryan looked at him he frowned. "It'll fall."

With a roll of his eyes, Bryan downed the rest of the drink – which was still hot, Ian's fingers could testify to that – and turning, he tossed the cup at the bin, slamdunking it easily.

"Where's the rest?"

"We've been separated." Kai informed their late teammate, "And apparently Maye's sitting in at a talk elsewhere."

"Fun."

"I'll say."

"Now," Mrs Tate began, "Sex is a natural human function, one that is performed in order to procreate and further the population of the human race."

Oh god this sex talk was going to be so boring, Ian decided; folding his arms and placing his chin on them, he began to wonder what the others were hearing.

* * *

Across the hall the conversation was a little bit different in terms of how the subject was broached.

"SEX!" The woman at the top of the classroom shouted. "What do you know about it?"

Bewildered, the students exchanged looks before hazarding their own guesses what exactly sex could possibly be about.

"People have it?"

"It feels good."

"_Orgasms_ feel good."

"Sex isn't sex without an orgasm."

"If that's the case, sex can be classified as masturbation."

"Masturbation isn't sex."

"Sex has to involve penetration."

"Dildo, fingers, fisting."

"You can't have sex with a dildo. It's an inanimate object. Sex has to involve two consenting people -"

"Adults."

" – otherwise it's rape."

The teacher jumped on the previous comment. "Why do you say adults?"

"Because if you're not of age, then it's still rape since anyone under age is incapable of making such a big decision."

The class, which had been quietly enjoying their debate, glanced at the sullen goth at the back of the room, calmly painting her nails as if she hadn't a care in the world. That was probably because, at that moment, the only thing Ruin cared about was making sure she wasn't getting any silver nail polish on her cuticles. There was nothing as tacky as badly painted nails.

She peeked up at them from beneath her bangs and quirked a brow. "Something wrong, plebs?"

"Are you trying to tell me you waited until you were eighteen before you had sex?" Kennedie demanded; flicking her long pink hair over her shoulders and quirking an equally pale pink brow.

Ruin didn't blink at the rudeness of the question, nor did she mention how hypocritical it was since Maye (who was loitering at the back) had promised them all a level of anonymity and a lack of invasion into their privacy so that the discussion could be frank and open. Instead, she blew on her nails and finally answered: "I waited until I was with someone I cared about, respected and trusted, yes. Why? Did you?"

"She'd have to have sex first." Johnny muttered under his breath, causing a few close to his desk to snicker softly.

"Actually, according to a previous point, a dildo constitutes as sex." Miyami mused from around the ball point she was sucking on as she studied the rough sketch in front of her.

"You say that like you think she'd masturbate. She probably doesn't even know what a clitoris is."

Sensing the conversation had veered widely off course, the sex education teacher jumped in. "And what is a clitoris Mr..." She scanned her list. "McGregor?"

"It's part of the vagina and if you rub it, it makes a girl feel good," The red head explained, looking pointedly to the vice principle flushing darkly in the corner. It was obvious that Maye really didn't want to be there, probably because most of the teenagers in the room knew more than she did and probably had more experience to boot.

"Good, good. Now, pass these around and have a good look. At the end of the class I'll be testing you on the various parts of the female vulva."

"As opposed to the male one." Johnny remarked dryly.

"Oh no, dear, no. Men do not have a vulva. You have a penis."

"Isn't the clitoris pretty much like a female penis? I mean, it gets erect right?"

"Yes! Good. It does indeed, Miss... Kinomiya! It's very much like a penis because it gets engorged with blood and changes colour. Very good. What else happens when a woman becomes aroused?"

"She cums?" A boy hazarded a guess.

"No, dickwad. That's what happens when she orgasms. You're missing a couple of steps." Ruin sighed heavily. "She lubricates, gets ready for penetration. Her breasts will swell, nipples will get hard and..." She trailed off suddenly feeling awkward but pushed on. "Her heart rate will speed up, she'll become flushed and breathing becomes laboured."

"Oh very good. Personal experience, hmm?" The woman joked and Ruin vowed never to answer another question when her classmates grinned, laughed and winked. Ugh.

"Oi, Giancarlo, you getting blue balls or something? Stop fidgeting."

"Shut up McGregor. I need to pee."

"Sure you do."

"Excuse me, settle down!"

"Oh no, Miss Maye, this is a classic case of male testosterone at work. Two young men vying for the role of alpha male! It's very good that the students get an up close view of this."

Ruin paused; frowned at her nails before looking up bewildered at the sudden turn of events. What was this, Animal Planet? She already figured the woman was several cards short of a full deck but this was ridiculous. Her eyes travelled to Maye wondering if she was going to let this conversation continue. Surely this couldn't have been on Maye's mind when she hired the woman to give a sex education talk to hormone driven seniors. It was like watching Professor Trelawney try to give a sex talk... it was wrong.

The door opened and Tala strode in, his eyes wandering over the assembled students noting who was present and whether it was worth his time sitting near any of them. Of course, when his gaze landed on her, an amused smirk curved his lips and he instantly gravitated towards her. Ruin bit back a sigh.

"Mr. Valkov, where have you been?"

"Bathroom."

"For the past twenty minutes?"

"Long piss."

"Che, probably wanking off." Johnny stated, his fingers idly running a pencil through them as if it were a cigarette.

Tala offered him a bland smile and Johnny rolled his eyes and dropped his gaze sullenly to the page in front of him.

The woman, Mrs Jackson, looked so giddily delighted Ruin thought she might burst as she tottered up to Tala with a bright beam. "Oh, perfect, perfect! This, my dear, dear children –" Children? Most of them were taller than her. "is the perfect example of an alpha male! See how all the other males look to him as the authority figure?"

What did this have to do with sex education?

"What does this have to do with Sex Ed?" Maye demanded, growing frustrated.

"Well obviously alpha males will have more sex –"

Tala perked up

"And therefore run a higher risk of having an unplanned pregnancy –"

Ruin smirked as Enrique choked on his own spit and Johnny burst out laughing. "You have a bun in the oven there Tala?"

"Mr. McGregor!"

"Mr. McGregor," Mrs. Jackson wagged her finger and looked like a doting old lady chiding her favourite puppy, "haven't you been looking at the diagrams? Men cannot have babies. Now looking at your diagram, tell me why?"

Now Tala smirked, shaking off the old woman and taking a vacant seat to Enrique's left who had been made to sit at the front of the room by Maye since she caught him _in flagrante_ with a female student just two days ago. Naturally, if anyone needed to be taught, it would be Enrique.

* * *

In the dark bowels of the Sports Hall, Hitoshi sat at in a darkened office. He knew that looking through students files was wrong but he couldn't help it. He needed to know what happened to Shahero when he wasn't there. He had tried ignoring the burgeoning need – had ignored it all week but he needed to know.

Now he wished he had left things as they were.

The file lay on the desk before him; all of it there in stark detail in black and white and his blood ran cold. For thirty minutes she had hid in the bathroom away from the boyfriend who had attacked her. Thirty minutes she had waited for Johnny and Kane to come to the rescue.

And then he, Hitoshi, just stalks back into her life and all but claims her for himself. Why hadn't she said anything? He couldn't imagine that she was over things that easily. It still had to be traumatising to her and obviously was according to her conversation with Russia. But why hadn't she told him?

He closed the file and carefully placed it back in the filing cabinet, locking it with the keys he'd taken from Nicolai's desk and after pocketing them. He headed back out of the office, mind abuzz with what he would do next.

* * *

"Do guys really do it up the butt?!"

Kai squeezed the bridge of his nose and blew out a long breath, praying for patience. How he had ended up sitting so close to Ian in the first place? The boy and his questions were going to be the death of him.

After Tate had explained the scientific premise of sex, she had organized the students into groups of four to ask each other questions and to write down those that they didn't have answers for so that she could answer them later – at her own discretion, of course. Kai could just see some of the boys coming up with the most outlandish questions just to see whether or not the woman would answer them.

"Well, do they?"

"Yes, Ian, they do."

"How?"

Kai rolled his eyes and looked to the other members of his group. Bryan looked to be asleep for all appearances and Kane was moodily staring out the window as if it had the answers for all life's questions, so it would be left to Kai to answer all of Ian's perverted little queries.

"You've heard of anal, I presume?"

"Yeah but..." Ian trailed off with a disgusted grimace and dropped his chin to his palms, staring surly at the scuffed and scarred floor. "That's just gross." He mumbled.

Kai just nodded. He could almost hear what Amber would answer, with that cheeky grin in place but for the moment she was on the opposite side of the room with Aspin looking uncomfortable and out of place with a few girls he recognized but didn't really know. Preppies, he noted.

"Enrique once said baby oil dissolves condoms."

"He also said Pigeons give milk, you really want to believe that nutjob?"

Kai scowled darkly at Kane. His attitude was pissing him off, constantly biting off everyone's head. "Some actor said that; now fuck off."

"OH! I have one. Are any of you circumsized?"

Kai scratched his head and glared at the midget. "Ian, I hate you."

As if on reflex, the smaller boy scratched his own head and pouted. "Well, _you_ ask a question then."

"How many inches are you Bryan?" Kane asked, pitching his voice to be heard by the sleeping boy.

White lines bracketed Kai's mouth as he fought to control his growing annoyance. This was such a farce. Surely Tate had to know this kind of debacle would arise when placing a group of boys together. Then inspiration struck and he picked up his pen. '_How long is the average man_?'

Kane leaned over his shoulder to read the elaborate script and quirked a brow. "You worried there Hiwatari? Is little junior not rising up to your expectations?"

Ian hooted and rocking back in his chair, knocking it off balance and he nearly hit the floor if it hadn't been Bryan's quick, steadying hand.

"Douche." Kane insulted.

"Idiot." Kai added while Bryan grunted his own complaint. The midget righted himself and began to sulk.

'_How much sperm does the average man produce?_'

"Seriously Hiwatari, do you have a complex?"

"I'm just trying to do this stupid thing. We need at least three questions. You three are too busy fucking around."

"You obviously haven't been fucking around enough." Kane sneered.

Bryan took the page and snorted. "He's right to ask, porn gives everyone unrealistic expectations."

"Can anyone think of any other questions?"

"What happens to a man's dick when he has a sex change?"

Kai curbed the urge to hit Ian and instead decided to ignore him. Taking the paper, he began to tear the questions into strips and folded them up in order to give everyone some semblance of privacy when they went into the bag Tate had hung up for them.

"No seriously, I want to know?"

"Why? Are you planning on a sex change?"

"Or have you already had one?" Kane wondered. "Your nose is awfully big and long –"

"Kane, drop it. Ian, if you want to know, write it down yourself. I'm finished."

"SHUT THE HELL UP!"

All four boys whipped round to stare at the group of girls on the other side of the classroom. Aspin had surged to her feet, knocking her chair to the floor in the process, and was now vibrating with rage as she glared down at the other two. Amber sat beside her, looking faintly stunned and slightly uncomfortable.

"Girls?"

None of the girls spoke, Aspin still glaring darkly at the other two who were looking smug and petty. Kai frowned, shifting in his seat so he could garner a better look at his girlfri – ex-girlfriend. Kane was rising slowly from his own chair; his gaze firmly fixed on Aspin while Ian and Bryan were both ready at any minute to intervene. For a moment Kai studied them, the way the team would band together off the ice as well as on it. He'd never had that in Clonmel.

"Aspin would you care to tell me what's the matter here?"

"Ask them!" She snapped, her voice quavering as she pointed to the two girls; one was rolling her eyes at the melodrama while the other one was beginning to blush furiously now that all attention was on them.

"Well, Elisa?"

"It's _L_."

"Elle, then. Would you please enlighten the class?"

The girl blew out a breath and crossed her legs. "It's nothing. She just flew off the handle."

"You insulted my friend!"

"I just said what everyone else is saying." L sighed and looked to Mrs. Tate. "Look, she's pregnant. I just asked her what it's like."

Kai flinched, tried to ignore Ian's burning gaze and the way others were looking at him while Amber flushed darkly and groaned.

"I'm _not_ pregnant. What do you people want? A pregnancy test?"

"Well..."

"Oh piss off!"

Kai frowned as Tate began to smile softly; a look of dawning crossed her face. Shit.

"Actually that might not be such a bad idea. It would help with the topic we're dealing with and help put the rumours to bed, if you're willing, that is."

Amber stared at her. "You're shitting me, right?"

"I am definitely not, uh, _shitting_ you."

The girl stared at the teacher for a moment longer; then shuffled to her feet. "Oh, for criminy's sake. This is ridiculous. I'm a friggin' virgin for crying out loud."

"Do you have a pregnancy test, Mrs. Tate?"

"Yes," Tate replied as she moved to the front and began to root around the bag she'd brought with her. "I brought a few samples to show the class what they're like and how to use one for the girls. I also brought condoms to inform you on how to put them on and how to dispose of them. Don't flush them." She pulled out a slim white box and turned to Amber. "Right go into the bathroom, follow the instructions and bring it back."

"What? Do I just pee on it or something?"

"Mmhmm. Aspin, go with her."

The violet haired girl nodded quickly and as she fell into step with her friend, the two girls left the room whispering softly to each other as the door clicked behind them. Kai shifted in his seat, turning back to his group and meeting the dark looks pointed directly at him.

"She's not pregnant."

"You could have ended those rumours weeks ago."

"I told Aspin to use the damn diary, why didn't she?"

Kane ran his hand through his hair, yawned widely then stopped. "Wait, what diary?"

"I found Kennedie's diary, details of every little vapid and warped thing that goes through her head is written down in it. I told them to post it or whatever the Octopussies do to enemies but I haven't heard anything since."

"Would explain why the K-bitch is in such a snit."

Bryan snorted. "Kennedie's always in a snit."

Four square foil packages landed in their laps and they looked up at Mrs. Tate. Kai took the square and frowned at the woman. "Was that necessary?"

She didn't pretend to misunderstand but met his eyes with the force of her own turquoise ones until he felt like looking away. He didn't. He felt he had a right to know why she had decided to humiliate Amber in front of everyone.

"Not necessary, no, but it does solve her problem with the rumour mill." Tate replied, pointedly.

"She probably got it aborted."

Ian gestured to the girl who'd managed to blurt out her comment in the lull of conversation and smiled blandly at Mrs. Tate who rolled her eyes. The girl bit her lip and ducked her head, a heated flush creeping up her neck as all eyes landed on her.

"Ms Andrews, please!" Tate snapped. "Now I have given each of you a condom. There is nothing particularly interesting about it and it's not... to be used as a projectile – IAN PETROVICH!"

Ian winced and dropped his head to hide the smile on his face as he quickly sat on his hands. It was too late though; there was a foil wrapper on the floor by his feet and a condom lying limply on Kyle Rutherford's desk having smacked him right on the forehead. "It wasn't me."

Before Tate could begin to launch into the mother of all scoldings the door opened and Amber stalked in followed by a blushing Aspin. "You know," The Irish girl began, her own face slightly flushed as well, "It's a damn good thing I needed to go pee otherwise we could have been there for hours. I hope I did it right because I'm not doing it again. I never been so humiliated. Who ever heard of a virgin taking a stupid pregnancy test anyway?"

A few snickers broke out amongst the class as Amber handed Tate the test before stalking over to Kai and smoothing her hands down his shoulders. He flinched realizing what she'd just held in her hand and what she'd done to that thing. "Ember!"

"Sorry but this is your fault!"

"My fault?!" He blinked. Surely she couldn't mean... no... They'd never done it. If she was...

"If I didn't date you there would be no question about my goddamn virginity and I wouldn't have had to take that damn stupid test."

"Amber, stop cursing!"

"Sorry, Bryan."

Mrs. Tate, who had just been about to say the same thing, closed her mouth and consulted the test in her hand. "Well that wasn't so hard. Now, this minus here – can everyone see it? – good; this tells us that Amber is indeed not pregnant. Now the way a pregnancy test works is that the test contains antibodies and this chemical picks up the presence of HCT, which is a hormone in pregnant woman, in the urine. If there's no presence of this hormone, there's no presence of a baby."

"Maybe she didn't use it right, that can cause a malfunction, right?"

That girl sounded more nervous than malicious, Kai mused, stroking the curve of Amber's bottom as she stood beside him.

"That's very possible but there are symptoms of early pregnancy. Can anyone tell me what they are?"

"Puking."

"Yes morning sickness is one, Ian, but it isn't confined to just mornings. Some women say they're sick at any time of the day. Personally I got sick with Max in the evenings more than the mornings. So Amber?"

"What?"

"Do you have any variation of Morning sickness?"

Amber blinked and shrugged, slightly stunned at how she had become the focus of the sex talk, her eyes darting around the room as she leaned into Kai's touch, taking comfort. "No."

"Missed period."

"Very good, Kendra. Amber?"

The dark look that crossed Amber's face promised a disturbing answer but she bit it back and shook her head. "Nope, I'm as regular as ever."

"Of course some women miss their menstrual period for any number of reasons. Stress or illness. So only take that into account with other symptoms. Others?"

"Bigger Breasts."

"Oh, good, good! That's one that not many people realize. As soon as you conceive the hormones change and your breasts indeed do enlarge." Her eyes went to Amber.

Amber looked down at her chest, looked back up at Tate and raised a brow. "Do they look bigger?"

Ian choked and Kane began to snicker while Bryan looked to the ceiling. Soon a few more of the people in the class began to grin and chuckle. Kai took the moment of chaos to glance up at her. "You know," He mused thoughtfully, eyes running over the soft flesh, "From this angle, they kind of do."

Ochre eyes narrowed and slender brows slashed down. "Haha." She told him glibly with a nod. "Funny."

He smirked but it began to lose its humour quickly as his pulse quickened. When was he going to get used to how pretty she could be? Every time he was certain he was aware of how she looked, something about her would shift and his entire view of her would change, his feelings would deepen and he'd be caught in that web all over again. After everything finishing, he was certain that he would begin to get over her but not being around her wasn't making him forget her, it was truly making him care more. Luckily, he mused, as Amber's eyes met his and she swallowed hard, he wasn't the only one suffering.

"Class settle down! Now, I'm sure you've covered the changes that occur in a woman during pregnancy but I'll go over them quickly and then I'll answer the questions." Tate declared, moving back to her desk and motioning for the girls to take their seats again. "And if I get another question about sex change I will offer to do a demonstration on the student stupid enough to have asked."

Half the males gulped.

* * *

Having secured herself a peppermint lollypop for humiliating herself in class, Amber skipped down the steps towards the changing rooms in the Sports arena, lapping at it cheerfully. School had ended for the day and so she had decided to go on her mission to find out just which of her boys had decided to kick the crap out of Brooklyn. That's if any of them did do it. To be honest she had her doubts and yet... why wouldn't they? If Brooklyn crossed her path she'd kick the crap out of him... or at least kick him in the shin. He deserved it. He hurt Arista.

She jumped the last three steps and sauntered down the orange and cream tiled floor that lined the wide corridor. Strange that just a few weeks ago she'd walked through here at night and encountered Carlos. In the day time it didn't look quite so dangerous. But it made sense, if Carlos could get onto their grounds, so could Brooklyn. At least she hadn't seen him since that night. The idea that he might actually come back made her skin crawl. She didn't want to run into him again which was why she had taken to going everywhere with someone else. Heck she'd make Mariam tag along with her if it saved her from being alone. Then again, Mariam would probably shove her into Carlos' arms.

_Bad Amber_.

The noise from the changing rooms began to vibrate through the halls, male chuckles and shouts coupled with jeers and insults. It was the usual sounds that made the place feel alive and suddenly she realized that she missed it. She missed the hustle and bustle of the changing room and the electric charge of stepping out onto the ice. She missed the comfort of putting on her uniform like a warrior going off to battle. More than that, she missed the feeling of home, the way that it didn't matter that she was female or petite, once she was out on the ice she was every bit as good as the others there. It was a feeling of acceptance and respect. It was a feeling she'd lost.

Without pausing to consider her actions, Amber swung open the door, strode inside and froze. Shoot. The boys were parading around in a state of undress as they tugged on clothing, fastened padding and a few were still in their towels.

Before she could shuffle back out Enrique looked out and let out a manly squeal, losing his balance and falling off the bench. Shocked, Johnny spun away from her but lost his grip on the white towel around his waist, resulting in quite a lot of skin being exposed. Especially around the butt. She bit her lip. She probably could have timed this better.

"Benson!"

"Benson get out!" Kane snarled.

"Sorry," she blurted out, holding up a hand, "I need to – Enrique did you just scream like a girl?"

Ian snickered and pointed at the flushed blond who was lying on his back trying to pull up his trousers. "Ha ha."

"Look Benson, I know you sometimes suffer from a gender crisis, but –"

"Whoa!" She yelped as she was hoisted off her feet and thrown like a sack of potatoes over Kai's shoulder. "Hey!" She snarled, as she found herself upside down and _Wow, Kai has a _really_ nice ass. Much better than Johnny's and it's not even naked. _She squeezed her eyes shut. Not the point. "Put me down!"

"You shouldn't be in here, Benson," Kai stated as he patted her ass amicably. The boys jeered and laughed, snickering amongst themselves as their captain carted the girl out of the changing room. As soon as the door closed behind him the patting became an intimate caress; then gravity was pulling her and she was standing in the corridor looking at Kai's retreating back.

"Asshole, I had my reasons for being here. I wasn't trying to cop a view!"

He paused and looked over his shoulder at her. "What?"

"Someone beat up Brooklyn. One of _them_ beat up Brooklyn."

"Proof?"

"Nothing but a cryptic hint from Mystel –" She flinched at his searing look, "Yeah, yeah I know, I shouldn't be communing with the enemy, but that's beside the point. Someone apparently beat up Brooklyn and Mystel thinks it was one of us or one of the boys."

Kai shook his head. "Shit Benson why do you do this? What makes you think he's telling the truth?"

"Because it's Mystel and he doesn't lie." That was the simple truth of it. Mystel did not lie. He was too honest for that.

"Unlike us, right?" Was that hidden code for unlike him?

"I'm not trying to say that. I'm just saying that if Brooklyn decides to report it, wouldn't it be better for us to know beforehand?"

He sighed raking his hand through his hair, tousling it sexily. "Fine," He muttered. "I'll try talking to them." He opened his eyes and looked straight at her. "Leave it to me, Ember." With that he slipped inside and the door shut with a definite whoosh!

"Right fine, Captain Kai takes over." She growled, spinning on her heel and heading for the exit just as her phone began to beep. Pulling it out she answered. "Yup?"

"Your mother's gone into labour. We're going to the hospital now. Get there as soon as you can."

* * *

**A.N.** Yeah, it's been a long time and I know you're all going to be mad at me. But writing for a dying fandom is hard when there's no support and no inspiration – except now I can look at the forum, which is good. Still college got in the way and sheer procrastination took over too. I'll try to write more though since I really had fun writing this chapter when I wasn't suffering monster blocks. If you can think of any plot holes that need filling, give me a shout.

REVIEW!


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